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I have been adjusting the proportions of my low fat sausage recipe and have
standardised on the one below. I gives a good texture, binds well together and frys
well. I have given up trying to emulate different amounts of fat in different sausages
by increasing the amount of silk tofu. This really just does not work very well.

Now I simply make whatever the regional spice variation is with the standard mix,
and call it �Cumberland�, �Manchester�, �Herb�, etc.

The variation below is for a �Lincolnshire� style sausage, which I allways associate
(correctly?) with the traditional �pepper� flavoured English sausage. I could find no
mix for this anywhere, so used the back of a package for ingredients and mixed up
what I think is a �peppery� style spice.

Any corrections from Parson Snows gratefuly recieved.

NB I think that the overall spice balance is quite good, but this sausage has very little
fat, and therefore flavour carrier in it. You may wish to start out using half the total
amount of spice and testing it before finally putting all of it in.

1 pound low fat pork mince

40 grams of brown breadcrumbs or brown rusk

2 ounces of silken tofu finely chopped

salt to taste, plus a bit

Two to four tablespons of liquid (normally water but may be beer, wine & or
brandy/grappa), or equivalent in cracked ice.

the spice mixture (see later)

Add all the dry ingredients to a cold bowl and mix and knead thoroughly until a paste,
almost doughlike, has formed. Add the liquid, topping up as necessary .

Now, you can stuff into hog or sheep casings, and link up.


Lincolnshire style sausage Spice


A scant 1 teaspon of white pepperCORNS, which you then finely mill

1/2 teaspoon each of black and green peppercorns, half coarse milled, the rest cracked

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon each of ground dried ginger and cayenne (you can adjust to taste,
just sufficient to enhance the peppery nature).

Mix the dry spices together.

Hi Darkstream

The recipe for the spice you have stated is more like a cumberland sausage this style is highly spiced with black pepper where as the Lincolnshire is predominantly a sage flavoured sausage.

Hope this helps

Regards
Sausagemaker

You may find the following information of some interest

*** Start of text
Lincolnshire sausages bid to be the new champagne

Posted on Tuesday, 26th October 2004 at 16:47

BUTCHERS in Lincolnshire have launched a bid to give Lincolnshire Sausages the same protected status as French Champagne.

The campaign, which is supported by 13 butchers and backed by the Lincolnshire Forum for Agriculture and Horticulture, will submit an application to the European Union (EU) to secure Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for the sausage.

PGI status will prevent copycat production of Lincolnshire Sausages and make it illegal for butchers from outside the county to pass-off their sausages as Lincolnshire Sausages.

A successful application will give Lincolnshire Sausages the same protected status as Champagne, Parma Ham, Stilton Cheese and Jersey Potatoes.

The campaign was initiated by one of Lincolnshire's largest butchers, George Adams & Sons. Spokesman Graham Booth explained: "We have been disappointed with the quality and variability of Lincolnshire Sausages from manufacturers outside the region. Consumers are left with a poor imitation that is far from the original high quality pork sausage flavoured with sage.

"We hope to collect together butchers and manufacturers in Lincolnshire to agree some key elements in forming a Lincolnshire Sausage specification and protect this. This will prevent inferior sausages being labelled Lincolnshire Sausages. Consumers will be able to buy Lincolnshire Sausages, assured that the quality is up to scratch."

The campaign has received official backing from the Lincolnshire Forum for Agriculture and Horticulture, which supports food producers throughout the County.

Janet Godfrey, Chairman of the Lincolnshire Forum for Agriculture and Horticulture said: "A proper Lincolnshire Sausage made to the traditional specification that was developed in the County hundreds of years ago is a top quality product and has every right to share the same status as Parma Ham and Champagne."

Food experts, including TV Chef Clarissa Dickson Wright have also voiced support for the campaign.

The 14 butchers and the Lincolnshire Forum for Agriculture and Horticulture are currently developing a precise specification for the Lincolnshire Sausage, including the nature of the raw materials and reasons why the products should be protected. This will be presented to the EU by DEFRA early in 2005.

According to the butchers behind the bid, the ingredients for a Lincolnshire sausage should be:

� British pork
� Breadcrumbs of bread rusk
� Sage
� Natural hog casings
� Seasonings

To be successful, the bid will also need to provide documented historic evidence to demonstrate an incontrovertible link between the County and the sausage.

"We are working with a range of people, including local historians and the Universities to find evidence to support the link," added Graham Booth for George Adams.

Anyone with information that may be able to help the bid should contact Graham at George Adams in Spalding on 01775 766161.

*** end of text

Kind regards

Parson Snows

I have seen this a number of times.

It gives no indication of what the spice mixture is, or is "suposed" to be.

This will no doubt make it dificult for Linconshire buutchers, whose recipes remain secret from eachother, to prove that there actally is a "Lincolnshire" suasage with a common ancestry and flavour, using agreed upon contents.

