Breakfast Sausage
Notes
• Hogs, like all livestock, should have fresh air, sunlight, and freedom to move around a bit, and should not be given growth hormones or prophylactic antibiotics. Unfortunately, as with most organic and free range meat, you will probably need to visit a gourmet or specialty grocery store to find pork from hogs raised that way. Fortunately, however, when you do find it, it won't cost as much as you might think.
• Finding coarse-ground pork will be equally difficult, but it gives the sausage a stronger pork flavor than the finely ground stuff you can buy in a supermarket. You can, however, grind it at home in an old-fashioned meat grinder or with a meat grinder attachment to a Kitchen Aid mixer. If both options fail, regular fine-ground pork will still make good sausage.
Unlike Southern-style bulk sausage, this
sausage is not spicy, and it is meant to be made into links or patties.
And unlike anything you are likely to find at the grocery store, you know
what's in it. Now, that's not a knock against the random bits of pork
that go into "whole hog" sausage. It's a knock against the way
that whole hog was raised, and against the way the sausuage was likely
processed. Buy good-quailty pork (any part) from a reliable source and
make your own sausage, and you won't have to worry about any of that.
Or just try it once for a lark. Your choice.
Either way, it tastes good.
I won't provide instructions for stuffing
sausage here; the narrow casings traditional for breakfast links are hard
to find in sufficiently small quantities for the amateur sausage maker.
Patties taste the same, require less work, and can be frozen for up to
2 months.
I serve this with apple butter, never catsup.
INGREDIENTS
3 lbs. pork, coarsely ground (see note)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon allspice (or a bit more, to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (or a bit more, to taste)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients thoroughly with your hands. (You can use a spoon, but it wastes time.)
2. Pinch off a tablespoon or so of the mixture, press it into a mini-patty, and fry it over medium heat until browned. Taste for seasoning and add more of whatever you think necessary.
3. Shape the sausuage into patties, roughly 1/4 lb. each. To freeze them, slip a square of waxed paper between the patties, stack four of them at a time, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. (Use a permanent marker and masking tape to label the package.) The sausage will keep in the freezer for 2 months.
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