Almost everybody enjoys a good smoked sausage. All through the year you can find smoked sausage as one of our favorite appetizers, along with cheese, crackers, and some good spicy mustard. In the summer with a cold beer relaxing at a campsite, or during the holidays on a fancy tray with friends and family. The europeans have known about sausages for hundreds of years. Visit a butcher and you'll see the various sausages hanging from the ceiling, or behind the counter. Thin ones, thick ones, curved ones, long ones, short ones. Some made with wine, or garlic, or a variety of other ingredients. For some its a little bit of heaven.
Making your own sausage is easy! Just mix hamburger with your favorite ingredients, let it set so the meat can bind, roll into sausage shapes, smoke and enjoy! You don't want to use hamburger that is too lean, the fat in the hamburger helps the meat bind and absorbs much of the flavor of the ingredients that you add. Even when you use game meat like deer or elk which is very lean, some hamburger or pork is added to add fat to the sausage. Again the fat helps bind the meat and absorbs the flavors. Unfortunately, sausage is one of those foods that isn't always good for you - there is no such thing as fat free sausage!
IMPORTANT! Use only prepared curing salt. Curing salt is a blend of salt, sugar and meat curing ingredients. These "meat curing" ingredients preserve the flavors, the colors, and bind the meat required to make successful sausage. Regular salt does not contain these ingredients and should NEVER be used as a substitute. I recommend Morton Salt "Tender Quick" meat cure salt and it can be found at most grocery stores. (If not contact Starfish Consulting we can get you some.) And, remember always refrigerate your sausage mix when curing and after we're finished. Getting sick is no fun.
Be
creative when making your own sausage. As with beef jerky I have
tried 100's of different ingredients, from various pepper sauces,
soy sauce, red wine, white wine, bourbon, garlic, soy sauce,
spices, herbs, as ingredients in my sausage. Again, you be the
judge in perfecting your sausage recipe. Enjoy!
To help you get started with making your own sausage, we now offer a sausage making kit for $20. This kit comes with almost everything you need to make the different sausages listed below - net casing, spices, and instructions/tips. All you need is the meat, red wine, the smoker/bbq grill, and a little bit of time. The rewards of your efforts are great. Imaging watching football with your friends, then impressing them with your own home made sausage tray. Or, at your next office party, people will be talking about the great smoky sausage they are eating - and you made it! To get your sausage making kit, visit The Store at Starfish Consulting.
My secrets to always getting compliments on sausage are by the following tips:
- Mix your meat and ingredients well. Keep your sausage mix in the refrigerator. Never use metal containers, always use glass or plastic.
- Always use prepared curing salt. NEVER use regular salt.
- Give your sausage time to bind. Don't under "set" your sausage, I always let it set for at least 24 hours or more. And, periodically mix your sausage during this time it will add extra flavor.
- For something extra, try lightly rolling your sausage before smoking with pepper, garlic, cajun seasoning, crushed nuts, or whatever you want to experiment with.
- For smokers, and barbeque grills, add plenty of wood for smoking early in the drying process, using only heat later. Know your woods, fruit woods (plum, apple, etc.) leave a slightly sweet smoke taste, alder a mild smoky taste, hickory and mesquite leave a sharp smoky taste. (If you can't find alder wood chips, email Starfish Consulting and we can sell you some.) Never use green woods, they leave a bitter taste. In barbeque grills it is probably best to soak your wood in water for an hour before using - keeps the heat down. For the oven, rub your meat lightly with liquid smoke (a little goes a long way) initially, and maybe once more if you like a heavy smoke taste. The trick here is to use less at first, so you can re-apply.
- Keep your smoker, or grill out of the wind and rain.
- Monitor the temperature of your smoker, grill, or oven. Don't let it get too hot. Smoking temperatures should be between 145-165F. A problem with barbeque grills is that they get too hot and you end up barbecuing or grilling your meat. The solution is to close down the vents, and don't use too much charcoal.
- Don't over smoke your sausage, too long and it gets dried out. Four to six hours (if hotter at 165F), maybe eight hours is good.
- I always wrap my sausage in large hole netting for several reasons. One it looks attractive, and two it holds the sausage together in a roll. (If you can't find netting to make your sausage, email Starfish Consulting and we can sell you some.)
- After smoking, pat your finished sausage with a paper towel to remove some of the grease. Then wrap it tightly in clear plastic wrap, then foil to preserve freshness. It will keep up to three weeks in the refrigerator, and up 6 months if frozen.
- Finally, I recommend that you slice your sausage thin rather than thick (you want it to last), and arrange it decoratively on a plate when serving. Include a good spicy brown mustard and some crackers. When the display is good, the food is even better.
