Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sweet Italian Sausage and Today's Harvest

I have had a pork butt thawing in the refrigerator since mid week so that I could make sausage and today was the day. This is the recipe that I used, except that I had just over 8 lbs of pork butt so everything was quadrupled.

Sweet Italian Sausage

2.2 lbs pork butt
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander

The original recipe actually had a small amount of pepper in it but I missed it. The sausage is so good that I really don't think it matters much. I did have a picture of the pork butt before I started cutting but the batteries in the camera died and are now charging so all these pictures are thanks to Virgin Mobile, in other words, not very good, sorry it's all I had.
 Meat all cut up and spice mixture ready.
Filling the casings. I used natural hog casings this time. For some reason my meat grinder/stuffer had a really hard time with this meat today. It went incredibly slow and had to be stopped and cleaned several time. It took me 3 hours to do all this. 
 Lots of sausage and some taste testing patties that were left over. I actually didn't get to taste it until just a few minutes ago as Romeo decided to run away and I had to climb the hill behind the house (yes, I managed to hurt my back somehow) and wander through the woods until I found him (Mommy was VERY angry!). 
Then the animals had to be fed (quite late) and Phil had made me a barrier out of pallets to put in front of the pig pen door because the door is so big and the pigs try to get out when I open it, plus they push a lot of dirt against the door and every day I have to shovel it away just to get the door closed again. The barrier should work great. It is low enough so that I can step over it but enough to keep the pigs in and keep them from pushing dirt against the door. 
After that the milk I had in the crock pot had cooled enough and needed the yogurt starter put in it and then put in the oven. I also had a sourdough sponge in the oven (it had been in there a bit long but I didn't know the sausage would take me so long) so I had to get the flour, sugar and salt in it and then knead it and get it put back in the oven to rise. 
I then went down to the garden and picked these lovelies:
Tonight we will have sweet Italian sausage and cabbage for supper.

Anyway, I finally got to fry up the patties and the sausage is quite good.  I hope it lasts a while because it may be a while before I attempt it again.

22 comments:

  1. Yum, sausage and cabbage sounds wonderful!

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  2. I was just watching Alton Brown make sausage this morning while I was putting lunch together. He made a breakfast sausage and then an Italian sausage. I didn't get to make notes but it looked about like your production. He was talking about fennel seeds for sure because I was thinking I have some of those and don't remember why I bought them. The one thing he did and stressed that was important was to chill the meat for an hour after cutting in chunks and seasoning. He said that would allow better fat distribution and even flavor. I did not chill mine when I ground some pork for a recipe but it got all mixed in when I made the recipe. But you know Alton Brown, he gets so scientific that it's hard to know when he is getting crazy. I do love his show though.

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    1. I should have chilled mine some but there was no room in the freezer. I have heard that it grinds better that way.

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  3. It does, and it is also helpful to freeze your grinder parts. Everything should be as cold as possible as it prevents the fat from breaking from the rest of the meat. I was taught to use frozen meat for the first grind and then keep it very cold, even grinding it into a bowl set in ice, before the stuffing step.

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    1. Now that is a good idea. I could do a bowl of ice, and I might be able to put the grinder parts in the freezer--maybe. Thanks.

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  4. That looks like it would make a great meal. Sausage and cabbage are so good.

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  5. Wow! What a productive day! Your cabbage are beautiful...I'm sure your meal was delicious!

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    1. It was great!Sunday is almost my only really productive day every week. During the week I have work from noon to 7:00, then two days a week I have to take Michelle to GED class at 9:00 (she was homeschooled and now needs to get her GED) so Sunday is my day to do what I want to do as far as self sufficiency goes. Phil has been a great help lately too and we have gotten a lot done so far this year.

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  6. Busy day! Ditto on keeping everything very cold. One time I made sausage and had a really hard time with it. It wasn't grinding correctly and seemed kinda pasty. I had forgotten to put the cutting blade in the grinder! Texture was off, flavor was fine. Sounds like you had a grand supper!

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    1. I had the cutting blade in though wondered if it would do better without it, lol. Next time cold everything.

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  7. That sausage looks great. I just finished making sage breakfast sausage and want to try Italian Sausage next but do like it on the hot side. Also made Canadian bacon for the first time and that is so good. Have a piece of beef in brining now for corned beef for next week. Can't wait to see how that comes out.

    Beautiful cabbage also.

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    1. I will be trying Canadian bacon eventually too. Corned beef would be nice but beef is so ridiculously expensive here.

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  8. I love the way that Italian recipes include loads of fennel in their sausages and salamis. It really enhances the flavour of the meat - especially pork.

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  9. oooh, can I come for dinner? I love fresh sausage ;-) Especially Italian style. I'd love to find a recipe for the kind I had in Italy. My host said they just called it "long sausage". I"m not sure what was in it but it was really good. Strangely the sausage were only about as fat as your thumb, so I'm not sure what critter they used for the casings.

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    1. I imagine it was either sheep casings or collagen.

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  10. I got tired just reading all the things you did in such a short period of time. Hope your back is OK. Beautiful cabbages.

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    1. Well, it is after work right now and it is not exactly feeling good. I have the heat and massage on it though.

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  11. Beautiful cabbages & sausage! We make our own sausage as well. It can take some time to do. We have found that it is a two person job. One to put the meat in the grinder and one to handle the casing as it is filling. It goes a lot faster that way.

    Take care of your back!

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    1. My grinder was clogging so much and letting the meat out so slow that I didn't need another person :(
      I would love to take a couple days off and let my back take a break but this week happens to be the week our Unit Director is going to be out of town for 3 days and I am left in charge. No breaks for my back this week.

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  12. Where do you get the casings to stuff the sausage into? That looks really good! But more importantly, you know exactly what is going into your sausage! I'd like to try this!

    Sandi

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    1. I bought the casings, both the natural hog casings and the collagen ones from eBay.

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  13. A specialty butcher should be able to get the stuff you need for sausage, bacon, and other cured meats. I get hog casings in three different sizes from my local butcher, and can order bellies in any size for bacon. They also have curing salt and some of the exotic spices and ingredients in stock. Failing that, here's a link to a great online supplier: http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=index

    Becky, try putting some of your sausage in the smoker, at low temperature (135) for a couple hours. It's outstanding!

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