How to Make Your Own Sausage At Home

Making your own sausage is one of the most enjoyable activities for any serious home chef.

You’ve mastered the primary meats like brisket, pig belly, and chicken, but the top pitmasters distinguish themselves with their own sausage recipes.

While your local grocer may provide a variety of fresh sausages, it is perfectly easy to create your own at home.

If you’ve never made sausage before, it may seem to be a difficult process, but it’s not as difficult as it appears. Investing in the correct equipment can help the process go much more smoothly.

We’ll walk you through the whole sausage-making process, including what equipment you’ll need and step-by-step directions so you can create your own sausage at home.

Lets dig in!

What you will need

You’ll need a few materials to get started creating sausages. Having these in place will guarantee that you are set up for success and end up with a terrific outcome.

Lets take a look:

A meat grinder

A decent meat grinder is one of the most critical components in sausage-making (apart from fresh ingredients).

Meat grinders are quite easy to use and may be either electric or manually powered. Let’s go through the advantages of each.

Electric meat grinders

Electric meat grinders are quicker than manual meat grinders. They produce more sausage in less time and are available in a variety of power levels.

You may buy a standalone grinder or grinder accessories for many mixers.

Manual meat grinders

Manual meat grinders are hand-cranked and much slower than electric grinders, but the advantage is control. You can adjust how quickly the meat is ground and how quickly it exits the grind-plate.

They provide better feel and more room for mistake while regulating the output meat volume. Furthermore, they are a simpler machine with fewer components that must be changed over time.

Casings

The sort of casing you require depends on the type of sausage you’re creating. Casings exist in a variety of forms and sizes, both natural and artificial, and serve a variety of functions depending on the recipe. Let’s look at some alternatives.

Natural casings

If you’ve ever eaten a bratwurst, you’ve had a sausage wrapped in a natural casing. Though it may seem repulsive, natural casings are derived from the intestines of other animals, most frequently pigs.Beef and sheep are two more typical natural casings.

• Natural hog casings are the most popular natural casings on the market today. They vary in size from 29mm (bratwurst size) to 45mm (big Polish sausage size).

• Beef casings vary in diameter from 38mm to 5 inches and are used to create salami, bologna, and mortadella.

• Sheep casings are naturally smaller, measuring between 19mm to 26mm. Hot dog casings contain no pores and are utilized when the meat is emulsified, as in hotdogs. All other sheep casings are used for link sausages, such as the snack sticks sold in supermarkets and convenience shops.

For preservation, all-natural casings are placed in salt in vacuum-sealed canisters. If you aren’t intending to utilize the whole box, the leftover casings may be repackaged in salt and kept in the refrigerated for up to two years.

Natural casings should not be frozen. When filled, this will make them fragile and more likely to burst or break.

Artificial casings

Artificial casings are often constructed of collagen, cellulose, or plastic. They are less expensive than natural casings and easy to handle onto machines without fear of rips or tears. Some are also pre-tubed for ease of use when slipping onto the stuffer.

We’ve outlined the distinctions between artificial casings to assist you in determining which is ideal for your recipe.

Spices

Anyone can ground meat and pack it into a casing, but it’s the spice combinations that make outstanding sausages different. The spices combined with the meat not only give taste to the sausage but may completely transform it.

Chorizo and salami, for example, are both pork sausage products, but chorizo appears red due to the addition of ancho chili powder to the spice combination.

The spice blends will distinguish the sausages more than any other component of the procedure. This is where you’ll find minor taste differences between sausages like hot Italian sausage and breakfast sausage.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, start experimenting with spices. Depending on your interests and preferences, experiment with various combinations and ratios.

Cure

You don’t need a cure if you’re making fresh sausages. Cure is often applied to any smoked but uncooked sausage.

When applied to meat, cure offers a number of advantages, the most important of which is that it inhibits the development of the bacteria that cause botulism. While slow smoking, the cure preserves your sausage safe and free of germs. Cure also gives the meat a distinct taste and color, making it a rich shade of pink.

