If you are interested in making homemade sausage, you are in the right place. I’ve been making sausage for many years, and I’d like to give you my full list of steps for making sausage at home.
I’ve learned a lot in the decade-plus since I first wrote instructions on how to make sausage. I learn a new trick or tip every year. I learn more about meat science, how to get a better bind, which casings are better, etc.
This article will tell you everything you need to know to start making your own sausage. At the end, there is a sample recipe for sausage. But understand that making sausage is a process, one you will not perfect the first time out. Perfection comes with practice, precision, plus a little luck.
When crafting mouthwatering sausages at home, one of the most critical factors is determining how much salt to add per pound of meat. The right salt-to-meat ratio impacts flavor, texture, and preservation. Understand ideal amounts and employ precise measuring techniques for sausage success!
Start with the Fundamentals
Traditional British butcher’s sausages often contain just pork and two basic seasonings:
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper per pound of meat
This simple combination produces a well-balanced quintessential sausage flavor. The salt enhances the meaty taste and helps extract myosin proteins to bind the sausage. Pepper adds a subtle heat and spice.
So no matter what type of sausage you aim to make, this salt and pepper base builds a flavourful foundation.
Add Herbs and Spices Judiciously
Once the salt and pepper basics are in place, it’s tempting to get creative with lots of additional herbs, spices, and flavorings. However, it’s best to exercise restraint.
- Limit total herbs and spices to 1-2 tablespoons per pound of meat.
- Choose 2-3 complementary spices like garlic, fennel, paprika, cumin, etc.
- Use dried herbs at half the amount of fresh.
- Add potent ingredients like chili flakes sparingly.
Going overboard with seasonings can make sausage taste muddled Get the most from spices by blooming them briefly in oil before adding to meat,
Target 1.5% Salt for Most Sausages
While flavours vary sausage styles, a salt content of 1.5% of the total weight is suitable for many types This level seasons without overpowering
For a rough guide:
- Use 1 tablespoon salt per 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of meat
- Or 1.5 teaspoons salt per pound of meat
Double-check your specific recipe, as some sausages use slightly more or less salt. Cured sausages require higher salt levels.
Weigh for Accuracy
Don’t rely on spoon measurements! Volume is highly inaccurate for salt due to variability in crystal size, shape, and density.
For example, one tablespoon of table salt may weigh half as much as a tablespoon of coarse kosher salt.
Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh salt and other seasonings for precision seasoning. Measure in grams for true consistency.
Consider Salt Type
Opt for salts without anti-caking agents or preservatives like:
- Kosher salt
- Sea salt
- Pickling salt
- Canning salt
The texture should allow even distribution throughout the meat paste without being overly coarse.
Mix and Test Thoroughly
Ensure salt is uniformly dispersed after blending. Fry test patties before casing sausages. Tweak salt if needed for personal taste.
Follow Recipe Guidelines
While 1.5% works for many sausages, always defer to the recipe instructions for any style-specific guidance on salt quantities. Curing salts require strict adherence to recipes.
Achieve Sausage Greatness with the Perfect Pinch of Salt
With the right salt-to-meat ratio, your homemade sausage can become a cherished recipe rather than a salty mistake. Weigh your ingredients, bloom spices, and blend thoroughly for the best results. Then savor the flavors in your sausage making endeavors!
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Why Make Homemade Sausage?
Fair question. After all, even small supermarkets sell several kinds of sausages. The reason is that making your own gives you control. You decide how much meat and fat to use, what spices to use, how to grind the meat, how big and thick the links should be, and whether they should be smoked or fresh.
Anyone reading this who hunts or raises livestock will also want to learn how to make sausage. After all, it’s a great thing to make when you get home with a deer, ducks, pheasants, or the hogs you kill every year.
Making sausage can be as easy or as hard as you want. Putting together homemade sausage without casings is as easy as putting together meatloaf, which is a lot alike.
Casing links is a little trickier, but it ain’t rocket science. Oh, and yes, there is a little science to know about sausage making.
At it’s core, sausage is meat + fat + salt, kneaded until it binds to itself. That’s it.
Obviously most of us want to add more seasonings, or maybe stuff the sausage into casings. Or smoke it. We’ll get to all of that below. Let’s break the magic equation above down to its components.
Salt and Curing Salt
You need salt to make sausage. Period. The very word sausage comes from the Latin salsus, meaning “salted. “I use kosher salt in my recipes because it’s easy to find and doesn’t have any extra ingredients like anti-caking agents that can make your links taste bad.”
I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you use it too, my volume measurements will be the same. The way Morton’s kosher salt is cut is different, so volumetric measurements won’t work. You’ll have to use weight instead.
Which is why salting by weight is way, way, way better. When you do that, you can use whatever salt you want in homemade sausage. As weird as it sounds, I really enjoy making this with salt I’ve collected from the Pacific Ocean.
Along those lines, avoid weird salt. Like those black and bright red Hawaiian salts. Or flavored salts. Also avoid salt with really big crystals because it won’t mix evenly in your sausages.
As a general rule, use 1% to 2% of the meat and fat’s weight in salt when making fresh sausage at home. I would use at least 23 grams of salt, which is about 5 1/2 teaspoons, for a standard 5-pound batch, which is 2268 grams. In reality, I prefer my sausage saltier, so I add about 1. 5 percent by weight.
Curing salt is not evil. There, I said it.
For the purposes of this discussion we’re talking about sodium nitrite, which is used in smoked sausages. It is there for food safety — it can prevent listeria and botulism — as well as flavor. It’s why hams, pastrami and corned beef have that rosy, hammy flavor.
Also, if you think that eating “uncured” foods doesn’t give you nitrites, the companies that make them are lying. There is a hole in the rules that lets you say you’re not curing meats if you use celery powder. Well, celery powder is loaded with sodium nitrite, so there you go.
Anyway, rant over. Use one or the other when you are making smoked sausages.
Not all additives are bad in sausage. I’ve used many of them, turned down most of them, and gone back to a few more than once because they give you a better link. What I am talking about are things like vegetable fibers, dry milk, binders, etc. that can improve the texture of homemade sausage.
Two things from The Sausage Maker, C-bind (carrot fiber) and dry milk, will both help your links hold on to more water. Not usually a problem with fresh sausages, but very useful for smoked sausages.
Butcher and Packer has a “special meat binder” that is really good, and you only need tiny amounts to improve the bind of your sausage. They don’t say what it is, but I imagine it’s ground up fairy wings or gold dust or something…
How much Salt should you add to Sausages | Beyond the Recipe
FAQ
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