At present, a package back is the best source of actally available information, whether it is correct or not.

This recipe was kindly given to me by UK Butcher Phil Groth and is reproduced here with his kind permission.

*** text starts
Lincolnshire Sausage

15lb of belly or shoulder pork approx 25% fat
3lb of water
7oz of seasoning (see below)
1lb 12oz of rusk
3oz of dried sage

o Mince the pork through the large holed plate.
o Mix all the ingredients together.
o Mince this mixture through the small hold plate.
o Fill into clean hog intestines
o Fry sausages and enjoy

Seasoning Mix
1 lb salt
2oz ground white pepper
2oz ground black pepper
2oz ground nutmeg
1oz ground mace
1oz ground ginger
1/2 oz ground allspice (pimento)
Mix all the ingredients together well and keep in a sealed jar.

This is a basic pork sausage spice mix that can be used in many recipes.

Phil
*** text ends

I hope that you find this of some use



As to my Lincolnshire Recipe

Oddley wrote

I have yet to try the garlic sausage and you have not posted or sent to me the Lincolnshire recipe ( I feel very hurt... )

I replied

If Franco has no use for it then I�ll be more than happy to post it on the forum. The decision lies with Franco as he PM�d me for it specifically, I believe to consider including as one of his sausage seasonings/mixes. I apologise for this, but I do appreciate that Franco�s also trying to run a business as well as provide a FREE and hopefully �excellent/accurate� sausage making forum.

Kind regards

Parson Snows

Though this isn't my Lincolnshire recipe I have tried it and it works well. Typically I have done this for 3 kilos using the seasoning as follows

Seasoning/Spices (approximately 2.6 %)
42 g Salt
5 g Ground White Pepper
5 g Ground Black Pepper
5 g Ground Nutmeg
2.5 g Ground Mace
2.5 g Ground Ginger
1.25 g Ground Allspice
15 g Dried Rubbed Sage Leaves

kind regards

Parson Snows

Do you grind your own spices, or use pre-ground? I suspect that freshly ground spices would be stronger - and make a fair difference to the flavour.

Aris asked

Do you grind your own spices, or use pre-ground?

As Darkman stated

Lincolnshire style sausage Spice
A scant 1 teaspon of white pepperCORNS, which you then finely mill
1/2 teaspoon each of black and green peppercorns, half coarse milled, the rest cracked 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon each of ground dried ginger and cayenne (you can adjust to taste, just sufficient to enhance the peppery nature).

I'll assume that the question was directed to myself and Phil's Lincolnshire Sausage recipe.
As I am based in Thailand I do not use any preground spices if I can possibly avoid it (spoiled for choice). Also due to the heat and humidity I do not keep any spices for longer than three (3) months. Personally I have on hand a two to three day supply of most of the common spices already ground. From these I weigh out all of the herbs/spices that I need and add them altogether to the spice mill, this then amalgamates the mixture. For these Lincolnshire sausages I would recommend adding a few dried parsley leaves along with some dried sage leaves and one or two cracked black pepper corns prior to passing the mix through the sausage stuffer into the skins.

I hope that this information is of some use to you

kind regards

Parson Snows

Thanks for the info guys. I looked at my �package� recipe and found that it DID have
sage in it!

But The Cumberland also has sage and pepper (and other things), so perhaps they are
just variations of the same thing.

I found another �package� Lincolnshire sausage today that included sage, thyme,
pepper, nutmeg and mace. So perhaps I am getting confused again.

I will say this however. My �pepper� spice mix with a hint of ginger and cayenne, no
sweet spices or herbs, DEFINETLY reminds me of a kind of pepper English sausage I
used to eat frequently.

Am I thinking of some other identifiable sausage that you can recognize Parson?

As a long time curry maker I allways grind my (dried) spices fresh. I did once use
fresh ginger for ginger flavouring in a Cumberland, but it did not give the right
flavour overall. I think this is because English butchers allways used dried ginger
(fresh ginger has only been commonly available in this country quite recently,
historically speaking).

I think I will give Len Poli�s luganaga a go tonight.

Looking forward to more definitive/typological recipes when you have time Parson.

Regards,

Darkstream

You will find that most Lincolnshire sausages are quite "peppery". If you want to get an idea from a "packaged" sausage then I would certainly recommend Geo. Adams Lincolnshire Pork Sausages. For seasonings, all these have in them are salt, pepper and sage. You can pick these up at ASDA, M&S, Safeway and Sainsbury. If you do pick up a package I would appreciate the breakdown of the ingredients etc. from the package. They're still one of my favourite "standards".

you wrote

Looking forward to more definitive/typological recipes when you have time Parson

As the "Book of Sausages" covers the Suffolk sausage in great depth.
"Suffolk Sausage (England) A fairly coarsely chopped pork sausage, with a pronounced flavour of herbs."
I'll post a couple of recipes for this variation next

kind regards

Parson Snows