I love breakfast sausage. How could it possibly be better? Add some maple syrup!
Breakfast sausage is savoury and rich with a nice touch of saltiness. This goes so well with a touch of smooth maple sweetness it is almost too good!
Whenever you make sausage, you want to keep the meat very cold. This gives a good consistency. I like to put my pork in the freezer for an hour before starting.
Normally, I would use pork shoulder for my sausage but there were pork loins on sale at a really good price. The problem was that pork loin is too lean to make good sausage. I was delivered from this problem by a friend who raises pigs and gave me several pounds of beautiful pork fat. The pork loin had a nice layer of fat so I added 10% of fat to the pork loin. If the fat had been trimmed I would have added more. You want 15 to 20% fat. If you buy a pork shoulder it should be close to this without the need to add fat.
I chopped the pork loin and fat in 1 inch cubes to make 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of pork.
Put the pork in the fridge to stay cold.
I used a small scale to measure out my spices. You will get much more consistent results if you use weight measures over dry measures but I include both for your convenience.
For 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of pork you need:
Sprinkle the spice mixture over the pork cubes and toss to coat the meat with the spices.
Run the meat through the medium plate of a meat grinder. This gives a nice sausage with some coarse pieces of pork in it. If you like a fine sausage with a consistent texture throughout, you can grind it a second time.
Put the pork in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
Spread the pork out on a tray and put finger holes in it. Pour 50 ml (1/4 cup) of maple syrup over the pork. Mix the pork thoroughly by folding the top of the meat over the bottom half and pressing down. Rotate the tray 1/4 turn and pull the top of the meat over the bottom half and press down. Continue this mixing for 3 to 4 minutes and put the pork in fridge to chill.
If you want sausage patties, form the meat into small patties of the desired size. Freeze any what will not be used in the next week.
If you are making links, set up your stuffer and put 1/2 inch collagen casings on the horn. Stuff the casings.
Put the casings on a flat surface. Pinch the casings flat at 4 inch intervals and cut through the pinch area of the casing.
Freeze any sausages that won’t be used within a week.
The Verdict
The more often I make maple sausages the more I think I prefer them over regular sausages. I will keep making both but the touch of sweetness from the maple really kicks up the flavour. This is a great breakfast sausage.
Breakfast sausage is savoury and rich with a nice touch of saltiness. This goes so well with a touch of smooth maple sweetness it is almost too good!
Whenever you make sausage, you want to keep the meat very cold. This gives a good consistency. I like to put my pork in the freezer for an hour before starting.
Normally, I would use pork shoulder for my sausage but there were pork loins on sale at a really good price. The problem was that pork loin is too lean to make good sausage. I was delivered from this problem by a friend who raises pigs and gave me several pounds of beautiful pork fat. The pork loin had a nice layer of fat so I added 10% of fat to the pork loin. If the fat had been trimmed I would have added more. You want 15 to 20% fat. If you buy a pork shoulder it should be close to this without the need to add fat.
I chopped the pork loin and fat in 1 inch cubes to make 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of pork.
Put the pork in the fridge to stay cold.
I used a small scale to measure out my spices. You will get much more consistent results if you use weight measures over dry measures but I include both for your convenience.
For 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of pork you need:
- 9 ml – 1 3/4 teaspoon – 12.5 grams – 0.44 oz salt
- 3 ml – 2/3 teaspoon -2.2 grams – 0.08 oz pepper
- 3 ml- 2/3 teaspoon – 0.7 grams – 0.03 oz dried sage
- 3 ml – 2/3 teaspoon – 0.7 grams – 0.03 oz ground ginger
- 3 ml – 2/3 teaspoon – 0.5 grams – 0.02 oz dried thyme
- 1 ml – 1/4 teaspoon – 0.9 grams – 0.04 oz ground dried chipotle
Sprinkle the spice mixture over the pork cubes and toss to coat the meat with the spices.
Run the meat through the medium plate of a meat grinder. This gives a nice sausage with some coarse pieces of pork in it. If you like a fine sausage with a consistent texture throughout, you can grind it a second time.
Put the pork in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
Spread the pork out on a tray and put finger holes in it. Pour 50 ml (1/4 cup) of maple syrup over the pork. Mix the pork thoroughly by folding the top of the meat over the bottom half and pressing down. Rotate the tray 1/4 turn and pull the top of the meat over the bottom half and press down. Continue this mixing for 3 to 4 minutes and put the pork in fridge to chill.
If you want sausage patties, form the meat into small patties of the desired size. Freeze any what will not be used in the next week.
If you are making links, set up your stuffer and put 1/2 inch collagen casings on the horn. Stuff the casings.
Put the casings on a flat surface. Pinch the casings flat at 4 inch intervals and cut through the pinch area of the casing.
Freeze any sausages that won’t be used within a week.
The Verdict
The more often I make maple sausages the more I think I prefer them over regular sausages. I will keep making both but the touch of sweetness from the maple really kicks up the flavour. This is a great breakfast sausage.
