Home made Ale sausages
There are many good reasons to make your own sausages at home. Here in Norway, sausages, called "pølse" ('puls-ah) are usually emulsified type sausages like hotdogs. Not my favourite. Every now and again i get a craving for real proper British sausages with real meat in them. Ones that don't taste like hotdogs! Not too often, mind, but this is definitely an 'accept no substitutions' type of craving.
Then again, maybe you live in the UK already. Did you see the fake Tesco's advertisement circulating on Facebook after the horse meat scandal? Formatted to look just like a real Tesco ad, it said,
"We want to apologize for the discovery of horse and pig DNA in burgers for sale at our stores. Please rest assured we are investigating the root of the problem and will fully disclose our findings.
In the meantime we have re-sourced our burgers and re-stocked our shelves: please be assured that all our burgers contain the traditional ingredients you know and love: eyeballs, arseholes, bollocks and brains."
Indeed. Yes. Mystery meat. As a friend of mine recently said, "It's best not to go into it too deeply!" Sausages were traditionally the way a farmhold/household could use up the parts of an animal which aren't amenable to other cooking methods. However, you can imagine how that must work in the food processing industry. And it addresses the simple fact -- when it comes to food, you pay for what you get, and what you gets is what you eats.
So the really good thing about making sausages is that you know exactly what goes into them -- you make the choices, you get the results!
Then again, maybe you live in the UK already. Did you see the fake Tesco's advertisement circulating on Facebook after the horse meat scandal? Formatted to look just like a real Tesco ad, it said,
"We want to apologize for the discovery of horse and pig DNA in burgers for sale at our stores. Please rest assured we are investigating the root of the problem and will fully disclose our findings.
In the meantime we have re-sourced our burgers and re-stocked our shelves: please be assured that all our burgers contain the traditional ingredients you know and love: eyeballs, arseholes, bollocks and brains."
Indeed. Yes. Mystery meat. As a friend of mine recently said, "It's best not to go into it too deeply!" Sausages were traditionally the way a farmhold/household could use up the parts of an animal which aren't amenable to other cooking methods. However, you can imagine how that must work in the food processing industry. And it addresses the simple fact -- when it comes to food, you pay for what you get, and what you gets is what you eats.
So the really good thing about making sausages is that you know exactly what goes into them -- you make the choices, you get the results!
So, what kind of meat?
Of course you can use almost any kind of meat in a sausage -- pork, beef, lamb, mutton, deer, elk, etc. etc. The key to good sausages is that they need fat. Generally you need in the range of 20 - 30% fat. Any less and the sausages shrink and are dry. More than that just results in grease in the pan. You can use lean meat (say, venison) but you need to add fat to it (say, bacon).
A search of recipes suggests that for pork sausages, the usual cut is something called "Boston Butt". What?? Even in Canada i hadn't heard of this cut, and certainly i never found it in the UK, either. Here in Norway, forget it. I have been making sausages here for over a year now and my questions to the butchers have been met with blank stares and shrugs. Now, the naming of cuts of meat here is quite unique and often the terms are not easy to translate. "Lammelår", or 'lammebog*', for example, don't work with Tante Google. At the butchers, i asked for "pork shoulder" (svineskulder) without success. That, by the way, is basically what Boston Butt is -- it is the meat from the top of the front legs, or shoulder. It is quite tough and marbled with a lot of fat -- which, when you think what the shoulder has to do, makes sense. So it is perfect for grinding, which cuts the fibres, and the fat is just about at the right level.
Last week i made a breakthrough. A friend had given me some pork cutlets produced by one of our students, who is a farmer. As i looked at the packaging when i took it out of the freezer, i noticed that "nakkekotletter" was written on the bag. "Nakkekotletter"? "Nakke?" What could that be? A quick dip into good ole 'Tante Google' and aha! "Neck cutlet". Got it!
A bit of searching showed that nakkekotletter is a common cut of meat in Mitteleuropa and is the same as the strangely named Boston Butt. Not only that, but it is a cheap cut too. What you see in the picture above is nakkekotletter. You can see the fat, and the rather red meat. It looks rather fibrous -- fillet steak it ain't! But it is perfect for making sausages.
