Spicy Breakfast Sausage

[disco]

When I want my sausages a little more spicy, I add finely chopped fresh ginger root. I use about 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger root per 5 pounds. You don't really taste the ginger and it adds a mild spicy flavour that isn't as harsh as pepper and chilis.

 

[idasmoker]

Pop's BK sausage recipe is by far the best and easiest I have ever tried.  3 simple ingredients is all it takes.  I like to weigh all my spices out in order to get repeatable results so I have broken down Pop's recipe in percentages which will allow mixing up fresh spices for any amount of ground meat:

Salt - 2.3%    or 23 gm per kg ground meat       (10.4 gm per 1 pound ground meat)

Black pepper - 0.568%  or 5.7 gm per kg meat  (2.6 gm per lb meat)

Ground sage - 0.2835% or 2.8 gm per kg meat (1.2 to 1.3 gm per lb meat)

I like mine spicy so add Red pepper flakes (pulsed in a spice grinder, aka coffee grinder) - 0.06% or 0.6 gm per kg meat

Also, I reduce the salt to 1.6% (personal preference).

 

[wes w]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I ended up using 1tsp of red pepper to Pops recipe.  It was mild hot but not over powering.   I gave the 3lbs away.  Still haven't heard how they liked it.

 

[JckDanls 07]

I had some of my second batch today .. and sad to say.. It doesn't have enough sage for us... I still had some of the spices left over from the first batch (kept in zip lock bag)... Did as directed and put 1/2 oz to each lb of meat... wonder If the spices lost their punch in the zip lock bag ?

Glad Ida broke it down as to how much fresh spices for each lb of meat... will try it that way next time... guess i'll give all this second batch to peeps at work or something and make some more....

Guess I shoulda done the fry test before making up patties and the chubs and then freezing... (say it fast... "Shouldaallovermyself" )

LESSON LEARNED

 

[sudzy]

Different peppers affect different areas of the tongue so I always use several different peppers so as not to overload one spot, this also helps to give an immediate shot of heat with a nice finish of heat. For 10 pounds I go with 2 Tbl fine black, 2 tsp cayenne, and 2 tsp red pepper flakes. Keep in mind, heat values differ widely with different bands of spices. Supermarket stuff is almost always old and mellow. Where are you getting your spices and herbs? Are you using chopped or ground sage? Penzeys is good but pricey. I use MountHope Wholesale out of Cottonwood Az. A quick and east way to test before stuffing or patty making is to take 1/4 cup of you mix, put it in some plastic film, twist it and give it a quick boil that way you can adjust your mixture.

 

[slonaker]

You're going to love that LEM sausage stuffer! I got mine (5 lb model) for Christmas and I've been using it a LOT since.  I'm also actually liking hog casings vs collagen casings (I thought it'd be the other way around).  Even though they're "edible," I just can't see myself eating that collagen casing.  And the hog casings are much easier to work with than I thought.

I was going to suggest red pepper flake, but I'm a little late to the party here.  However, if you want to add a unique "spin" to your sausage, try Korean red pepper powder.  It adds some nice, balanced heat without the 'bite' you'd be getting from the cayenne flake.

 

[roller]

I like the Red Pepper flakes added to it...