Sausages!

I'm no expert but I'm getting better thanks to my friends here,

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

I create my own spice mixes and recipes.

That's because I know what I want from a sausage and don't really want to use someone elses recipe.

I want to make my sausage,not theirs,that's not saying theirs isn't excellent,it is,it's just not mine,and for me creating your own is what the adventure of sausage making is all about.

My first banger was okay but I didn't mix it enough to get the myosin working.

Myosin is just what happens with the salt in the mix,I use sea salt,you need to work it to get it working to MAKE it work,that's very important.

Later I'll post some recipes.

I made a chicken sausage and they were fabulous,adventurous for a second attempt but by crikey they were good!

I wish I'd made a bigger batch!

Since then I've made more batches of pork sausages and later I'll post the recipes I've used but I've made relatively plain bangers which I like,a breakfast sausage,you still need to add certain spices but not a lot.

I've made sausages with beer(Bishops Finger)and I'm working on using hops if I can after a mate sent me some,very tasty sausages.

But by far my best are the last two batches.

One was with Red Leicester cheese and chives,Oh mate you really have to taste those!

The last one I made I call the "Breaking all the rules sausage".

It's basically the first sausage I made but learning from my mistakes,it's a heck of a good sausage that gave me the taste I was looking for in what I call a fairly plain English sausage.

I used pork butt(fatty pork shoulder)

Salt

White pepper

Nutmeg

Parsley

Thyme

Marjoram

And a generous squirt of lemon juice.

I used very little water and rusk,much less than some recommend but it worked for me,and the lemon juice gives them a lovely "zing".

My equipment is still primitive,a plastic mincer/grinder I was given through freecycle.

I bought some stuffing tubes to fit it.

Now I need to upgrade,I'm hooked on making sausages and plan to make black pudding.

I'll be trying bacon one day,I say not just yet but knowing me it won't be long before I have a go!

So far I've only used collagen casings,I thought they'd be easier for the novice.

Not the best choice,I've used mine up now so I'll be getting hog casings in future.

A random selection of pics,the knots are what you have to do with collagen skins.

The pic on the plate is the chicken sausages,homemade mash but sadly frozen yorkie puds and frozen peas.

Still a good feed though when it's your own sausages.

One pic is the cheese sausages.

The other is the last batch roughly described above,coarse ground twice,you can see the chunks of fat in it.