*lamb leg, lamb shoulder
Of course you can use almost any kind of meat in a sausage -- pork, beef, lamb, mutton, deer, elk, etc. etc. The key to good sausages is that they need fat. Generally you need in the range of 20 - 30% fat. Any less and the sausages shrink and are dry. More than that just results in grease in the pan. You can use lean meat (say, venison) but you need to add fat to it (say, bacon).
A search of recipes suggests that for pork sausages, the usual cut is something called "Boston Butt". What?? Even in Canada i hadn't heard of this cut, and certainly i never found it in the UK, either. Here in Norway, forget it. I have been making sausages here for over a year now and my questions to the butchers have been met with blank stares and shrugs. Now, the naming of cuts of meat here is quite unique and often the terms are not easy to translate. "Lammelår", or 'lammebog*', for example, don't work with Tante Google. At the butchers, i asked for "pork shoulder" (svineskulder) without success. That, by the way, is basically what Boston Butt is -- it is the meat from the top of the front legs, or shoulder. It is quite tough and marbled with a lot of fat -- which, when you think what the shoulder has to do, makes sense. So it is perfect for grinding, which cuts the fibres, and the fat is just about at the right level.
Last week i made a breakthrough. A friend had given me some pork cutlets produced by one of our students, who is a farmer. As i looked at the packaging when i took it out of the freezer, i noticed that "nakkekotletter" was written on the bag. "Nakkekotletter"? "Nakke?" What could that be? A quick dip into good ole 'Tante Google' and aha! "Neck cutlet". Got it!
A bit of searching showed that nakkekotletter is a common cut of meat in Mitteleuropa and is the same as the strangely named Boston Butt. Not only that, but it is a cheap cut too. What you see in the picture above is nakkekotletter. You can see the fat, and the rather red meat. It looks rather fibrous -- fillet steak it ain't! But it is perfect for making sausages.
*lamb leg, lamb shoulder
Making sausages
You can find lots of sites on the internet which are exclusively dedicated to making sausages. Some of them are good. Most are pretty complicated and have lots of recipes. If you are interested, go have a search yourself. I am just going to explain what i do, here in Elvahuset.
The first thing to emphasize is sanitation. This is fresh meat and it is imperative that you keep it below 5C. Grinding heats it up. Leaving it out on the counter heats it up. And you are putting it into real animal organ-skin. Be careful and consistent, take your time, follow the rules and you can be sure that your guests (and you) will remain healthy and happy.
I always refrigerate the meat overnight and put the metal grinding tools into the fridge too. And between each step, the meat goes into the freezer and the cleaned tools go back in the fridge. In a normal kitchen combination fridge/freezer, the meat will not freeze hard in the time between steps, but it cools it quicker that way. Also, i move the meat to the freezer an hour before cutting it up - that way the fat is easy to cut and doesn't melt and spread all over everything. So what you see in the picture above, has just been taken out of the freezer and cut up. The same applies to the meat when actually grinding it.
I clean everything with a dilute mixture of ammonia (from concentrated window wash) -- the tools, the surfaces, the bowls, etc. And i wash my hands many times. So far i haven't managed to poison anyone!
I use a sausage attachment for my Kenwood kitchen machine. It works great. The electric drive means i do not have to turn a crank. The system works good with one exception - the thing you use to push the meat into the grinder gets stuck and sometimes takes two hands to pull back out, prompting a little sweat when working by one's self. But otherwise the set works a treat!
You can find lots of sites on the internet which are exclusively dedicated to making sausages. Some of them are good. Most are pretty complicated and have lots of recipes. If you are interested, go have a search yourself. I am just going to explain what i do, here in Elvahuset.
The first thing to emphasize is sanitation. This is fresh meat and it is imperative that you keep it below 5C. Grinding heats it up. Leaving it out on the counter heats it up. And you are putting it into real animal organ-skin. Be careful and consistent, take your time, follow the rules and you can be sure that your guests (and you) will remain healthy and happy.
I always refrigerate the meat overnight and put the metal grinding tools into the fridge too. And between each step, the meat goes into the freezer and the cleaned tools go back in the fridge. In a normal kitchen combination fridge/freezer, the meat will not freeze hard in the time between steps, but it cools it quicker that way. Also, i move the meat to the freezer an hour before cutting it up - that way the fat is easy to cut and doesn't melt and spread all over everything. So what you see in the picture above, has just been taken out of the freezer and cut up. The same applies to the meat when actually grinding it.
