After a bunch of experimenting with different flavors and different types of sausage, I'v come to the conclusion that making sausage is similar to breakfast tacos in one respect. As long as you use ingredients that you like and ingredients that make sense, you are pretty much limitless in what you can do insofar as creating flavors. Ex: I like peanut butter and I like tuna fish but I don't think I'd want a peanut butter and tuna fish breakfast taco. That just doesn't make sense...at least not to me. I recently saw a post with a recipe for chicken sausage that caught my eye so I saved it. Unfortunately my wife cannot eat chicken but she does really like like turkey. The two are pretty much interchangeable where flavor is concerned so I've learned to adapt. The recipe is for a 5# batch and I made a few modifications so it'd be more along the lines of what we enjoy. Since it was an experiment I only did a 3# batch and scaled the spices back accordingly. I wish now that I'd done a 30# batch!! For the meat I used 2# of turkey (1# white meat, 1# dark meat) and 1# of my pepper crusted bacon from a previous batch....my last pound until yesterday :) I'll go through the process and post the recipe later.
The meat. Breast, drumsticks, and bacon
Spices all mixed up. This has a lot of color and character to it.
Meat ground up, spices, cheese, and ice water. We are ready to mix
All mixed up and ready to stuff
Stuffed and twisted into 3) 6" lengths for packaging
Decided after the fact to do a little fry test with a dab that was left over from stuffing. Perfect fat content!!
Fry test done. Looks and tastes amazing. I'm a happy camper at this point.
Did 3 links in the air fryer for dinner. OMG!! I've never seen a more tantalizing, visually appealing sausage in my life. This stuff just screams "I'M GONNA TASTE GREAT"....and it did
On a tort with some fresh lettuce
Add some sliced avocado and a drizzle of Ranch Dressing. At this point I was forbidden to take any more pics. Will explain shortly
I did manage to sneak in a cross section shot when she wasn't looking. Pretty stuff!!
I apologize for not being able to display the complete dinner. By the time we reached this point my wife informed me that there was to be no more "food porn" this evening. Yes, that's what she calls my affinity for preparing attractive meals, taking pics, and sharing them here. She said she'd been smelling the stuff cooking long enough, she was hungry, and wanted to eat. Oh well...hopefully I'll be forgiven for the indiscretion. I also cut up and boiled some new red potatoes. Tossed them with a little garlic and herb infused olive oil, sour cream, grated Parmesan and shredded cheddar as a side dish. Sadly I cannot document that part but I swear it DID happen although no pics :) This is absolutely one of the very best sausages I've ever had. It's not a big bold, in-your-face flavor but a bit more subdued. All of the seasonings however come together to create an outstanding, multi-dimensional sausage. I'll tell you this: if I owned a deli or restaurant this would be a featured item at all times in the "Chef's Favorite" section. It's that good and it has all of the visual appeal to make a really nice presentation. By far one of, if not my absolute, best sausages. Here is the recipe.
3 1/2 lbs. Turkey breast
1 1/2 lbs. bacon
1 1/2 T salt
6 oz. ice water
1 1/2 T Fennel seed cracked
1 t coarse Black Pepper
1/2 T sugar
1 1/2 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t caraway seeds
1 T Basil
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 Tbsp. Parsley
1 or 2 garlic toes (about 2 T minced)
2 t onion powder
4 T NFDM
1 level tsp cure #1
6 oz high temp cheddar
As always, the pics are thumbnails so you can click on them to enlarge and see more of the character that this sausage has. My only take-away, as previously stated, is that I wish I'd made a LOT more of the stuff....but oh well, I can always make more. This was not smoked but has cure in it if I decide to smoke it later. Except for the 3 links I cooked for dinner, the rest was vac sealed and put in the freezer.
Going to the extreme,
Robert
The meat. Breast, drumsticks, and bacon
Spices all mixed up. This has a lot of color and character to it.
Meat ground up, spices, cheese, and ice water. We are ready to mix
All mixed up and ready to stuff
Stuffed and twisted into 3) 6" lengths for packaging
Decided after the fact to do a little fry test with a dab that was left over from stuffing. Perfect fat content!!
Fry test done. Looks and tastes amazing. I'm a happy camper at this point.
Did 3 links in the air fryer for dinner. OMG!! I've never seen a more tantalizing, visually appealing sausage in my life. This stuff just screams "I'M GONNA TASTE GREAT"....and it did
On a tort with some fresh lettuce
Add some sliced avocado and a drizzle of Ranch Dressing. At this point I was forbidden to take any more pics. Will explain shortly
I did manage to sneak in a cross section shot when she wasn't looking. Pretty stuff!!
I apologize for not being able to display the complete dinner. By the time we reached this point my wife informed me that there was to be no more "food porn" this evening. Yes, that's what she calls my affinity for preparing attractive meals, taking pics, and sharing them here. She said she'd been smelling the stuff cooking long enough, she was hungry, and wanted to eat. Oh well...hopefully I'll be forgiven for the indiscretion. I also cut up and boiled some new red potatoes. Tossed them with a little garlic and herb infused olive oil, sour cream, grated Parmesan and shredded cheddar as a side dish. Sadly I cannot document that part but I swear it DID happen although no pics :) This is absolutely one of the very best sausages I've ever had. It's not a big bold, in-your-face flavor but a bit more subdued. All of the seasonings however come together to create an outstanding, multi-dimensional sausage. I'll tell you this: if I owned a deli or restaurant this would be a featured item at all times in the "Chef's Favorite" section. It's that good and it has all of the visual appeal to make a really nice presentation. By far one of, if not my absolute, best sausages. Here is the recipe.
3 1/2 lbs. Turkey breast
1 1/2 lbs. bacon
1 1/2 T salt
6 oz. ice water
1 1/2 T Fennel seed cracked
1 t coarse Black Pepper
1/2 T sugar
1 1/2 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t caraway seeds
1 T Basil
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 Tbsp. Parsley
1 or 2 garlic toes (about 2 T minced)
2 t onion powder
4 T NFDM
1 level tsp cure #1
6 oz high temp cheddar
As always, the pics are thumbnails so you can click on them to enlarge and see more of the character that this sausage has. My only take-away, as previously stated, is that I wish I'd made a LOT more of the stuff....but oh well, I can always make more. This was not smoked but has cure in it if I decide to smoke it later. Except for the 3 links I cooked for dinner, the rest was vac sealed and put in the freezer.
Going to the extreme,
Robert
Last edited:
