sausages part 2

Ok, so yesterday was sausage making day.

Ten kilos of pork mince and fat (has to be 25% fat) had been mixed with the herb & spice mix.  I don't know if I'm allowed to 'share' the secret ingredients, but just because we're all friends I will.

To ten kilos they add:

230 gm salt

90gm paprika

80gm peppercorns (I'm guessing this is coarsely ground)

70gm aniseed

70gm chilli

Actually, this is all probably ground, you know what men are like, no instructions on the piece of paper, just whats in it. As long as they know what they're doing!  You know, secret mens business and all that!

Beef & Garlic and Lebanese

Chicken

The sausages were made and divided.  We actually tried some last night.  The chicken ones were divine - yep, I'll go through that boning and skinning again - the others were tasty but dry.  I think next time I will pay more attention to the ratio of meat to fat.

The Italian ones got hung with the batch from last week.  You can see in the pic how much they cure in just one week.

One week old

The fresh ones being hung

In about two to three weeks we'll take them down, wash them in wine (that could be a dangerous exercise), rub them with olive oil and cryovac in lots of three.

And then .... pig out on them .... excuse the pun!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend :)

sausage time

Once a year DH goes off to an old work colleagues house where a group of blokes make Italian sausages.  He brings them home, hangs them for a couple of weeks before he cryovacs them.  Everyone just loves them, but we have learned over the years that they must last for twelve months...so... NO you can't have some.  Everyone wants to take just one packet.  We love to share it with our friends and family, but don't hand it out willy nilly!

This year there were lots of casings left, so hubby and his mate decided to bring them home and make some more.  So, I ordered the pork and picked it up this morning.  Before I went, I looked online for some sausage recipes to make.  I found this fantastic link here that lists an amazing assortment.  I picked these three to try because I had all the ingredients in the pantry except the meat - Italian Beef & Garlic, Chicken & Onion Sausage and Lebanese Kabob Sausage.  

Ingredients sorted, I started to mix.

The beef & garlic and lebanese were easy really.  Skinning & boning two and half kilo's of chicken legs is NOT fun.  Gee, was I glad that was over.  My friend (we are sharing with) came over and we shared a few drinks, medicinal purposes of course - to get us through the rest of the night - and of course to go with the fantastic game of Aussie Rules football that was on - GO THE MIGHTY EAGLES - sorry, had to get that in, just in case there's any Geelong supporters out there!!!

Sausage making on the go tomorrow, will post you all the gritty details!!

Have a fantastic weekend :)