Many of our customers want to know what’s in our sausage and how to make it at home. We’ve answered questions for specific people and held classes at our retail shop, but I thought this question would be on a lot of people’s minds, so here’s how we make sausages.
Merriam-Webster says that sausage is “meat that has been minced and highly seasoned, usually pork, and stuffed into casings made of prepared animal intestine.” ” Great, now you know the true definition.
Even though Merriam-Webster says “usually,” I want to point out that sausage can also be made from loose meat that can be shaped into patties. Breakfast sausage is one most people recognize.
Sausage is a beloved food for many across the globe. The minced or ground meat molded into a cylindrical shape and cooked to perfection is a staple in many cuisines. But have you ever wondered – is sausage meat as unappetizing as it sounds?
As a meat lover myself I used to eat sausage without thinking twice about what went into it. That all changed when my friend made an offhand comment about sausage being made from meat scraps and leftovers. Suddenly, my favorite breakfast food seemed a lot less appetizing.
After doing some digging it turns out sausage meat isn’t as scary as it sounds. Here’s the lowdown on how sausage meat is made and what really goes into these iconic links.
A Brief History of Sausages have been making sausages for thousands of years. The earliest record of sausage dates back to an Akkadian tablet describing intestines stuffed with seasoned meat. Sausages were popular among ancient Greeks and Romans as well.
The word “sausage” comes from the Latin word “salsus” meaning salted or preserved. Sausage making evolved as a way to make use of leftover meat scraps and preserve them for longer periods by salting, smoking, or drying.
While homemade versions used leftovers, mass produced sausages today are made from specific cuts of meat.
How Is Sausage Meat Made?
Commercial sausage meat typically contains pork, beef, chicken, turkey, or a mix. The meat is ground or minced and combined with fat, seasonings, binders, and preservatives before being stuffed into casings.
Here are some key facts about sausage meat ingredients:
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Meat: Fresh, uncooked meat trimmings are used, not leftovers. Common cuts are pork shoulder, beef chuck, and chicken thigh.
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Fat: Fat is added to enhance juiciness and flavor. Pork fat is a popular choice.
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Seasonings: From garlic to sage, herbs and spices give sausage its signature taste.
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Binders: Binders like breadcrumbs or soy protein help the meat stick together.
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Preservatives: Curing salt (nitrite/nitrate) preserves color and fights bacteria. Ascorbic acid also prevents discoloration.
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Casings: Traditionally sausage was stuffed into cleaned intestines. Now collagen, cellulose, or plastic casings are common.
So while sausage got its start as a way to repurpose meat scraps, commercial versions today use fresh cuts of meat and fat.
What Parts of Animals Are Used?
Sausage can legally contain various parts from pigs, cattle, chickens, turkeys and sheep. Here are some you may find:
- Muscle meat ( tongue, heart, diaphragm)
- Organ meats (liver, kidneys, lungs)
- Fatty tissues
- Head meat
- Skin
- Blood
While you won’t find “meat scraps” on the label, sausages do make use of less popular cuts and variety meats. Offal lovers might relish the addition of heart or liver, though it weirds some people out.
Should You Be Concerned About Quality?
Not necessarily. While hot dogs and cheap sausages may contain meat byproducts and offcuts, quality focused brands use whole cuts of meat.
Reading the label can offer peace of mind. Look for sausages with a high meat content including ingredients you recognize. Avoid excess fillers like soy, corn syrup or MSG.
Buying from a local butcher or brand that sources quality meats is another good bet. Many artisan makers are happy to share what goes into their links.
The Takeaway on Sausage Meat
While “sausage meat” sounds sketchy, these savory links aren’t made from true meat scraps, leftovers, or waste. Regulations require sausages contain a minimum meat content.
However, sausages do make use of less popular cuts and variety meats to keep costs down. From an animal nose to tail philosophy, this resourcefulness is admirable. For some eaters, the addition of organs and offal is a turn off.
By reading labels and knowing your sources, you can find quality sausages made from cuts you feel good about. At the end of the day, sausages provide a tasty way to make use of parts of the animal we might otherwise discard.
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What are sausages made out of?
Most sausage is made from pork, but it can be made out of just about any animal.
The real secret behind making delicious sausage is in the addition of pork fat. A) Because its delicious and provides flavor. B) Because it transforms the texture of the ground meat into a supple and moist product.
We pretty much exclusively make pork sausages at our retail store in Denver. We usually kill one hog a week and make fresh sausages from the picnic shoulder, extra fat, and trim.
We will occasionally make lamb sausage and duck sausage. Lamb sausages will sometimes have the addition of pork fat in the recipe. However, duck sausage is usually 100% duck since the animal is very fatty to start.
Our Summer Sausage is a 60/40 blend of pork and beef that is fermented and smoked. We like the texture and flavor that the lean beef added to the fattier pork shoulder. Our unique blend of spices makes it our most popular sausage. It will be available at all Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain Region in late December!
How is sausage made?
The sausage-making process is relatively straightforward. If they have the right tools and know-how, I think almost any home cook can easily do it.
Lets start with the ingredients!
To make a proper pork sausage, you should use a pork butt or pork picnic shoulder. Both come from the pigs shoulder area and naturally have the appropriate ratio of meat to fat. Picnic shoulders cost less per pound but have more connective tissue and sinew to remove than a pork butt.
Most butcher shops should be able to sell you pork shoulder butts or pork picnic shoulders.
