February 8, 2013
Sausage: The Beginning
By The Chefs
Sometimes there are things we want to investigate and write about that just will not fit into one, single blog post. This is one of those. Last year was the year of the sandwich and this year is the year of the sausage. Twelve sausages over twelve months. Well, give or take. We’re starting in February but we’ll be sure to squeeze that extra sausage or four in there somewhere. Here’s the criteria we’ve set for this sausage journey:
- All sausages must be homemade.
- Sausages are not just pork.
Things you will need…but not necessarily.
- Meat Grinder – Hand-crank or electric
- Sausage Casings – natural or synthetic
- Smoker – for some but not all
- Sausage stuffer
Now we said you may not necessarily need these things…here’s why: You can buy your meat already ground from your butcher. Most butchers carry ground pork and beef. Ground lamb can be found too. Some of you may have access to a butcher that still grinds meat fresh for you. That’s a great thing because you have control of which cuts you want ground. Sausage is an easy and fun thing to make, especially if the meat is already ground for you. There are purists out there that will argue that you need to grind your own meat but we understand most people are not going to go out and buy a grinder to make their own sausage. If you do though it’s a great thing to have. Over the next few months we’ll post some of our favorite sausage creations. We’ll start off pretty basic but tasty next week with a sage breakfast sausage that is delicious.
A couple of notes here:
- Handling ground meat requires that anything it comes into contact with needs to be very clean and sanitized with a mild bleach solution.
- Make sure your hands are very clean or you are wearing a new pair of disposable gloves.
- When drying utensils it is best to clean them thoroughly then let them naturally air dry. Towels can spread germs and bacteria and you want very clean utensils.
- When grinding your own meat it is important that all the equipment is cold. Put your grinder and attachments in the refrigerator at least one hour before your grind.
- Store your sausage in the refrigerator and consume it within three days. Sausage making lends itself well to large production so freezing is great for storage if you aren’t planning on eating everything within three days. Just be sure to wrap the sausage well in plastic wrap or butcher paper and seal in a sealable, freezer bag.
- When cooking sausage it is important that it is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. This is true of all ground meat…of which sausage may very well be king.