Cure is known under several other names, including Cure #1, Prague Powder #1, and Pink Cure. In this guide on cold smoking meat, you may learn more about the many forms of cure.

Just be sure to follow the instructions for how much to use per pound of meat. One teaspoon of cure is usually enough for 5 pounds of meat combination.

Stuffer

Once the meat has been mixed with the seasonings, you’ll need a method to stuff the mixture into the casings. You can acquire a stuffer attachment if you already have a meat grinder.

A sausage funnel is connected to the grinder instead of the grinder plate, and the casing of your choosing slips over the open mouth of the funnel. Return the meat and spice mixture to the grinder, and it will fill the casing via the funnel end.

However, not all grinders are adept in stuffing sausages. You don’t have complete control over the pace at which the mixture is released. Due to overstuffing, this might result in torn casings.

A specialist sausage stuffer is recommended if you want greater control or to boost the amount of sausage production.

Dedicated sausage stuffers can store a lot of meat, with hoppers beginning at 5 pounds. Because this is their main job, they can pack sausage considerably faster and more effectively than meat grinders.

Both choices are adequate, but if you want to produce a large number of sausages, the stuffer will make your job much simpler.

Smoker

When smoking sausage, start with moderate heat and gradually increase them. This prevents all of the fat inside the grind from rendering and separating from the meat mixture, either pouring out or sinking to the bottom of the casing. This will result in dry, crumbly sausage.

This kind of temperature control usually necessitates the use of an electric smoker. Electric smokers also use wood, whether chips or pellets, but they include thermostats that allow them to attain low, steady temperatures that a charcoal smoker cannot.

Cold smoking sausages is another option. Meat absorbs smoke flavor more effectively while it is raw, therefore cold smoking sausages will have a more robust smoke taste.

Cold smoking is not without danger. You must take additional measures since the temperature is not high enough to destroy hazardous microorganisms.

Hang the sausage in whatever cooking chamber you’re using and fill it with smoke using a cold smoke generator.

If you’re using a BBQ cooker, open the dampers to let air to flow through and keep the smoke clean. Otherwise, your sausage will have a stagnant, harsh taste.

Sausage making kits

As you can see, there are a lot of ingredients needed to produce sausage. Consider purchasing a sausage kit if you’re just starting started with this pastime.

Most of the supplies you’ll need to get started are included in these kits, including seasoning with cure, casings, and thread.

How to make Sausage: Step-by-Step instructions

Now that you’re acquainted with the ingredients for sausage, let’s get down to business and create some sausage!

This is a nice summary to follow if you want to watch each stage in video form.

Step 1: Gather your equipment and ingredients

Youll need the following to make a basic sausage:

• Meat grinder, detachable pieces kept cold in a freezer
• Sausage stuffer or stuffer attachment
• Large mixing bowls, preferably stainless steel
• Natural hog casings desalinated in warm water
• 2 pounds pork butt, cubed into 1 inch pieces and frozen for 30 minutes
• 2 teaspoons ground sage
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground peppercorns
• 4 fresh garlic cloves
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or paprika for a lower heat)
• teaspoon brown sugar

Step 2: Prepare the meat and grinder

Place some ice in a big mixing basin, then another bowl inside of that. By hand, combine the par-frozen beef cubes with the spices and garlic cloves.

It’s critical to keep everything as cool as possible to keep the grinder running smoothly and the fat from rendering out of the meat.

Set up your grinder. Remove the pieces of the grinder from the freezer and place them on a firm tabletop. The meat will be ground via two plates: a coarser first grind plate and a finer second grind plate.

8-inch plate. This size allows the meat to pass through the grinder without becoming clogged.4in to 3You’ll need a 1 for your first grind.

Step 3: Grind the meat

At the output end of the grinder, place an empty bowl into another filled with ice. Push the mix mixture slowly but steadily through the hopper and into the empty basin.

