Homemade Pork Sausage
SKU:
Homemade sausage is surprisingly easy to make and more importantly, you know exactly what goes into it. It is also less expensive and tastes better because you control it.
Easy case of where 'made' beats 'bought' and makes enough to freeze for later.
PSA: Uses a food processor.
Easy case of where 'made' beats 'bought' and makes enough to freeze for later.
PSA: Uses a food processor.
Ingredients
2t sage, fresh or dried, more to your taste if you like a stronger sage flavor.
1½t Hawaiian or kosher salt
1t cracked black pepper
½t thyme
½t nutmeg
About 1½ pound pork shoulder/butt, boneless
2T-3T maple syrup, use more if you like a sweeter sausage
1½t Hawaiian or kosher salt
1t cracked black pepper
½t thyme
½t nutmeg
About 1½ pound pork shoulder/butt, boneless
2T-3T maple syrup, use more if you like a sweeter sausage
What To Do
To prep, mix dry spices together in a small bowl and set aside. Set out a cookie sheet. Cut 4 sheets of parchment paper long enough to cover the length of cookie sheet. Leave one sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
Cut pork into small chunks and toss in the food processor. When it is is the consistency of ground meat, dump it into a clean mixing bowl. Sprinkle spices into ground pork mix. Adjust salt, and primarily sage to your liking (it will start to smell like sausage). Add maple syrup last and mix well.
Form golf ball-sized meat balls and lay them out onto the first sheet of parchment paper, spacing them out as you would with cookie dough. It will be sticky. Get sheet #2 of parchment and press down on the meat balls to form patties that don't touch each other. Slide parchment+sausage patties+parchment from the cookie sheet.
Lay parchment #3 onto the cookie sheet, clean side down (i.e., sticky-porky side up). Repeat the process and cover patties with parchment #4. This is to make sure they are ready for individual use.
Wash your hands well. Cut the parchment so that each sausage sits by itself. Voila you will have individually packaged sausages patties. Stack them carefully on each other, put in a ziploc bag or freezer Tupperware.
Cooking (10-15 minutes)
If frozen, thaw, and peel off paper and cook over medium heat on a non-stick pan or grill. To get the nice brown crust on them, drop a little water on the sausage and cover (as you would with wonton/gyoza). Flip and repeat.
Cut pork into small chunks and toss in the food processor. When it is is the consistency of ground meat, dump it into a clean mixing bowl. Sprinkle spices into ground pork mix. Adjust salt, and primarily sage to your liking (it will start to smell like sausage). Add maple syrup last and mix well.
Form golf ball-sized meat balls and lay them out onto the first sheet of parchment paper, spacing them out as you would with cookie dough. It will be sticky. Get sheet #2 of parchment and press down on the meat balls to form patties that don't touch each other. Slide parchment+sausage patties+parchment from the cookie sheet.
Lay parchment #3 onto the cookie sheet, clean side down (i.e., sticky-porky side up). Repeat the process and cover patties with parchment #4. This is to make sure they are ready for individual use.
Wash your hands well. Cut the parchment so that each sausage sits by itself. Voila you will have individually packaged sausages patties. Stack them carefully on each other, put in a ziploc bag or freezer Tupperware.
Cooking (10-15 minutes)
If frozen, thaw, and peel off paper and cook over medium heat on a non-stick pan or grill. To get the nice brown crust on them, drop a little water on the sausage and cover (as you would with wonton/gyoza). Flip and repeat.
Notes
- We think of these as meat cookies.
- It's important to sprinkle the spices into the meat. The first time I made it, I dumped the meat into the spice mix, and got pockets of nutmeg or sage here and there, and pockets of 'blank' pork.
- You can also start with store-bought ground pork
