country link sausage ingredient

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boykjo

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Apr 28, 2010
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I have been researching what ingredient gives country link sausage its distinct flavor and I am coming up short.... Sausage types vary from different areas of the country and I'm wanting a southern style country link sausage. Looking through books and recipes I cant find what I"m looking for. I thought I found it and added thyme into the sausage and nope, not it at all. anyone have any ideas what that ingredient could be that you can add to say pops breakfast sausage and make it a country link style sausage.

FYI here is some of the best breakfast sausage I have ever eaten. Some dang good stuff... Its a semi dry breakfast sausage.....would like to come up with something similar to it.....


Here's my test with a sage sausage with thyme added into the ingredients.... I also added some ground annato for some color. I used annato a few times and it seems to be a flavor killer for some reason. When you add it to the seasoned meat that smells nice, the aroma goes away.....? I dont think i'll use it anymore.....

More stuff to bring along for the Guinea pigs to try at gatherings


Joe
 
No but I do have some........I played around with msg years ago and decided to leave it out. Might look into it again......
 
Try this one time.

Traditional Southern Style Breakfast Sausage  [I make it with venison but you could sub beef of course]

17 pounds venison or beef chuck

8 pounds pork butt

3/4 cup salt

6 T black pepper

5 T rubbed sage

2 T red pepper [optional]

1 T gr. nutmeg

1 T gr. ginger

1 T mace

It's standard with the pepper, salt, and sage, but to get that difference you may want that nutmeg, ginger, and mace can make a big difference. Reinhard
 
Could you post your recipe, so we can see what you are using, that way we can suggest what may be missing.  I agree with Reinhard though that what is missing is something like nutmeg or my suggestion allspice.
 
One of those "high end" cooking sites says... you can cut the salt in half, or better, in a recipe if you add MSG... the enhanced flavor more than compensates for the lack of salt.... properly added MSG in a 50% salt reduction, bring the salt content up to 66% of what would have been the original... Sooooo, same flavor, or better, and less salt... I think it was in Modernist Cuisine.... heck, I can't remember everything...

AND there is no proof MSG is bad for you... so don't even think about starting that conversation.....
 
For all the times I've made it, I still haven't reached the saltiness of commercial product.

I just eyeball everything. I should formally measure out a batch as a repeatable recipe.
 
 
Try this one time.

Traditional Southern Style Breakfast Sausage  [I make it with venison but you could sub beef of course]

17 pounds venison or beef chuck

8 pounds pork butt

3/4 cup salt

6 T black pepper

5 T rubbed sage

2 T red pepper [optional]

1 T gr. nutmeg

1 T gr. ginger

1 T mace

It's standard with the pepper, salt, and sage, but to get that difference you may want that nutmeg, ginger, and mace can make a big difference. Reinhard
I'll give this a try. I saw this recipe and it was one of my ones to try.  I wondered why they  used mace and nutmeg together.. I just got a 8 oz jar of mace on line for $14. I was paying  $9.99 for 1.4 oz at the grocery. Pretty expensive stuff

I agree with ya Dave on the MSG.  There's nothing wrong with using it
 
Yeah, as others have said, the common theme of country breakfast sausage is sage, black pepper, and red peppers flakes or the like...sometimes added nutmeg, mace, allspice, etc.
I like the rich flavor of a little bit of molasses.

Here's another recipe for reference....



Source: Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book
 
I have gotta tell you I can not do any other recipe but Pops for my Pop for breakfast sausage. Period.

So I had to try and do better. LOL.....right?  I used some syrup in my links and that was outstanding! Then I used some dark brown sugar (thats molasses taste) w/ a bit of red pepper. The pepper almost killed the sweet from the sugar and the sugar mellowed the pepper. It was an outstanding breakfast link. Not Jimmy Dean, but as close as I have made to what I remember. Pops never realized the difference but he thought we could sell the links if we gave away a couple a eggs with 'em.
 
I've started with a good base recipe and then start to play with it to meet my personal taste.  I think that's how many of us have made sausage over the years.  I'm still not 100 % happy with my swedish sausage.  It's good, but like it was said earlier,  something is missing.  Maybe it's not the spice, but the amount of spice used or the more common reason, a spice that is missing.   I haven't used a pre-mixed seasoning straight up ever.  Great mixes but it's like I always have to at least throw in some garlic in everything [except a beer].  So the adventure goes on.  That's part of my addiction to sausage making.  Even when I make some great tasting stuff, in the back of my mind there is a voice that tell's me, maybe next time a little more of this or that HA HA.  Reinhard
 
Joe, have you tried marjoram? I guess I don't know what the country links taste like, tell us if you get it right .
 
Joe, You probably saw this recipe on the web for Jimmy Dean copycat sausage ?

* 16 ounces ground pork
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Salt
* 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
* 3/4 teaspoon ground sage
* 1/4 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon msg (*Optional, but this is what they use)
* 1/8 teaspoon Oregano
 
 
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