Homemade Sausage Class

Homemade Sausage Class

I attended a sausage making class over the long weekend – it seemed an appropriate way to mark the Queen’s birthday. As you know I dabble in the mercurial art of putting together a great tasting snarler, so I went to see if could pick up some more tips. The class was taught at the Weltec School of Hospitality by Terry McKee from Island Bay Butchery. He also had a sidekick to assist him - Don Andrews, who owns Island Bay Butchery. Together they offered pearls of wisdom about the making of sausages. They also talked about the scientific component of the art, the chemistry that occurs between various meats, fats and spices and I learnt a few new things.

 

 

After a sausage making demo and talk from Terry we were given 1kg of minced meat, 60% beef and 40% pork, which we were instructed to add our desired spices and flavours to. I added salt, ground cumin, smoked paprika, mace, ground black pepper, white pepper and nutmeg to my minced meat. Once this was done it was stuffing time.

 

 

Here’s the finished product. I cooked these sausages for tea the next day with mashed potato, peas and broccoli. The sausage was pleasant to eat, but not great, I have made better snarlers. However the satisfaction of continuing to experiment and learn about making my own was well worth it.

 

 

Today in the Life lift out that accompanies the Dominion Post, there is story about Terry who ran the class. Island Bay Butchery continues to make by hand a wide array of quality sausages, and I would recommend that if you are in the shop to purchase you favourite banger, also buy one of their black puddings. It’s an underrated sausage that tastes great. Here is a link to the story.

Homemade Pork, Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Sausages

Homemade Pork, Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Sausages

Inspired by the sausages I had consumed from Westmere Butchery I decided to have a go at making some of my own. I "imagined" the quantities…. My sausages had approximately 1.4kg of pork shoulder, put through a 6mm grinder, and had a bit of back and shoulder fat added. I used six Packham pears, stewed and then cooled in the fridge, about ¾ of cup of coarsely chopped walnuts, and 100g of Galaxy blue vein cheese. This was frozen and finely grated. Once made the sausages rested overnight.

 

 

 

 

I took some to work the next day and shared these with my work colleagues over a quick lunchtime bite. I also cooked some for the whanau dinner. These were served with roasted capsicum, mushrooms – with pesto and olive oil, tomatoes and mashed spud.

 

 

The sweetness of the pork and pear were complemented by the tang of blue cheese, while the walnut added pockets of flavour, and the texture of coarse nuts. One work colleague said I had the balance just right, while the others also made favourable comments. At home the whanau also liked the sausages and were pleased to see that there were some left. Sausage Boy didn’t like the walnuts, but he has never been keen on nuts. I consider the blue flavour was subdued. It comes down to individual taste about how strong you would like the flavour of blue cheese.

I was pleased with this experiment and will use similar quantities again when I make this flavour of sausage in the future.

For an index of homemade sausages on the blog click here.  

Christmas Sausages

Christmas Sausages

I made some sausages for Christmas, for Christmas Eve dinner with friends and Christmas lunch with whanau.

I used the Christmas colours of red and green to flavour the sausages with capsicum, Granny Smith apples and shallots. The flavour I was aiming to create was mostly sweet with a little bit of tartness from the apple. My aim was to please the punters and make a sausage that will appeal to all.

 

I used two kilos of minced pork and I had the longest string of snarlers I had created. The long string meant that the two abreast tying method had its challenges, and this had to be done using the bench as base. However I did succeed in the task. I started making quite large sausages at the beginning of the string, as handling was a challenge. As I worked my down the length the snarler size decreased.

 

 

The kitchen was a hive of activity on Christmas Eve morning, and as the sausages were being finished, my wife was creating a recipe from Nigella Lawson, a gooey chocolate triple meringue stack for Christmas Eve dining.

 

 

On Christmas Eve we also took some marinated rump steak which was farm kill meat that a friend in the Wairarapa had given us. I said to my wife, when I tell our host, that it is farm kill beef, he will say, "You’re sure it’s not road kill?" True to form, he posed this question.

 

 

When we went to friends for Christmas Eve, four adults missed the soiree due to a bug that was doing the rounds. We had five adults and nine soon to be adults present. This definitely lowered the average age and also meant the balance of whole table conversations reflected the young in spirit nature of the dinner. As we ate, conversed and chattered about the table it made you realise that our kids are growing up.

The sausages went down well and positive comments were received about the homemade snarlers. There was a lot of food and the only portion of the meal that was completely eaten were the desserts. They were delicious.

 

The following day it was off to my sister’s house for a Christmas lunch. We took sausages, Jansson’s temptation, a Swedish potato dish, along with salmon and pate for starters. The sausages and a butterflied leg of lamb were cooked on the barbecue. When the meal was being eaten my ten year old niece said, "This sausage is yummy." High praise indeed.

 

 

So at the end of the day I reflect, with a full belly, on the charm of Christmas. It is not about the rampant consumerism that I consider to be too much of a focus in society. It is about family and friends, enjoying each other’s company with food, frivolity and laughter. And my sister, who is an Anglican vicar, would add …. "Hey, and remember the birth of Jesus too."

For an index of homemade sausages click here.   

Homemade Pork and Apple

Homemade Pork and Apple

I made some sausages for a family barbecue held to celebrate my mother’s 84^th birthday.

I have been given a book Home Sausage Making by Susan Peery and Charles Reavis, and I used the pork and apple recipe as a basis to create some birthday snarlers.

 

 

I used one and half apples, a small leek and the zest of a lime. I cooked this up and then added the mix to a kilo of minced pork.

 

 

The stuffing and tying went satisfactorily, with assistance from a handy family member to wind the crank on the machine.

 

 

They were cooked on our new barbecue, along with some chicken sausages from Island Bay Butchery and beef tenderloin. I had marinated the beef in soy sauce, garlic and whole grain mustard. I also made a couple of salads, potato and mixed green. Simple fare on what I had hoped would be nice summer evening.

 

 

The sausages went down well with many positive comments. In our whanau we do speak with some frankness and if people were not keen on the end product they will make this clear. The sweetness of the apple complimented the pork, although the tartness of lime did not come through and I could not detect this on the palate. Next time I will use more apple and lots more lime or lemon zest. I enjoy experimenting with flavours as I make sausages.

 

 

It was a successful evening and I was pleased with how the sausages tasted. I now have five days before the next whanau event, Christmas dinner/barbecue. Guess who is supplying the sausages? There will be some that I make and others that I will purchase. See the review of the Christmas lunch here.

For an index of homemade sausages click here.

Homemade Onion, Capsicum and Garlic Sausages

Homemade Onion, Capsicum and Garlic Sausages

One day I will follow a sausage recipe, however for my second attempt at homemade sausages I decided to yet again follow my instincts and made sausages using onion, capsicum and garlic for flavour.

I had talked to Gordon the butcher at Park Ave Quality Meats about the first batch I had made, see link. I told him that the casing was tough and he asked me how long I had soaked the casing? My response was, nil. So I had already learnt one new tip about the process of sausage making.

The capsicum was cut into chunks, little squares of red. The onion was diced to a medium degree, while the garlic was cut finely. These were placed into a pot and simmered on a very low heat on our gas stove for around 75 minutes. The flavour ingredients were cooked to a very mushy consistency.

 

 

I used two kilos of coarse to medium pork mince that I had purchased from Park Avenue. The meat and flavour was combined prior to packing into the casing. I had the urge to add paprika, chilli flakes or something to give the sausages a bit a kick, but resisted this. I was aiming to make a sausage that would appeal to all and be mild in taste.

 

 

I was satisfied with my filling of the casing, however the tying of the sausages did not go as well as my first attempt. I should have watched the You Tube video before I started, however I will learn from this experience and do better next time.

 

 

These sausages were consumed at two events. One was a family function at our house with the sausages as an aperitif to the main course. Having lots of extra mouths to feed on the work day I elected to make a couple of pots of soup. I arrived home at 5pm and by 6.10pm I had two big pots of soup ready to eaten, accompanied with bread. I cooked an Asian pork noodle soup and a pot of chicken and chorizo soup see link. The snarlers were cooked at the same time the soup was being prepared. I thought I did quite well to prepare this food in a relatively short time frame.

 

(I now find I have deleted the photos of the cooked snarlers, sorry about this, but no images this time)

 

We tried to squeeze 14 people around our dining room table, a tight fit, so it does encourage conviviality. However we only managed 12, so as cook I ate my food in the kitchen. We do have an open plan dining kitchen area, so I was able to contribute to the banter, and offer erudite (and spurious) comments over dinner.

I also served some of the sausages to my work mates when a couple of us put on afternoon tea one day. My colleagues consider me a bit of a sausage obsessive - I don’t know why? They had been asking if I was ever going to bring some of my own sausages to share, so I took these along for a mid-afternoon brain boost.

The response from both the whanau and work colleagues was very positive. They liked the meatiness of the sausage. The sweetness of the onion and capsicum complemented the pork. I considered these were successful and these have formed the basis for an idea for one variety of sausages that I will take to the whanau Christmas barbecue.

It was a successful sausage making escapade and I look forward to making more snarlers again.

For an index of homemade sausages click here.

Homemade Sausages

Homemade Sausages

This weekend I made my first batch of sausages at home using my newly purchased sausage stuffer. I used pork mince I purchased from Park Ave Quality Meats. It was  a medium to coarsely ground pork mince that is primarily from the shoulder.

 

To the mince I added fresh finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and smoked chipotle chilli flakes. I used the “looks an ok amount” form of measurement when adding the quantities, no recipe just feel and taste. I tested the flavour by making a small pattie and cooking this in a frying pan.

The natural casings came from Moore Wilsons.

One of the boys helped me by turning the crank as I stuffed the sausages. The stuffing of sausages is an art where I still need to practice more. However I was very pleased with the result. A few air bubbles, and some inconsistent packing, but I will work on improving my skills in this area.

 

When I came to tying the sausages I used You Tube to locate this short video. This is an easy method, it ties the sausage tube into sausages two abreast. This is much easier than the three sausages per tie method which I’d previously been shown.

 

After letting the sausages rest for a day, I cooked them for Sunday lunch. They oozed a bit, however I was very pleased with the result. The sausage gannets of the family hovvered up the sausages in short order. They liked the flavour and liked the level of spiciness in the sausage, though the casing was bit chewy. This sausage had the flavours of paprika, chilli and garlic.

 

 

I will make more sausages and experiment with different flavours, watch this blog for new instalments. It is always good to try new things, and I enjoyed the making and eating of the sausages.

For an index of homemade sausages click here.