Ten Pounds of Breakfast Sausage

[Rocklobster]

Just finished making some country sausage. Pork loin was on sale for 1.44 so I bought an 8 lb piece, and had some 2 lb packs of fat in the freezer. By my calculations we are at about 25% fat. We like a chewy sausage so we used a larger plate for a coarse grind and stuffed them into collagen casings.
We wanted a milder flavor, so we started out just going with Sage and the other ingredients but after a taste test we upped the sage and added thyme to the meat. It turned out much better.
With 4 adult kids between us we will give them each around 2 lbs and have a couple left over for us. It's pancakes and sausage for supper tonight....yipeeee!
Country Breakfast Sausage

10 lbs pork(around 20-25% fat)
8 tsp sea salt
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 1/2 Tbsp Sage
2 tsp Thyme
1/2 cup cold water

[Andy M.]

I'm jealous, Roch. Looks delicious.

[Rocklobster]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I'm jealous, Roch. Looks delicious.

It's not all happy happy joy joy. I was cursing like a sailor by the end of it all because I couldn't get the horn to fit right. It isn't the original one for the grinder. Things got quite messy with meat oozing out of every crack and crevice....

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by Rocklobster

Ten Pounds of Breakfast Sausage

Ok, you got my attention.

I think it is about time to make more. Last time we ended up with too much thyme in it.

Less thyme and more red pepper this time I think.

What kind of stuffer do you have?

[Andy M.]

Making my own sausage is on my bucket list. I could try breakfast sausage patties without the equipment expense.

[Rocklobster]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

Ok, you got my attention.

I think it is about time to make more. Last time we ended up with too much thyme in it.

Less thyme and more red pepper this time I think.

What kind of stuffer do you have?

I take the blade out and use a horn that attaches to the grinder. I bought it separately and it doesn't fit just right so I have to Jerry rig it a bit.

[taxlady]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

Making my own sausage is on my bucket list. I could try breakfast sausage patties without the equipment expense.

That's what I do.

I also make Italian sausage without casings. There are so many recipes that have you taking the meat out of the casing that it's very handy. Sometimes I fry up "little cigars" for ABTs.

[Rocklobster]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

Making my own sausage is on my bucket list. I could try breakfast sausage patties without the equipment expense.

Patties are great. I used to make them all the time until I found my old grinder at a yard sale.... casings aren't cheap either, but we give most of the sausages away so I like to make them look a bit more professional....and it is fun to do. You need two people to do a decent, efficient job, though....

GF worked in a meat department for years, and so do I , so it comes a bit more natural for us, I guess....

[Andy M.]

If I had the money, space and energy, I'd do it right but...

[Rocklobster]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

If I had the money, space and energy, I'd do it right but...

Just buy some regular ground pork and play around with that...
As a rule, I go a scant tsp of kosher salt per lb. I used sea salt with this recent recipe and felt it was too salty so I am going to use Kosher exclusively. The rest is up to you....

Here is a good page to start. I have had success with a few recipes on here...(scroll down a bit) most of these recipes are for 5 lbs of pork, but you can adjust everything to make a smaller batch...
http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm