Making Sausages

Few of us make our own sausages. It is easier than you may think and home made sausages taste great. Making them yourself also gives control over the ingredients and the chance to customise them to your own tastes

Many prospective sausage makers are put off by the mysteries of skins and sausage stuffing. The good news is that you can make excellent home made sausages without going anywhere near a sausage skin. You can use your home made sausage meat as burgers, good sausage meat or use the home cook's secret weapon - caul fat - to make sausage parcels

Caul fat

Caul fat is a web like membrane which wraps internal organs. It is traditionally used to wrap faggots and prepared cuts of meat. You can use it to wrap parcels of sausage meat (they are called crepinettes in France) and either grill or fry them. The caul fat will not only act as a sausage skin but will also baste the meat as it cooks. It dissolves away after slow cooking but is attractive enough in its own right.

It is unlikely to be on display but if you ask, pork caul fat (which is the best) should be available from most good butchers.

Equipment

If you want to stuff your own sausages you will need some more equipment. You can try the low tech version and use a large piping bag or a funnel and stick. You need a sausage stuffing machine if you are serious about home made sausages. Kenwood Chef owners can buy the mincer (including sausage making attachment) for around £35. A hand cranked machine will cost around £40. Sausagemaking.co.uk sells all you need to make home made sausages, including mincers, skins and a stuffing machine.

Sausage meat

Before you can make your sausages you need sausage meat. You could use ready made but to me, this defeats the 'home made' object. The best option is to purchase your chosen meat and either ask your butcher to mince it for you or mince it yourself.

Most sausages are made from a mix of lean meat such as shoulder and fatty cuts such as belly. The fat is vital because it carries taste and provides succulence. The ideal proportions of lean and fat meat will vary from person to person but any good sausages will be made with a good proportion of fatty meat. The best meat is from one of the rare breeds. If you cannot get hold of these ask your butcher for meat from 'overweight' pigs which have a good fat covering.

A good mixture to start with is 50% lean and 50% fatty. Pork is the most popular meat you can try veal and poultry but in both cases will probably also need to use some pork.

The next stage is mincing the meat. Best results are obtained from cold meat, mincing, especially with a food processor heats the meat. Using cold meat counteracts this and also produces better mince (this is one of the reasons why ice cubes are added to many commercial mixes).

Cut the meat into pieces to fit your mincer or processor. A very fine mince will make a smooth pate like sausage. (In commercial sausage making a very fine mince is used to disguise fatty, low quality meat). I prefer a rougher, courser cut mince with chunks of meat. If you are using a food processor be careful that the mixture is not over processed - use the pulse button until you are happy with the texture.

Cereal

The next decision is whether you will make 100% meat sausages (i.e. 'gluten free') or add filler to the mix. Most filler is either breadcrumbs or rusk. It is cheap and the scourge of many a cheap sausage. They add bulk at low cost and also absorb the cheapest ingredient of all - water. However added in small quantities they do have a place in a good sausage. They add texture and help to retain fat (and therefore flavour) in the sausage. I therefore add some cereal to the mix - between 5% and 10% of the weight of the meat. You can use a wide variety of fillers, the most common for home made sausages is white breadcrumbs but you can also try oatmeal. rice flour or even polenta.

Seasoning

There are endless permutations of seasoning and the best advice is to experiment. Start with a plain butchers or herb sausage and move on to the more exotic flavours.

As a rough guide, 450 g of sausage meat will need around 15g of seasoning. This could just be salt and pepper to taste. Salt and pepper will always form the backbone of the seasoning but they can be supported by cloves, ginger, nutmeg, mace, cayenne pepper and others. The French use a blend of spices called quatre-epices (four spices) this is roughly 70% pepper and 10% each of cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

Herbs

The most common herb in our sausages is sage. You will need about 10 sage leaves for 450 g of sausage meat. You can use parsley and chives in similar quantities. Other popular herbs are thyme, oregano, marjoram, mint and rosemary.

Making the sausages

Once you have decided on the ingredients it is a simple job to mix them together. The seasonings will be hit and miss at first. Have a go, fry a small piece and taste the results. You can then adjust the seasoning. Repeat this until you are happy with the taste (and try to remember what you put in for next time).

All sausages benefit from a resting period which allows them to dry and for the flavours to develop. I would try to give your creations a day in the fridge.

