First chicken sausage, with pics, courtesy of Couger78

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snorkelinggirl

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,025
105
Hi guys,

Hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day Weekend. And to any vets reading this post, thank you very much for your service!
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My weekend cooking project has been to break down a whole chicken, turn the meat and skin into sausage, use the carcass for stock, and use the liver and heart to make a chicken liver mousse.  I'm making the liver mousse tomorrow maybe, and will post that in the nose-to-tail forum, but the chicken sausage and stock are now done.

This was my first run at chicken sausage, and I followed Couger78's great recipe on Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan Cheese.  This is a great post, and if you haven't seen it yet, here is a link to it:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123843/a-new-chicken-sausage

A couple of other forum members (Chef Willie and dward51) also took Couger's recipe and ran with it. Here are links to their posts:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/134350/chicken-sausage-ala-couger78

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...tomato-basil-and-cheese-al-la-cougar78-recipe

I had a 5 lb whole chicken in the freezer. I thawed this out, removed the breasts, legs, and thighs. Deboned out the legs and thighs. I used the skin-on breasts, legs, thighs, and the fat from the tail. This came out to about 2 1/2 lbs of meat/skin.  

Here is Couger's recipe scaled for 2 1/2 lbs. My husband and I have gotten used to a pretty low salt level, so I use kosher salt at 1.1% of the weight of the meat/fat whenever I make sausage.

Couger78's Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan Cheese

2 1/2 lbs chicken w/skins
1/4 cup fresh garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh basil
13 grams kosher salt (1.1%)
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (after soaking until soft)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp olive oil

I ran the semi-frozen meat/skin once through the fine plate of the grinder.


Mixed in the garlic, basil, tomatoes, and parmesan, then ran it though the fine plate a second time.


Mixed in the salt, spices, and olive oil by hand to form a sticky paste. Stuffed the mixture into medium hog casings.



Poached them in a 175 - 180 deg F water bath for about 20 minutes to reach IT of 165 deg. Cooled them under cold running water.




The sausage turned out very tasty, and it seemed like a decent level of fat for an all-chicken sausage. The recipe is definitely something I'll make again, especially for my sister-in-law who doesn't eat red meat or pork (!)  but loves chicken sausage. 

While I was making the sausage, and then cleaning the grinder, stuffer, and kitchen afterwards, I made chicken stock from the carcass.  Here is the carcass along with some extra chicken feet, and some onion, celery, carrots, and bay leaves.


Covered in water, brought to a boil, skimmed, lowered to a simmer. Simmered for 6 hours. It came out with a great flavor, nice and silky texture. It's going to gel up nicely when cold. Dang, but I love chicken feet.



Not a bad day's work!

This project was a really good confidence builder for working up to making braunschweiger, my next sausage project, which I guess is supposed to be poached and then cold-smoked. I'll also be following Kevin's recipe.

Thank you, Kevin, for a great recipe!  And thanks everyone else, for checking out my post.  Happy Sunday.

Clarissa
 
Very nice... I need to try that soon..............
 
Oooo, nice. I'm still wishing for something to make Sausage with... Son says he'll get some , but procrastinates worse than I do...
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Good looking sausages and great article...all good
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Have fun and as always . . .
 
Excellent ... now all you need to do is take that chicken stock to the happy soup ground and end up with this.

Hi Rexlan,

Your soup looks yummy!  Looks like a fantastic use for chicken stock.  I'll be doing something similar later in the week....having the stock already made makes it so quick and easy.

Thank you for checking out my post, and hope you have a great day!

Clarissa
 
Oooo, nice. I'm still wishing for something to make Sausage with... Son says he'll get some , but procrastinates worse than I do...
ROTF.gif
.

Good looking sausages and great article...all good
icon14.gif
 .

Have fun and as always . . .
Thank you, oldschool!  I appreciate the compliments and checking out my post!

Sausage making is fun, and the possibilities are endless. Hope that you can get some equipment soon and try it out! 

Have a great day!

Clarissa
 
Very great work on that sausage and stock!!!. Going to make some of that myself.  Thanks for posting the recipe. After 40 years of making sausage i have never made chicken sausage, so it's time. Your links are perfectly made. Very nice. Reinhard
 
Very great work on that sausage and stock!!!. Going to make some of that myself.  Thanks for posting the recipe. After 40 years of making sausage i have never made chicken sausage, so it's time. Your links are perfectly made. Very nice. Reinhard
Thank you, Reinhard!  I really appreciate the compliments!

I was initially scared of how the chicken skin would go through the grinder....was afraid it would clog and cause smearing like stretchy connective tissue does. But when cold, the grinder had absolutely no trouble with it.  Very satisfying to get use out of the whole bird, even the skin! 

Have a great day!

Clarissa
 
Dang, missed this first time around. Looks real good Clarissa....if I remember I had mostly white meat with little skin so next time I'm planning on more dark meat in there. Wondering if you gnaw on those chicken feets after cooking?? <grin> I'm thinking 'yes'. Starting to see packs of chicken feet now so somebody is using them. Liverwurst is an ambitious project but I have no doubt you can pull it off. Regards...Willie
 
looks great !
Thanks Michael!!  Have a great day!

Clarissa
Looks real good !!! Did I see a foot in there....And Thank You...
Thanks Roller, and thanks for checking out my post!  Yep, a few feet bobbing around in the stock....adds lots of gelatin and flavor! 

Have a great day!
Clarissa
Dang, missed this first time around. Looks real good Clarissa....if I remember I had mostly white meat with little skin so next time I'm planning on more dark meat in there. Wondering if you gnaw on those chicken feets after cooking?? <grin> I'm thinking 'yes'. Starting to see packs of chicken feet now so somebody is using them. Liverwurst is an ambitious project but I have no doubt you can pull it off. Regards...Willie
Hey Willie,

Yes, you were one of the big inspirations on this project. Glad you could check out the post, and thanks for the compliment!  It worked out really well to just use a whole chicken to make the sausage. I think 2 good size chickens will yield enough meat and skin for a full 5 lb batch of sausage.  I used all the meat and skin from the breast, deboned leg, deboned thigh, and the fatty tail area in making the sausage, and both husband and I thought the fat level was right.  The wings, feet, and rest of the carcass went into the stock pot.  I do gnaw a little on the cooked feet, but mostly I like them for making a nice chicken stock.

I'm off work today and will be making up a batch of Couger's Cheddar Brats this afternoon, as we are almost out of sausage (horrors!).  The liverwurst is still on the "to do" list, haven't worked up the courage for it quite yet.

Hope you have a great day!
Clarissa
 
Half a year later.... Those look fantastic Clarissa! I've been wanting to make chicken sausages and I'll keep this in my hip pocket for when I bite the bullet and give it a shot!
 
Half a year later.... Those look fantastic Clarissa! I've been wanting to make chicken sausages and I'll keep this in my hip pocket for when I bite the bullet and give it a shot!

Wow, blast from the past here! Case, this recipe is my favorite chicken sausage recipe. I made 5 lbs worth right before Thanksgiving and did a big sausage sampler dinner for family on the day after Thanksgiving (along with brats and chaurice). The whole family loved it, Couger's recipe was a real hit.
 
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