If you can, source heritage breed pork such as Berkshire or Duroc breeds. The meat from these pig breeds will have a beautiful red color and plenty of intramuscular fat. Plus, hopefully, you will be supporting a small local family farm.
Next, make sure to use premium spices. Quality spices are essential to creating a well-rounded flavor that doesnt dry out the sausage.
I suggest seeking out a local spice purveyor, as their spices will be much fresher than anything at your local grocery store. In Colorado, the best local spice purveyors are Italco Foods, Savory Spice Shop, and The Spice Guy.
If you add any wine or beer to your sausage, dont skimp on the quality. Add something to the recipe that you would like to drink.
Sausage casings are a crucial ingredient you should not overlook. I would highly recommend sourcing casings from one of two online resources. The Craft Butchers Pantry and Butcher and Packer offer great products. Both resources provide a wide variety of natural casings for any homemade sausage.
Again, dont skimp on quality ingredients.
A meat grinder (not an attachment for your KitchenAid), a sausage stuffing machine, a good butchering knife, and a sausage pricker are the most important tools you will need.
If you are going to ferment any sausages, they will need to be tied to hang. I recommend using a hemp twine instead of standard cotton butcher twine. Hemp twine is much stronger.
If you want to smoke sausage, you will need a smoker that can hold a few feet of sausage string. You may be able to rig something in your current smoker too.
il porcellino salumis sausage-making process is not drastically different than anybody elses. It all starts with the high-quality ingredients we harped about above.
First, we breakdown the meat. The first thing we do is trim the raw pork, getting rid of any sinew, silver skin, or glands that we don’t want. We cut the pork into 1″x1″ pieces approximately. The pork pieces need to be small enough to go through the meat grinder.
We season the meat accordingly before grinding it. Then the meat is put in the fridge overnight so that the spices and seasonings can really get into the raw pork.
The next day, we grind the pork on the medium die setting of the meat grinder. Then we take approximately ⅓ of the ground meat and grind it a second time. To help the sausage get a strong hold, we grind some of the meat a second time. This makes the meat stick together. The last thing you want is sausage with holes or air pockets in it.
Now its time to stuff the sausage into casings!
Typically, natural sausage casings come packed in salt. Its important to soak the casings under warm, running water to leach the casings of the salt. It usually takes 15 – 20 minutes to have them free and clear of salt. Plus, running warm water through the casings helps “prime” them to be stuffed with meat.
Next, we add the ground and seasoned pork to the sausage stuffing machine. Keep the meat in the stuffer as tight as possible so that there is no air between the pieces of meat. If youre following along, make sure your sausage casings are rolled onto the stuffing tube.
As you slowly turn down the sausage stuffer, the press will touch the meat, and the meat will begin to come out of the tube. When you stuff casings, it’s best not to stuff them too much because you need room to make the sausage links. So, fill your casings with the meat farce rather loosely.
Once the casings are all full, figure out how big you want your sausage links to be. A good point of measurement is approximately 5 inches. You will “pinch and twist” the casing at 5″ with your thumb and forefinger to make the sausage tighter. Repeat and repeat until you have as many links as desired.
Once youve twisted your sausage links, let them cool in the refrigerator. When the sausages cool, they firm up a bit. Once cooled and firmed, cut between the links to make portions that are easier to handle. Or cut them into individual sausage links.
Please wait until the next day to cook them.
As noted above, you can choose to ferment or smoke your sausages at this point. Talking about fermented sausage is a whole other matter, since that’s when we start talking about meat science and lacto-fermentation. We will address that process in a different blog post!.
You can cook raw sausage directly. Because the temperature can stay at 150 degrees, sous vide cooking in a hot water bath is the best way to cook sausage. You can grill raw sausages, but they can over-cook easily due to the high heat. Boiling the sausages in beer (beer poaching) imparts some nice flavor into the sausage. Many people are familiar with beer-poached brats. Beer poaching is a great way to cook them through before crisping the sausage on the grill.
Because there are so many different types of sausage, its hard to generalize whether theyre healthy or not. Overall, sausages are not unhealthy, but different sausages will have different ingredients. Some may have more sugar or salt than others, or they may contain an ingredient that doesn’t work well with a person’s diet. Ill say the same thing Ive said when we discussed other meats health impacts, consult with your doctor.
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FAQ
Is sausage meat yes or no?
What makes sausage meat?
Is sausage just ground meat?
Is sausage a shape or meat?
How do you make Italian sausage meat?
All you need to do to make your own Italian sausage meat is to mix together some ground pork with some Italian sausage seasoning. You can find ground pork at the grocery store. The Italian sausage seasoning is simply Italian seasoning mixed with a few other ingredients.
How is sausage meat used?
Sausage meat, also written as sausagemeat and sometimes called forcemeat, is used most commonly in stuffings, such as the filling for Nigella’s Turkey Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage And Marsala-Steeped Cranberries (from NIGELLISSIMA ). It is also a key ingredient for Nigella’s Mini Meatloaves (from NIGELLA EXPRESS ).
What is sausage made of?
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat —often pork, beef, or poultry —along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
What is Italian sausage meat?
Sausage meat, also written as sausagemeat and sometimes called forcemeat, is used most commonly in stuffings, such as the filling for Nigella’s Turkey Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage And Marsala-Steeped Cranberries (from NIGELLISSIMA ). It is also a key ingredient for Nigella’s Mini Meatloaves (from NIGELLA EXPRESS ).