The base recipe for this is a loose adaptation of a green onion sausage we used to get from a little place in North Austin. Although we liked it, IMHO it was lacking a bit in flavor for what I'd consider a Cajun style sausage. A few weeks ago I got the last link of their's out of the freezer, defrosted it, and started to critique the flavor to see about somewhat replicating it....then adding my own twists of course. Here is the base recipe I put together and I'll get to the "Summer Sausage" part of it shortly.
GARLIC & GREEN ONION SAUSAGE
2 ¼ lb. pork butt appx 80-20
¾ lb. pork fat or cheap fatty bacon (I used the bacon)
¾ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup minced garlic
1 ½ T black pepper
1 ½ T salt
2 t onion powder
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t parsley
½ t thyme
¼ cup ice water
-Cut meat into 1” cubes and place in freezer until getting crunchy on the outside
-Mix all dry spices together and run through spice mill to mix well
-Grind meat through medium plate and place back into freezer until slightly crunchy
-Mix spices and green onions into ground meat adding water a little at a time until the mix is starting to get sticky then stuff into pork casings
A close friend dropped by as I was finishing up stuffing it and commented on how great it looked, so I gave him some, which he cooked that evening. The rest went on my smoker that afternoon for dinner. The sausage came out extraordinarily well. My wife let me know in no uncertain terms that this will go in the "To Do Again" list, and I'm in total agreement, as is my friend. We all loved this stuff. Well...this past weekend I was feeling creative and wanted to try something different. I'd recently made a Summer Sausage that was posted here and it was incredible. The cogs started turning so I thought "why not combine the two" and see what I can come up with. For this take on Summer Sausage the only things I added to the base recipe were:
2 T NFDM as a binder
3/4 t Cure #1
Sadly I didn't take any pics of the "during" process, only the finished product. The sausage was made on Friday, hung in the fridge for three days, smoked early yesterday morning, and sliced today.
Took my 24" long 1 7/8" (47 mm) collagen casings and cut them in half. Being a small batch, I filled 4 of the half-length casings.
Cross section of the sausage w/ casing still on
A whole link with casing removed
A pan full of it sliced, ready to weigh into 6 oz portions, and vac seal
Bagged, sealed, and ready to eat or share with friends
Finished product came out really, really well. Supper flavor and a lot of the characteristics that you'd expect in a good Summer Sausage. The pork does not have the same density as beef so it's a little softer, but texture is still very appealing. Woo hoo!! Another home-run and this one will go on the "To Do Again" list also :-)
Sausage junkie,
Robert
GARLIC & GREEN ONION SAUSAGE
2 ¼ lb. pork butt appx 80-20
¾ lb. pork fat or cheap fatty bacon (I used the bacon)
¾ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup minced garlic
1 ½ T black pepper
1 ½ T salt
2 t onion powder
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t parsley
½ t thyme
¼ cup ice water
-Cut meat into 1” cubes and place in freezer until getting crunchy on the outside
-Mix all dry spices together and run through spice mill to mix well
-Grind meat through medium plate and place back into freezer until slightly crunchy
-Mix spices and green onions into ground meat adding water a little at a time until the mix is starting to get sticky then stuff into pork casings
A close friend dropped by as I was finishing up stuffing it and commented on how great it looked, so I gave him some, which he cooked that evening. The rest went on my smoker that afternoon for dinner. The sausage came out extraordinarily well. My wife let me know in no uncertain terms that this will go in the "To Do Again" list, and I'm in total agreement, as is my friend. We all loved this stuff. Well...this past weekend I was feeling creative and wanted to try something different. I'd recently made a Summer Sausage that was posted here and it was incredible. The cogs started turning so I thought "why not combine the two" and see what I can come up with. For this take on Summer Sausage the only things I added to the base recipe were:
2 T NFDM as a binder
3/4 t Cure #1
Sadly I didn't take any pics of the "during" process, only the finished product. The sausage was made on Friday, hung in the fridge for three days, smoked early yesterday morning, and sliced today.
Took my 24" long 1 7/8" (47 mm) collagen casings and cut them in half. Being a small batch, I filled 4 of the half-length casings.
Cross section of the sausage w/ casing still on
A whole link with casing removed
A pan full of it sliced, ready to weigh into 6 oz portions, and vac seal
Bagged, sealed, and ready to eat or share with friends
Finished product came out really, really well. Supper flavor and a lot of the characteristics that you'd expect in a good Summer Sausage. The pork does not have the same density as beef so it's a little softer, but texture is still very appealing. Woo hoo!! Another home-run and this one will go on the "To Do Again" list also :-)
Sausage junkie,
Robert
