Easy Homemade Sausages

Homemade sausages are soo rewarding and, folks, they only require nothing more than mince/ ground meat, seasonings, natural casings, and a mincer although it is a simple task nowadays to get your meat minced by your butcher. How easy and wonderful, right?!

I did grow up making sausages at home every Christmas time with fresh meat, oh it was smelling in the air because everyone was making it. I used to LOVE IT and my parents will always ask for help with making these beauties. All such great memories.

We now, make sausages several times a year, whenever we fancy, smoke them if we want (we normally do as a form of preserving) portion them and freeze them. We make small batches (2-3 kg or 4-6 lb of meat at the time to have for up to three months and then we make it again.

Making these homemade sausages is one of those lost activities and I am not sure why as it really is not as difficult as it sounds. At its heart, a sausage is solely ground meat, some fat (many times I don't even bother with that but I know my parents would tell me off if I try and cut that out), salt, and flavorings such as spices and dry herbs.

It really is not much more involved than grinding your own hamburger; you don’t even have to stuff it into links if you don’t want to and end up with something like these open sausages called mici.

How to make homemade sausages

A good sausage is all about balance, the balance of salt, amount of fat, spices, and herbs. Knowing a proper ratio of salt to meat (and fat) is essential, but once you understand it you can adjust to your own preferences in terms of saltiness, which varies massively amongst people.

Sometimes adding some liquid helps tighten the bind when you mix the sausage meat which is important. The amount of fat is also important and as much as some argue that this should be at least 20 percent. I would say up to 20% - I really do not like them when they are too fatty. Sausages are guilty pleasures already but let's not make them total heart killers and keep them still on the healthier side. We have tried and made 5% fat sausages..... errrr, no! Too dry. Not worth it, if you make them yes, add some fat, it is essential.

So, beyond all these “house rules,” your ingredient list is limitless go wild with your imagination. You can toss in as few or as many flavorings and spices as well as herbs. What liquid to use? I would only recommend water or some wine 😜, nothing else!

Here's how to fill the casing - a pretty easy task I'd say especially if you have someone to help. We always make homemade sausages in two ;-), it is easier if one handles pushing the meat into the casing and the other person (the expert 😜 ) who will be responsible for handling the sausages😅 so these do get into the casing in the right shape, not too thick, not too thin, without air bubbles and so on. 🤗 Making sausages is a bit of an art, I admit, the more you make the better you will become.

What is the point of making sausages at home when you can buy them ready-made, you may ask? Well, unless you have a good source where they are homemade, you cannot compare any shop-bought sausages with the homemade ones. The preservatives, powders that we don't know, nitrates and god knows what else they have in them are simply not worthy, I might as well forget about sausages altogether. Home cooking anything in general and sausages, in particular, has no comparison really. It is a rewarding experience, it's fun, the laugher you can have making sausages, togetherness, time to feel Christmas is coming (it was for me as a kid for sure) but most importantly, you know EXACTLY what you are eating!

How to store homemade sausages

If you make a larger quantity (we always do min 3kgs/6lbs meat) and we cook some freshly. The remaining ones we divide into portions, wrap in some absorbent paper (only if they are dry) and place them in bags and freeze. They are ok to be frozen for up to 3 months although because of the higher fat content they should be consumed within 2 months. So make little and more often to get the best fresh taste.

How to smoke homemade sausages

Cold Smoking:

The smoky flavor is more effectively given when sausages are smoked while raw. Meats will start to cook at 50°C or 120°F so the cold smoking process should take place at temperatures that are below 30°C or 85°F. It is important to keep the temperature in the smoking chamber as low as possible and in principle the longer you cold smoke, the more intense the smoky flavor will be.

You can hang your sausages in your smoking chamber, on rods making sure these don't touch one another. We don't actually have a designated smoker as such. Our BBQ is designed to serve as a smoker too, so we just lay the sausages out on wire racks. This can leave a crosshatch of light marks on the casing where the smoke will not be able to reach. Not an issue, there is a solution to this, quite a simple one. To reduce the impact of the marks, simply turn the sausages every now and then. Problem solved, besides, we don't even mind these marks 😜.

We just burn some coconut and walnut shells, little by little so the temperature doesn't rise to a cooking point. I will put up a video as soon as I will be getting one done.

Note: Remember, your sausages need to be hung prior to smoking so that they can dry. This can be done in a smoking chamber just before smoking them (if smoking these at all).

How to cook sausages

There are a few ways sausages can be cooked:

• Grilled - definitely, a great winter method when BBQ isn't an option get the grill pan out and grill for as long as 20 min turning them on both sides until cooked all the way to the middle;
• BBQ'd - my favorite method if I am honest - it is the best - depending on how thick or thin they are, bbq on both sides until they are cooked all the way to the center.
• Pan cooked - 15-20 min with a little water to start with on medium fire. Ideally covered with a lid halfway through and then uncovered.
• Baked - not longer than 30 min at 180-190C /375F. You may also cook with vegetables cut into chunks.

Meat variations

Mix and match any meat you may like, if you cannot or don't like pork, substitute this with lamb, veal, or any game meat you may like or eat. The idea is that you need to choose a lean cut and a slightly fattier one to it counterbalance and the sausages are not to try. I personally do not like to use more than 25-30 %fat content but you can go 50-50.

Serving suggestions

Serve with some nice mashed potatoes and a yummy gravy and some seasonal baked vegetables, make some nice Yorkshire puddings, or why not use these for the best ever one pan English breakfast. It is not a bad idea, to use a small casing and use these sausages to make some homemade sausage rolls. A plethora of ideas really to choose from.

Other Recipes you may like and homemade sausages can be a great addition to:

• Haricot beans salad with yacon and sweet Marmande tomatoes
• One-pan curried wild rice and red quinoa
• Potato sausage and Parmesan cheese bake
• Healthy potato salad

Let's get on with the stuffing, let's have some fun!