Burgers

Shape the sausage meat into burgers, leave to rest and either grill or fry. If you are grilling you may want to brush the patties with oil.

Crepinettes (sausage parcels)

You will need caul fat to make these. Most butchers should have some but you will have to ask. The fat is stiff and breaks easily but is easier to use if it is softened in warm water for an hour. Cut the fat into 10 cm squares, put about 100g of sausage meat in the centre and wrap it up. The finished crepinette should be about 1 cm thick and can be fried or grilled. It is not necessary to do anything else to them but you could roll them in egg and breadcrumbs before cooking to give a scotch egg finish.

Stuffing sausages

You can buy natural sausage skins (I see no point in going through the hassle of making home made sausages and then using synthetic skins) from specialist suppliers. You will have to buy a large quantity but they are cheap and keep indefinitely. Alternatively, your butcher should be prepared to let you have some. The skins are packed in salt and need to be soaked overnight, rinsed and washed before you use them.

Once you are ready to stuff the sausages put the sausage meat into whatever you are using. Wrinkle the entire length of skin over the nozzle.. Tie the end of the skin (otherwise the sausage meat will fall out the other end!) and gently force the meat into the skin. You will probably find that it is easier with two people - one to stuff and one to control the casing. Start with short lengths of skin - around 1 metre, try not to overfill the sausages and avoid large air gaps. You will hopefully have a long sausage. Either tie or twist this into individual lengths and hang to dry for at least a few hours, ideally overnight. The sausages can then be cooked or frozen. They will not contain any preservatives so should be cooked with a day or two.

Sausages Roll Recipes

Perhaps the ultimate sausage roll is found in the French dish - Saucisse en Brioche a la Lyonnaise. This is a large, cured sausage weighing around 400g which is wrapped in brioche and baked. It is cut into thick slices and served as a starter.

Good sausage meat is vital (if you use doughy sausage meat the delicate nibble can become a hefty doorstopper). Unless you have a reliable butcher, the best way to obtain this is to buy your favourite, meaty sausages and skin them.

Variations on a theme

Sausage rolls need not be made with plain pork sausage meat. You can simply try your favourite sausage varieties (spicy Italian or Pork & tomato are both good) or add to basic sausage meat. Some ideas to try are;

• 50g of prunes (chopped and soaked in a tablespoon of brandy) and mixed into the sausage meat
• 1 or 2 leeks, washed, shredded, cooked in butter and mixed into the sausage meat
• Herb rolls made with a chopped onion and a mixed teaspoon of fresh thyme and sage
• Game rolls made with 2/3 pork sausage meat and 1/3 game (I use one of the mixed game pie packs)
• The game rolls can also be perked up with a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce or chopped nuts (chestnuts or pistachio are good)

Make cheesy rolls by mixing 75g of hard cheese such as Red Leicester or Cheddar into the pastry, spread your favourite mustard onto the pastry and wrap up as normal or make Mexican rolls by adding finely chopped onion, red pepper and a few pinches of either paprika or chilli powder to basic sausage meat.

Ingerdients

450g  Sausages meat

250g Puff pastry

1 Egg

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (gas mark 6)
Roll the pastry out on a large, floured surface
Aim for an oblong about 40 cm by 30 cm
Cut the oblong into 3 strips (13 cm by 10 cm)
Divide the sausage meat into 3, roll each third into a sausage as long as the pastry (dust the meat with flour if it is sticky)
Place each sausage on the middle of a strip, brush the pastry on one side with beaten egg, fold the other side over and seal
Cut into 5 cm lengths, place on a greased baking tray, take care to ensure that the seal is on the base
Use scissors to make 2 or 3 snips, brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake for around 25 minutes or until they are golden
Either serve whilst they are still warm or cool on a tray and store on an airtight container
To reheat, place on a baking tray in a medium oven for 10 minutes.

