The definitive sausage recipe for my butcher

[melb]

Hello. I live in Ontario, Canada, but I'm from Kent, England, and I grew up on lovely sagey sausages. I have six pigs going to the butcher on Nov 4th, two of them are to be sold to a friend, but four of them are going in my freezer. I estimate them to be about 200lbs each live weight, so after processing that will be...........a truckload of sausage. Yes, we are buying another freezer.

Anyhoo, I'm trying to come up with a recipe for my butcher. He's always done me lovely sausage before, we've had several types. He's a Mennonite (it's similar to Amish) so he has a German instinct for sausage, but he's quite creative. One year he did me honey garlic and they were lovely but they burn very easily.

My husband is craving the sausage from "back home". They claim to sell English sausage here but it's usually not very good. I've been researching online and it really hasn't helped. There are endless variations.

What I remember is a lot of herbs. Mostly sage but I'm certain there was thyme in it too. None of the exotic spices, I recall it being spiced with black pepper. I'm not keen on mace, and I think the ones made here - apart from lacking herbs - are heavy on the mace. So I rejected any recipes that even included it.

I found two similar recipes:

English Country Pork Sausages

500 grams Pork boneless lean neck end, minced
250 grams Pork back fat hard, minced
1 tablespoon Salt
1 tablespoon Salt and pepper, freshly ground
1 tablespoon Parsley fresh, chopped
1 teaspoon Thyme
2 Sage leaves, finely chopped
2 metres Sausage casings

and


English Sausages

1400 grams Pork, lean
900 gram Pork, back fat
25 grams salt, powdered
10 grams Pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tablespoons Nutmeg, ground
3 Sage leaves, fresh, chopped
2 teaspoons Ground mace
3 teaspoons Thyme, fresh
5 metres Pork sausage casings

(Both from www.britishbarbecue.co.uk)

Which both look promising, but as you can see, there's quite a marked difference there in sage levels. I shall be taking the fresh sage in myself, as the stuff in the stores is always rubbish here, but I'm damn sure my sage leaves are not fullsize or something because even 2 leaves to a kilo of meat doesn't seem like enough.

I think I need expert advice on how much is too much, and if anyone knows what sausages taste like in Kent it would help.

This is going to be a LOT of sausage, so I don't want to mess it up!

[Ianinfrance]

Hi
FYI, the second recipe is mine, though with the attribution removed.

I like plenty of sage in my sausages and always use fresh sage. [In MY recipe as I make it and as I originally published it, I call for 3 tablespoons of fresh sage. ] (added for clarity)

Sigh... Now I'll have to write to the BBBQ soc and ask them to reinstate my name as author.

Here's my original recipe as I've had it in my database for >10 years.

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

English Sausages

misc, mix, sausages

1400 g pork, lean
900 g pork, back fat
5 metres pork sausage casings
25 g salt -- powdered
10 g pepper -- ground
1/2 nutmeg -- ground
3 tb sage, fresh -- chopped
----OPTIONAL----
2 ts ground mace
3 ts thyme, fresh

Wash the sausage casings thoroughly inside and out in running water,
making sure they do not escape down the drain! Fill with tepid water,
and leave to soak in the sink while preparing the sausage meat.

Cut all the meat into 1" cubes, so that it can be minced. With the
coarse blade in the mincer, pass all the fat through. Then change the
blade and mince the lean meat. Grind the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and
carefully fold in evenly, together with the herbs and any other
spices chosen.

Mix all together thoroughly, taking care not to beat too vigorously,
the meats should not be completely homogenised. Take a small patty
and cook it in a frying pan to check the seasoning. Re-season if
needed.

Slide the skins onto the filling tube and fit to the mincer. Fill the
casings, taking care not to fill too tightly, or the sausages will
burst when cooked. Twist into suitable sized links and hang up in a
cool place to mature 24 hours before freezing or cooking.


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.86 **

[melb]

Glad I found you then! Yes, that does help, tablespoons are far more precise. Thanks.

[wheels]

Melb

This seems to be one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions that's dependant on what you think of as an 'English Sausage".

Ian's interpretation, although no doubt an excellent sausage, would not be seen by many people to be the typical (most common) type of sausage on sale in England. Most of those would contain some proportion of rusk or breadcrumbs along with water.

There are a number of these in the recipe thread:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=3176

You may want to see the recipes for Gloucester sausage (page 1), Cumberland (page 3) or Gary Rhodes recipe posted by Akesingland (page 6), this Lincolnshire sausage, or even my own breakfast sausage. These are, in my opinion, 'typical English sausages' designed with quality in mind, unlike many commercial versions which are designed for maximum profit.

Phil

[melb]

Yes, LOL, I'm acutely aware of the string analogy, it was pretty much what the butcher said:)

Fact remains, over here we DO see packages marked as "English Sausage" and somebody somewhere has got this idea in their head that there is such a thing.

I am trying to avoid the rusk/filler. As far as I can establish, that's done for economy and I'm not short of meat:) It also soaks up fat/moisture, and I prefer not to do that. I'd rather it ran out during cooking, and if that leaves the sausage just this side of moist, I'm OK with that as I always add a sauce of some sort (ketchup/gravy/whatever)

It also appears to me, from what I've read, that the coarser meat and herb flavouring is considered more of a "country" sausage. And I think that's what I'm aiming for.

I suppose what I should do is find a bit of ground pork and make a small quantity, just quickly as patties.

[wheels]

...Fact remains, over here we DO see packages marked as "English Sausage" and somebody somewhere has got this idea in their head that there is such a thing.

I am trying to avoid the rusk/filler. As far as I can establish, that's done for economy and I'm not short of meat:) It also soaks up fat/moisture, and I prefer not to do that...

That's fine, and the beauty of a bespoke product, but without the rusk/water it won't, IMO, be a typical English sausage.

Phil

[melb]

Oh well....now that...LOL...that's an argument I would never get into:) That would be like the Shepherd's Pie argument, and um....no...not going there:)

[wheels]

Oh go on, you know you want to!

[johnfb]

So you want to raise the best English sausage argument again...no argument...it has to be the Wheels blend...I thought I had put this one to bed a long time ago...IT'S THE WHEELS BLEND

[Mike D]

I have got to agree John, the Wheels blend does it every time for me!! It is just excellent! (and goes well with his bread rolls too )

[johnfb]

ohh God, don't mention his bread rolls....I can hear him screaming all the way from Dublin

[wheels]

OK it's a superb sausage - but there again so are many of the others I listed - none of them are 'better' than the others - they're all different.

...but to be remembered for a bread roll that imitates a pappy shop bought burger bun.

...and I don't know what John's on about - he gets royalties!

Phil

[johnfb]

OK it's a superb sausage - l

You could just have left your post at that...

[sausagemaker]

I am with wheels on this after reading the thread I looked at my books and found a mention in one coming from a cook book from King Richard II (1367 - 1400) in which it states that grated bread should be added.
Cannot get much more English than that can we?.

melb wrote

Oh well....now that...LOL...that's an argument I would never get into:) That would be like the Shepherd's Pie argument, and um....no...not going there:)

As for your Shepherds Pie !! simple Shepherds Pie = Lamb: Cottage Pie = Beef

Regards
Richard

[saucisson]

I would suggest that if you want a pure meat English sausage go with Ian's and if you want a English Banger then go with Phil's breakfast.

Either way you will get a great taste of home

Dave