I clean everything with a dilute mixture of ammonia (from concentrated window wash) -- the tools, the surfaces, the bowls, etc. And i wash my hands many times. So far i haven't managed to poison anyone!
I use a sausage attachment for my Kenwood kitchen machine. It works great. The electric drive means i do not have to turn a crank. The system works good with one exception - the thing you use to push the meat into the grinder gets stuck and sometimes takes two hands to pull back out, prompting a little sweat when working by one's self. But otherwise the set works a treat!
Ale Sausages
This recipe was prompted by the holding of a Craft Beer Festival in a nearby town. The folk around here make great amateur beer and there are some killer small breweries. Ales made with craft and passion! A friend wanted to have a pre-party where we sampled his home brews so i offered to make up some ølpølse to go with them. As a result, there we were at 11 am, sampling his brews, but also another friend's amazing 18 year old Rum, brought from Nicaragua! And my Ale sausages....
Here is the basic recipe:
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs pork shoulder/nakkekotletter
3 teaspoons non-iodized salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
4 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
10% by weight of Japanese Panko crumbs (or dry bread crumbs, etc)
4 oz excellent quality dark "juleøl" -- christmas ale - strong, dark and caramelly. (in this case, made by my friend)
about 3 metres of sheep casing, soaked and rinsed
The process goes as follows:
(with periods in the fridge or freezer between each step!)
Cut the meat into small chunks which can fit into the grinder.
Grind on largest cutter size
Mix spices in a small bowl, measure out the panko crumbs.
This recipe was prompted by the holding of a Craft Beer Festival in a nearby town. The folk around here make great amateur beer and there are some killer small breweries. Ales made with craft and passion! A friend wanted to have a pre-party where we sampled his home brews so i offered to make up some ølpølse to go with them. As a result, there we were at 11 am, sampling his brews, but also another friend's amazing 18 year old Rum, brought from Nicaragua! And my Ale sausages....
Here is the basic recipe:
Ingredients:
3.5 lbs pork shoulder/nakkekotletter
3 teaspoons non-iodized salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
4 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
10% by weight of Japanese Panko crumbs (or dry bread crumbs, etc)
4 oz excellent quality dark "juleøl" -- christmas ale - strong, dark and caramelly. (in this case, made by my friend)
about 3 metres of sheep casing, soaked and rinsed
The process goes as follows:
(with periods in the fridge or freezer between each step!)
Cut the meat into small chunks which can fit into the grinder.
Grind on largest cutter size
Mix spices in a small bowl, measure out the panko crumbs.
Add the spices and herbs to the coarsely ground meat and put through the grinder again on a small cutter setting.
Add the Panko crumbs to the meat mixture. Then add the Ale and mix it in with your fingers until there is no excess liquid in the bowl. Mix it gently or you'll find yourself with a rather glumpy homogenized mess. Refrigerate overnight. Letting it sit this long allows the flavours to develop, and the Panko to bind all the various bits together.
Smelling it, i thought i had added too much garlic powder. I don't particularly like the smell of garlic powder, but by then it was too late, of course. I resolved to add only a teaspoon next time. But in fact, the next day the flavour had blended with everything else and was not objectionable at all. In the morning i pinched off a piece of each (i made a batch of dark juleøl and a batch of Pilsner flavours) and fried them in order to taste and check the seasonings. They were fine.
Smelling it, i thought i had added too much garlic powder. I don't particularly like the smell of garlic powder, but by then it was too late, of course. I resolved to add only a teaspoon next time. But in fact, the next day the flavour had blended with everything else and was not objectionable at all. In the morning i pinched off a piece of each (i made a batch of dark juleøl and a batch of Pilsner flavours) and fried them in order to taste and check the seasonings. They were fine.
I soaked the casings in cold water overnight in the fridge. The next morning i placed the casings on the stuffing spigot (reminiscent of those 'how to put on a condom' campaigns, only this time the condom is 2 metres long!). Assembling the tool without the grinding cutters, i was ready to go!
The key to feeding the forcemeat into the casings is to hold the casings to the spigot and to regulate how it is pulled off the spigot by the pressure of the forecemeat coming out. It is a bit tricky but you can, for example, hold it back and let it stuff more tightly, or pull it off to let it stuff a bit less so. What you want is full casings but not too stuffed full in case they split. That's a pain as you have to cut the casing off, remove the meat from the damaged section and start all over again. A little experimentation will get you pretty proficient quickly. It would be easier, no doubt, if you had one person to stuff the meat into the tool and another to control the filling of the casings (and in my case, another one to take pictures!). Unfortunately, that was a luxury i didn't have. And as i said before, i had to struggle to pull the stuffer up in order to refill the tool. But we got there in the end.