2

Ingerdients

200g Self rraising flour

100g Vegetrain suet

20g Salt

250g greated cheese(Gloucester and Cheshire

100g White breadcrumb

1 egg

Bounch of spring onion

Salt, Pepper and Mustared powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (gas mark 7)
To make the suet pastry take a large bowl and mix the flour, suet and salt
Add cold water (a tablespoon at a time) until you have a pliable dough
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes
Leave the pastry to rest for a few minutes while you make the filling
Combine the cheese, spring onions, breadcrumbs, mustard powder (if using) and egg, season with salt and pepper
Divide the pastry in 2 and roll into oblongs about 40 cm by 10 cm
Make a mound of filling along the middle of each strip
Moisten the pastry on one side with water, fold over the other side and seal carefully
Cut into 5 cm lengths, place on a greased baking tray, taking care to ensure that the seal is on the base
Use scissors to make 2 or 3 snips and bake for around 20 minutes or until they are golden
Eat on the day you cook them

Black Pudding

Why do we happily munch flesh and muscle (and a lot worse if you eat cheap sausages) but find the idea of eating blood from the same animal so frightening? As you are reading this page you have probably got over this irrational fear, if not read on and you might be tempted to try one of the greatest treats in the sausage world!

What is black pudding?

Black pudding is boiled pig's blood in a length of intestine. In the UK our puddings are usually bound with cereal with suet or cubes of fat added. European puddings are lighter because they are often made with cream instead of cereals.

Black pudding is especially popular in Northern England, Scotland and Ireland. The World Black Pudding throwing Competition takes place every year in Bury, the object is to throw puddings at a row of Yorkshire Puddings on a wall and knock off as many as possible.

A Black Pudding Fair is also held each year in Mortagne au Perche in Normandy, France and over 5 km of pudding are consumed!

Black pudding is growing in popularity and is appearing on a number of restaurant menus. It combines very well with pork, lamb, fish (scallops, oysters, squid, muscles) and fruit (apples, pears, grapes, rhubarb). Lishmans of Ilkley made a superb 'restaurant' pudding which contains fruit. Our recipe section contains several recipes and more will be added on a regular basis.

Most black pudding recipes derive from the same need to make use of everything when a pig is butchered. They follow the same basic recipe and use similar flavourings such as onions, mace and black pepper.

The main versions and the key ingredients are summarised below.

• Black pudding - UK - pigs blood, pork fat and cereal (oatmeal and or barley)
• Drisheen - Ireland - as above but with lamb's blood
• Boudin noir - France - pigs blood, pork fat, breadcrumbs, brandy or calvados and cream
• Morcilla - Spain - pigs blood, pork fat, paprika, cooked long grain rice, sherry and sometimes raisins
• Blutwurst - Germany - pigs blood, diced bacon and lungs

The puddings we buy are already cooked, we just need to reheat them. The chief difficulty is that the pudding can burst out of the skin. The simple answer is to take off the casing but the filling may then crumble. I prefer to slice it thick (at least 2cm), then cook as gently as possible, in frying pan, grill or hot oven.

Beyond breakfast….

Black pudding is a vital ingredient of a cooked breakfast but can be used in many other ways. It works well with fish, fruit, lamb and pork. It can also be added to a stew or casserole as a flavour enhancer. If it is cooked for more than 30 minutes it will break down and flavour the dish as in Fabadas Asturianas (Spanish sausage casserole) or in a spicy tomato sauce.

Black pudding makers

Most butchers, especially in the North have their own recipe. There are cereal-heavy sausages, fat-studded sausages, spicy and mild, coarse and fine. Look for visible nuggets of fat, which are almost always a sign of high quality.

Making black pudding

It goes without saying that to make black pudding you need blood. This is not for the faint hearted and under current regulations is difficult. Of course, if you have your own pigs the abattoir will allow you to collect the blood together with the rest of the pig.

Those of us who do not live the River Cottage dream will have more problems. You may find a butcher who makes his own puddings and is prepared to sell you some. Abattoirs used to be happy to sell a bucket of blood for a few pounds (very good for tomatoes apparently) but are now most seem unable to do this.

The alternative which is now used by nearly all butchers is to buy dried blood and re-hydrate this with water or milk. This is usually supplied from Holland. Trade supplies such as Scobies Direct can supply this.

The recipe below includes two methods of cooking the puddings - either poached in conventional sausage skins or baked in the oven (much easier!).

