Nose to Tail Pork Sausages

One of the factors that led to hubby and I making the call to move to the country was to grow as much of our fruit and veg as possible and also to rear animals for our protein. 

So far we've had considerable success - we grow a heap of our own veggies but I have to say we've struggled with the fruit side of things (but are learning more and more every week). As for the protein part, we now have a selection of beef, goat and pork to choose from, all paddock to plate style from our property, which is brilliant. Knowing these animals have had the best quality of life, grazing free on green pastures on our property is wonderful. Knowing for a fact they were treated with the utmost of respect in life and in death is simply reassuring. Knowing that as much of the animal as possible does not go to waste, well that is helluva lot of work but undoubtedly worth it!

These sausages were born out of a need to use up the offal from two pigs that were recently slaughtered. I made some kidney and mushroom pies (which are now frozen for a couple of future meals) and really wanted to incorporate some offal into   sausages...and they were delicious! In fact it is so yum you could just transform the meat into a coarse mince and then freeze it in portions. It would be delicious in lasagna, stuffed vegetables, over any pasta, you name it!

Oh and as for buying a mincer, if you don't want to invest in an old school Italian mincer, you can purchase a simple mincer attachment for your stand mixer however it will mince everything a little finer that what is detailed below. I was umming and arring over whether to buy a proper mincer and I have to say I'm so glad I did. I've been mincing my own meat and making sausages and find I'm loving the freedom to add in a little of this or a little of that to my recipes. The only downside for me is storing the machine as there is no space in my kitchen to accommodate it so off it goes in its box, relegated to a shelf in the garage until next time we need it!

Give the recipe a go, you'll be surprised by how simple it is to make these homemade beauties. As always, please tag me in your socials if you make it as I just love seeing what everyone comes up with!

H xx

Makes:
Preparation time:
Cooking time: Nil

Ingredients:
30-35mm hog casings
3kg pork meat (preferably from shoulder or leg)
1kg pork fat
1kg pork offal (liver, kidney, heart)
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
3 tablespoons sea salt flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sweet sherry
1/4 cup crushed ice

Instructions:

1. Place the hog casing in cold water and allow to soak for at least 2-3 hours or preferably overnight.
2. Cut the pork meat, fat and offal into 2cm or so pieces and place them in a bowl. Place in the fridge for about an hour to completely chill.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients, except for the sherry and ice, into a bowl and mix to incorporate.
4. Using a 16mm plate on your mincer, mince all the pork and place into a super large mixing bowl or baking tray. Add the dry ingredients and mix everything together for at least 7-8 minutes to ensure the spices go everywhere. Then combine the sherry and ice and pour into the mixture. Using your hands, mix again for at least 5 minutes until the ice has melted and the mixture has nicely binded. Place in the fridge for another half hour (but no more than one hour) or so to chill again.
5. Fit a 10mm plate to your mincer and run through the mincer again. Voila, you have made sausages! If you are not making encased sausages all you need to do is scoop out a ball, flatten it a little and cook over a low-medium heat for 5-7 minutes each side until cooked through.
6. If you are making sausage links, open up one end of the hog casing and dip into water before fitting it onto the casing machine, leaving about 15cm of casing on the end. Tie this end off and then use the machine to fill your sausages quickly and allowing it to make one long coil.
7. Using both hands, pinch off what will be two sausages then grab the pinches which would mark the second sausages and spin it in the one direction several times to separate the sausages and make the links. Repeat the process all the way down the coil until you come to the end where you will tie off the end again.
8. Allow the sausages to dry out overnight by hanging them or alternatively lay them down in paper towel lined trays and then turn them a couple of times over the course of a day, changing the paper towel if you need to, to ensure the casing dries up. They are now ready to cook with or freeze. 
9. To freeze, it is best to vacuum seal the sausages in batches to prevent freezer burn and allow for a longer storage time (up to six months).

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