My first attempts at making sausages

Picked up a new toy yesterday--something the packaging calls a multi-purpose 'food turner'. Essentially, it's a pasta machine and a mincer. I already have a pasta machine--never used it, of course--so I'm not particularly interested in the former, but the latter? Can see myself having a whole lot of fun with that.

When I got it home, I sterilised all the components in boiling water and set to work. I had a kilo of boneless pork belly and I minced it up with some salt, pepper and freshly ground fennel seeds. I worked it into some collagen casings and then fried them up. Was I happy with the result? No. The sausages burst. Collagen casings, it seems, aren't the slightest bit forgiving to the sausage maker who dares overstuff his sausages. They were dry as all hell, too.

I took the sausage maker into Saturday school today with the intent of having the kids make sausages. I was right in assuming it'd be right in their collective happy zone, something they'd all go nuts over--turning the crank, forcing the meat into casings, barbecuing or frying them up. To keep it cheap, I went for mutton. You could do these with lamb, though. I also put in some pork fat, to lube them up some. And salt and pepper and curry powder and garlic and onion. The results? Better. Not brilliant, but significantly better. The kids enjoyed them and, yeah, I've had plenty of sausages that were nowhere near as good as these in my lifetime, but there's still a lot of work to be done. Keep that in mind if attempting my recipe.

Ingredients:

1 kg mutton, chopped into small cubes
250 g pork fat, chopped into small cubes
collagen casings
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 tbs curry powder
a good splash of cold water
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mince the mutton and pork fat and transfer to a bowl. Combine with garlic, onion, water, curry powder, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place a handful of the mince at a time into sausage stuffer (which, in my case, is the same device that minced the meat in the first place, just with a different attachment screwed in).

So yeah, the results. Okay. But still not great. I know why, though, after speaking to a local butcher.

Dryness

Dryness wasn't an issue with the second batch, but the first? Yeah. Big issue. Even though I'd used really fatty meat. The butcher said for maybe a kilogram of meat, he adds about a half cup of very cold (we're talking close to freezing here) water to the mix. Some of it will drain out later.

Casings

Collagen casings work, yeah, but they're hard to tie and they're prone to bursting. Go for the natural casings. That is, pig intestines (you can also get beef and lamb intestines). You'll have to order them 2-3 days in advance, probably, and buy a decent quantity, but that's not a problem. The butcher I go to? He's getting me a bag of casings that'll allow me to make 80-100 kg of sausages. Sounds ridiculous, but the casings are salted. They last forever. All you need to do is take the desired length (which is apparently a bit tricky) and soak it for a while.

Fresh garlic and onion

Okay, if you're planning on cooking your sausages shortly after you make them, using fresh veg isn't a problem. But point is, fresh veg significantly reduces the shelf life of your sausages.

Hanging

Sausages shouldn't be cooked right away. No, they're too fresh, according to the butcher. They're edible, I mean. The results will still be okay if you've done everything else right. But for best results, you should hang them overnight. To do this, keep them in a bundle and hang them in the fridge from a hook. Just remove a shelf or adjust the shelves so you have a large space at the bottom of the fridge. Use one of those hooks with a sticky backing. Hang them either inside a large plastic bag or over a plate, as the excess juices and water will drain out. Unless you have a dedicated fridge, this aspect of the sausage making process will limit the amount of sausages you can output in a single session. There's no point in running 10 kg of meat through your mincer if you only have room in the fridge to hang a couple of kilograms of sausages.

Mutton, mushroom and rosemary pie

Mutton has fallen out of favour in the west and that's a shame, as it's a wonderful meat. It's cheaper than lamb and, to my mind, tastes better. The taste has had longer to develop. You could, of course, substitute the mutton in this recipe for lamb, goat or even camel, but I urge you to give mutton a go.

Ingredients:

800 g mutton, cut into bite-sized cubes
600 mL beef stock (either home made or quality store-bought stuff)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
2 medium-sized brown onions, sliced
2 lamb kidneys (see relevant section)
2 dried bay leaves, crumbled
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten
handful of fresh mushrooms of your choice, sliced
a splash of Worcester sauce
a splash of red wine vinegar
a splash of milk
a generous pinch of corn flour
cooking oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Part one:

Season the cubes of mutton and diced kidney with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat some oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low flame. Add the onions and garlic, cover and cook for ten minutes, lifting the lid occasionally to stir. Deglaze the pan with a generous splash of red wine vinegar. Ensure you stir while the red wine vinegar sizzles away.



Add the mutton and fry with the lid off, stirring frequently, for four minutes. Add the diced kidney and fry for a further minute, before adding the beef stock, rosemary, bay leaves and Worcester sauce. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and partially cover the saucepan. Simmer like this for two to two and half hours, or until tender, lifting the lid occasionally to stir and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the mushrooms five minutes before you intend to turn off the heat. Add the corn flour and stir. Season with more sea salt and freshly ground black pepper if you feel it necessary. Allow to cool gradually in the saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once cool, cover and refrigerate the filling until required.

Part two:

Remove pie filling from refrigerator at least half a hour before you intend to put it in the oven. It'd be a good idea to remove the frozen pastry from the freezer about now too, so it'll be thawed in time. Pre-heat the oven to 180*C. Pour the pie filling into a pie tin. If feel it's too dry, add a tiny splash of stock. Cover the pie tin with the pastry sheet, trimming away excess pastry where necessary. Combine the beaten egg and splash of milk in a cup or other small vessel and brush over the pastry. Use a paring knife or skewer to stab a few holes in the pastry. The holes will allow the steam to escape when the filling is heated, thereby preventing the pastry from going soggy. Grind a little black pepper over the pastry. Place pie in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until the pastry is crispy and golden.