Ingredients

2 litres blood

Casings, beef runners of large hog casings (optional)

3 onions, finely chopped

1 kg of suet or diced pork fat (back fat or bacon fat)

500ml double cream

500g oatmeal, soaked overnight in water)

500g barley, boiled in water for 30 minutes

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon mixed herbs or ground coriander

1 teaspoon black pepper or cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground mace

Method

Soften the onions in a quarter of the fat, make sure that they do not colour. Add the rest of the fat and leave to slowly sweat for 10 minutes Add the oatmeal and cream and cook for a few minutes Add the rest of the ingredients and stir over a gentle heat for 5 minutes If you are using skins, these can now be filled and sealed with two knots. The puddings can then be poached in barely simmering water for 5 - 10 minutes. Splitting is common, to avoid this prick the puddings with a needle and cook on the lowest possible simmer (better to cook them very, very slowly then to lose them). Any pudding which floats to the top should also be pricked, they are cooked when brown liquid comes out. They can then be drained and kept in a fridge for 1 - 2 weeks

An easier method is to bake the pudding in an ovenproof container, and cook in a bain marie (by standing the tin in a larger tin half filled with water) in a low oven (160 degree or gas mark 2) for 1 - 2 hours until the mixture is firm to the touch Make sure that the mixture has started to thicken and coat your stirring spoon (as with a custard) before pouring into the container and stir well first (this should ensure that the ingredients are evenly mixed)

You can then cut slices and fry or bake

Barbecue sausages

Sausages are perfect for bbqs, easy to cook, succulent and portable. As with other outdoor food, simple, gutsy flavours work best - meaty plain pork, Boerwors, Cumberland, fresh Chorizo, Italian, Merguez and Toulouse are best.

A good tip is to poach sausages first in water and then brown them over the bbq. That way you guarantee that they are cooked and still get the barbecue flavours.

Use coiled sausages such as Cumberland, Boerwors and some Italian sausages, skewer them with wooden skewers (soak these first in water for at least 30 minutes), and then cook in one piece.