16 in. 8 in. to 3 in.Once all of the beef has been ground, store it in the freezer for 15 minutes to keep it cool. Then, swap out your big grinder plate with the smaller one, which is normally sized at 1 inch.

After attaching the smaller grind plate, run the meat mixture through one more. Your meat should emulsify into a paste or pat-like consistency.

If the meat becomes greasy, it is too warm and the fat is breaking down, so return it to the freezer with the grinder components.

Allow everything to cool for 30-60 minutes before resuming grinding. This will keep your finished product from crumbling.

Step 4: Mix the ground meat

Many recipes ignore this step when preparing sausages, however it is critical for the bind of the meat that you fully integrate the ground-up mixture. This ensures that the proteins and lipids bind and emulsify.

This connection is maintained throughout the cooking process, ensuring that the sausage remains intact and not dry and crumbly within the casing.

In general, combining and kneading the ground beef by hand is sufficient, although a stand mixer’s paddle attachment may also be used. When the meat is sticky and pate-like, you’ll know it’s done.

Roll the mixture into the size of a meatball and press it into your palm to test this. You’re done mixing when the meat clings to your hand when you flip it upside down.

Step 5: Stuff the casings

When your meat mixture is finished, prepare your stuffer or stuffer attachment. Remove the casing from the heated water and place it in the stuffing funnel, tying the end. To avoid rips or burst casings, keep both the funnel and the casing wet throughout the procedure.

To allow air to escape, poke a tiny hole in the end of the casing with a knife or a sausage pricker, and then carefully feed the mixture through the stuffer and into the casing, taking care not to overstuff or break the casing. If you see any pockets of air, just puncture a tiny hole to allow it to escape.

When all of the meat has been placed into the casings, cut and knot the ends. You may either maintain the sausage in one huge loop like this or twist it into links of the appropriate length.

Step 6: Dry the sausage

You may cook the sausage now, but it’s preferable to let it rest and dry out in the fridge for a few hours, ideally overnight. This allows the flavors to mingle while also drying out the casing so that moisture does not steam the meat when cooking.

This is especially critical for curing and smoking sausages. Drying the casings causes smoke to stick to the sausage and penetrate the meat more effectively.

If you’re going to cook fresh sausage straight away, it’s not required, but the ultimate product will be much nicer if you let the sausage rest and the casings dry up.

Step 7: Cook the sausage

We’re almost there! Because they are fresh sausages with no cure, you should cook them at acceptable temperatures. To be safe, pork sausage must reach an internal temperature of 150°F.

The manner, on the other hand, is entirely up to you. Cooking methods that yield great sausages are listed below:

• After poaching, grill over medium or indirect heat.
• Smoke at 250F-300F till internal temperature hits 150F.
• Pan fry with a braising liquid like beer

Step 8: Eat and enjoy!

You’ve completed the task! You’ve learnt and persevered through your first sausage-making adventure, and now it’s time to enjoy the benefits!

This recipe is a fantastic starting point for making a delicious pork sausage, but after you’ve gotten the hang of it, feel free to experiment with other spices and cooking techniques to see what you can come up with.

Best sausage making recipes

There are so many different sausage variations out there that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

You really can’t go wrong, but here are a few of the greatest sorts of sausage to try cooking at home if you’re stuck.

• Italian sausage (recipe at bottom of the post)
• Kielbasa
• Andouille
• Chorizo
• Breakfast sausage
• Irish Bangers

To wrap it up

Sausage is a versatile meal that arose from the need for food preservation. There are so many different kinds of sausages in the globe, and the procedures for making them are similar yet nuanced.

We’ve just scratched the surface of sausage-making, but like with everything in BBQ, the more you try and get your brain around it, the more creative and skilled you become.

When it comes to home sausage manufacturing, we’ve barely scratched the surface.

If you want to go more into the subject, I recommend purchasing several books.

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