Basically, you keep going until you have used up all the meat. If you have planned the amounts right, there will still be casing on the tool. A good tip is to use some cubes of dried bread to clean the meat out of the inside of the auger. You can tell when the bread is starting to be extruded and stop it there. And if a wee bit of bread gets in your last sausage, there's no harm done.
Once all the meat is stuffed into a casing, you tie each end tightly to the end of the tube, and then twist them into links. What i did is pinch the casing and then rotate the link twice. Each twist should go in the opposite direction to the one next to it. It's a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at first, but eventually you get it, and you wind up with a lovely set of links of succulent fresh sausages, packed with flavour.
The key to feeding the forcemeat into the casings is to hold the casings to the spigot and to regulate how it is pulled off the spigot by the pressure of the forecemeat coming out. It is a bit tricky but you can, for example, hold it back and let it stuff more tightly, or pull it off to let it stuff a bit less so. What you want is full casings but not too stuffed full in case they split. That's a pain as you have to cut the casing off, remove the meat from the damaged section and start all over again. A little experimentation will get you pretty proficient quickly. It would be easier, no doubt, if you had one person to stuff the meat into the tool and another to control the filling of the casings (and in my case, another one to take pictures!). Unfortunately, that was a luxury i didn't have. And as i said before, i had to struggle to pull the stuffer up in order to refill the tool. But we got there in the end.
Basically, you keep going until you have used up all the meat. If you have planned the amounts right, there will still be casing on the tool. A good tip is to use some cubes of dried bread to clean the meat out of the inside of the auger. You can tell when the bread is starting to be extruded and stop it there. And if a wee bit of bread gets in your last sausage, there's no harm done.
Once all the meat is stuffed into a casing, you tie each end tightly to the end of the tube, and then twist them into links. What i did is pinch the casing and then rotate the link twice. Each twist should go in the opposite direction to the one next to it. It's a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at first, but eventually you get it, and you wind up with a lovely set of links of succulent fresh sausages, packed with flavour.
And that is basically it!
Once you get the hang of it you can experiment with flavours -- fresh things tend to have less impact than dried herbs and similar flavour agents. Vary your meat (i am looking to try to make salmon sausages next). Vary your flavourings (i think that chilli, mint and coriander would make some nice 'mexi' flavoured sausages). Just remember -- meat, rusk (crumbs) and liquid. These are the three main ingredients. And you can vary any one, or more of them.
One last word about cooking them. Sausages need gentle heat. Especially when they are as thick as these. You HAVE to cook them all the way through and if you do that on a high heat, you will burn the skins before the sausage is done inside. Don't fry them in a lot of oil -- just wipe the actual sausages with oil before putting them in a dry pan, if you are going to fry. Or stick them in the oven at 180 C for 15 minutes, then turn them up to 210 for another 10 mins to brown the skins. Or grill them, but at some distance from the element. Just check they are cooked through before you serve them.
And you and your guests will enjoy luscious, tasty, amazing sausages, confident that there are no 'noses, bums, ears, etc' in them!
enjoy!
Once you get the hang of it you can experiment with flavours -- fresh things tend to have less impact than dried herbs and similar flavour agents. Vary your meat (i am looking to try to make salmon sausages next). Vary your flavourings (i think that chilli, mint and coriander would make some nice 'mexi' flavoured sausages). Just remember -- meat, rusk (crumbs) and liquid. These are the three main ingredients. And you can vary any one, or more of them.
One last word about cooking them. Sausages need gentle heat. Especially when they are as thick as these. You HAVE to cook them all the way through and if you do that on a high heat, you will burn the skins before the sausage is done inside. Don't fry them in a lot of oil -- just wipe the actual sausages with oil before putting them in a dry pan, if you are going to fry. Or stick them in the oven at 180 C for 15 minutes, then turn them up to 210 for another 10 mins to brown the skins. Or grill them, but at some distance from the element. Just check they are cooked through before you serve them.
And you and your guests will enjoy luscious, tasty, amazing sausages, confident that there are no 'noses, bums, ears, etc' in them!
enjoy!