Sausage Varieties

Cumberland Sausages	This is considered to be the meatiest British sausage.  It is a chunky, course cut sausage spiced with black pepper and made in a continuous spiral.  It is traditionally sold by length rather than weight.  Looks very impressive when coiled in a spiral and cooked whole
Chipolatas	Derived from the Italian word cipolla, meaning onion (something rarely found in a British chipolata).  They are thin sausages made from lamb intestines and are thought to be good for children. Given a choice we rarely eat them because the small size means they are dryer than standard sausages
Beef Sausages	More popular in Scotland (although beef and tomato is common south of the border)
Beer Sauasges	Beer or ‘ale’ works very well in pork sausages and there are many made with the local beer. Beef and Guinness is also good
Boerewors	South African for ‘Farmers Sausage’.  There are many varieties, in the UK they are usually made with beef and pork fat (but can be made with pork, beef or mutton).  Flavourings usually include coriander and vinegar.  They are either cooked on the grill or barbeque (braai in Afrikaans)
Black pudding	A key part of the traditional cooked breakfast, black pudding is pig's blood in a length of intestine. It has had a poor press in the UK but in Europe it is a gourmet delicacy. Our pudding is usually bound with oatmeal and rusk with cubes of fat added. It is either boiled or fried in slices.  It goes very well with apple and is becoming a fashionable ingredient. Look out for apple, pork and black pudding sausages
Bratwurst	Long German sausage made with either pale pork or veal.  Onions and egg are often added and they are usually grilled or fried
Breakfast Sausages	A mildly spiced pork sausage.  Some exotics contain the full cooked breakfast – egg, bacon and black pudding (hmm)
Butchers/plain/farmhouse Sausages	The best selling traditional sausage which probably accounts for more than half of all sales. This should be your butchers pride and joy, a simple sausage with mild herbs and spices. It is the benchmark sausage which we always try first
Chorizo	Spicy Spanish sausage made with pork, red pepper and paprika. It can be smoked or unsmoked.  Smoked can be eaten raw and treated as salami, treat unsmoked chorizo as a raw sausage
Glamorgan	A bit of a misfit – the only vegetarian sausage here and as it is skinless not really a sausage.  Anyway, this is traditionally made with breadcrumbs, cheese (often Caerphilly), chopped spring onions, egg and seasoned with herbs
Gloucester	Traditionally made with Gloucester Old Spot (a rare breed) and flavoured with sage.  Increasingly available from local specialists
Gluten Free Sausages	A sausage made without cereals, aimed at coeliacs (who cannot eat cereal products) and sausage fans.  Either made with no binders and 100% meat or with rice flour as the binder
Cotechino and Zampone	Italian boiling sausages, traditionally used in bolito misto and often served with lentils.  Zampone is made from a stuffed pig’s trotter
Haggis	Haggis is perhaps the best known Scottish delicacy, and it can be wonderful. Like black pudding it is not for the culinary faint hearted but is worth taking the risk! Haggis is made from sheep's offal (or pluck). The windpipe, lungs, heart and liver of the sheep are boiled and then minced. This is mixed with beef suet and lightly toasted oatmeal. This mixture is placed inside the sheep's stomach, which is sewn closed. The haggis is traditionally cooked by  boiling (for up to three hours) although a part-cooked haggis can be cooked in the oven which prevents the risk of bursting
Hogs pudding	This is a West country haggis; it is usually based on groats (unpolished barley) and filled into ox casings, however it can be closer to a meat white pudding (see below).  It can be made with meat or pluck (heart, liver and lungs).  We like the version made with groats and fry ours so the skin splits, the filling crisps up and the groats start popping!
Lamb Sausages	A Welsh favourite, often combined with leek, mint or rosemary.  Can be fatty so grilling is often best
Italian Sausages	Strong tasting sausages often made with 100% meat and flavoured with pepper, fennel and chilli, They can be spicy and are good for cooking (try them in a sauce with pasta, polenta or with beans). Luganiga is another style which is made in continuous links and can be made with fresh parmesan.  As with all Italian fresh sausages it is worth a try
Lincolnshire Sausages	Old fashioned herby regional sausage traditionally made with pork, bread and sage (although thyme seems to be creeping in)
Lorne	Bit of an oddity, this is Scottish square slicing sausage.  It is made with beef and pork, has a smooth texture and is probably destined for either the breakfast table or eaten in a sandwich with white sliced bread and brown sauce
Marylebone	A traditional London butchers sausage made with mace, ginger and sage
Merguez	A spicy, red sausage from North Africa, made with either beef or lamb flavoured with harissa (a hot chilli paste based on chilli, garlic and olive oil)  or paprika, following the north African theme they are good with couscous
Oxford	A regional sausage made with pork, veal and lemon. Herbs are usually sage, savory and marjoram
Pork & apple (West Country)	Pork with apple and often cider or scrumpy, generally makes a moist sausage. Sage is often used, they are available nationally but very popular in the West Country.  Traditionally made with Gloucester Old Spot which where reared in orchards and would have eaten the windfall apples
Pork & leek (Welsh)	Attractive green flecked sausages, popular in Wales where ginger is sometimes added, pork and chive also works well
Pork and honey	The honey gives a sweet taste, often described as a children’s sausage (our junior tasters agree)
Scottish Sausages	Not a flavour but a different style, Scottish sausages are generally smoother and more pate like than the rest of the country.   Given the popularity and quality of beef in Scotland, it is not surprising that beef sausages are also more popular north of the border
Suffolk	A course chopped sausage with herbs, similar to Lincolnshire
Tomato	Pork and tomato, typical 10% tomato gives a distinctive red colour, they are popular in the Midlands.  Can be combined with basil and sun dried tomatoes for the ‘Mediterranean’ taste
Toulouse	This seems to be the only French sausage we cook with. A firm, meaty pork sausage with course chopped meat, parsley, garlic and red wine. They are ideal for a warming cassoulet,.   What we call a Toulouse is actually closer to a French country sausage, the usual French Toulouse is simply flavoured with pepper
Venison Sausages	Growing in popularity, venison is very low in fat so many venison sausages contain a mixture of venison and pork fat for succulence.  Typical flavourings are red wine, garlic and juniper berries.  A grown up sausage
White Pudding	This is either in the style of a French boudin blanc with white meat, breadcrumbs, cream and eggs (nice) or just a cereal filling and onions (not so nice).  Usually pre-cooked, they should be heated by slow frying or baking, as with black puddings, they can be eaten with apples
Wild boar	Pork’s cousin; it is darker, stronger in flavour and gamier.  Often described as tasting like an old fashioned sausage (whatever this means), wild boar combines well with apples, red wine and garlic