Homemade breakfast sausage

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inchrisin

Senior Cook
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Nov 5, 2010
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I'm looking for a breakfast sausage recipe that could stack up against something like Bob Evan's. I've tried a few different recipes with some ground pork and I'm nowhere close--especially if I grind my own pork.
 
I'm looking for a breakfast sausage recipe that could stack up against something like Bob Evan's. I've tried a few different recipes with some ground pork and I'm nowhere close--especially if I grind my own pork.

I do it different all the time, there is no trick to it. Grind the pork mix in the spices make your patties and cook them...

2 tsp sage, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp ground pepper, 2 tsp sea salt, 2 teaspoon parsley flakes, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp cin, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, with 2-2 1/2 lbs ground sausage.. Mix it all together form the patties, and refrigerate the patties for 24 hours or so...

You can make any flavor you want, smoked, maple, smoked maple, etc.. This is a good place to start...


Some of the best sausage I ever had was seasoned with trader joes 21 seasoning salute, its like $1.99 a bottle, I love it when you arent sure which way to go, lol..
 
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inchrisin, you might enjoy poking around a website I found: The Spicy Sausage. The have all kinds of seasoning recipes. I've only tried one, but we did like it. I omitted the white pepper, substituting black, because I don't like the taste of white and don't have it in the house. Here is the one recipe I tried (so far): Breakfast Sausage #1. BTW, I made only one pound worth, so I used only 1/10 of each spice listed. Basically, "1-tbsp" equaled one slightly-rounded teaspoon.

If you try any of these, tell me how they turn out. Enjoy!
 
inchrisin, you might enjoy poking around a website I found: The Spicy Sausage. The have all kinds of seasoning recipes. I've only tried one, but we did like it. I omitted the white pepper, substituting black, because I don't like the taste of white and don't have it in the house. Here is the one recipe I tried (so far): Breakfast Sausage #1. BTW, I made only one pound worth, so I used only 1/10 of each spice listed. Basically, "1-tbsp" equaled one slightly-rounded teaspoon.

If you try any of these, tell me how they turn out. Enjoy!
Interesting recipe. If scaling down the ingredients be careful not to over-do the amount of water or you'll make your bangers BANG! My cousin the butcher who had customers coming from all over the city and outskirts of Nottingham specially for his sausages didn't put any water in them at all.
 
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I'm looking for a breakfast sausage recipe that could stack up against something like Bob Evan's. I've tried a few different recipes with some ground pork and I'm nowhere close--especially if I grind my own pork.

I don't think I've ever had Bob Evan's, but are you adding fennel seed to your ground pork? To me, sausage isn't sausage without fennel. :yum:
 
I don't think I've ever had Bob Evan's, but are you adding fennel seed to your ground pork? To me, sausage isn't sausage without fennel. :yum:

To me, adding fennel to the sausage gives it more of an Italian Sausage flavor. For breakfast sausage, I simply use ground pork, with about a 70/30 ratio of lean to fat, which is less than what you get in pre-made breakfast sausage. I make about a lb. at a time.

To the pork, I add 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. each ground sage, and ground thyme. Add about 1/8 tsp. granulated garlic, or 1/4 tsp. fresh garlic. A dash of onion powder goes in. I give the sausage about ten twists of the pepper grinder, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper.

This nest part is inportant. Make a tsp. sized patty and cook it through. Taste it. Correct the seasonings. I usually end up adding more sage.

If you like, you can add a little maple syrup, or pulverized, freeze-dried apple to the mixture.

Feel free to use my recipe as a starting point, or one of the other posted recipes. Everyone's taste is a little different. Some like more salt. Some like less salt. Some want marjoram thrown in, while others go heavy on the garlic. You get what I mean.

Make the basic sausage first. Play freely with the herbs and spices.
when you get the basic breakfast sausage just right, then change things a little. Turn the recipe into your own creation. Be creative. That's the best part about cooking.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the Norh
 
inchrisin, you might enjoy poking around a website I found: The Spicy Sausage. The have all kinds of seasoning recipes. I've only tried one, but we did like it. I omitted the white pepper, substituting black, because I don't like the taste of white and don't have it in the house. Here is the one recipe I tried (so far): Breakfast Sausage #1. BTW, I made only one pound worth, so I used only 1/10 of each spice listed. Basically, "1-tbsp" equaled one slightly-rounded teaspoon.

If you try any of these, tell me how they turn out. Enjoy!

Okay, sorry I don't get it, you said you only use 1/10th of each spice, but 1 rounded teaspoon is about 1/3 of a tablespoon. Are you over-seasoning deliberately to get the flavor you want or just made a typo?

Interesting looking web site. Just took a quick look but will go back and look at leisure later as some of the recipes look pretty good.

MadCook, apparently a lot of sausage recipes use water to emulsify the meat/spice mixture, which I guess means to get a more even mixture. I know the last few times Craig has made sausage he has used just a bit of water and/or ice cubes to give the sausage mixture a short final mix in the mixer after grinding and he seems to like the final texture better when he does that. He's been reading thru his charcuterie and sausage making books, and web sites since he decided he wanted to start making more sausages at home than we had been doing previously. I personally didn't really notice that much of a difference but to each his own.
 
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Aren't you supposed to stuff the casing with the whatever meat mixture you make?

Charlie, sausage patties aren't stuffed in casing, nor is bulk sausage. Sausage doesn't have to be in a casing to be called sausage.

Sausage is a pretty broad term for ground up protein mixed with spices that can be stuffed in a casing or not, dried or fresh, smoked or not, cooked or cured or both or neither, etc.
 
Thank you.

:rolleyes: I will never understand English. So, basically we are talking about some fried patty, right?
 
This is the recipe I use for standard American style breakfast sausage:

Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:

· 2 tsp dried sage
· 2 tsp salt
· 1 tsp ground black pepper
· 1/4 tsp dried marjoram
· 1 Tbs brown sugar
· tsp crushed red pepper flakes
· tsp ground cloves
· 2 pounds ground pork
Instructions:

In a small bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients (through ground cloves) and mix well.
Place the pork in a large bowl, add the mixed spices and mix well with your hands. Form the pork mixture into patties.
Sauté the patties in a large skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes per side, or until internal temperature reaches 160°F.

I also make my own Mexican style Chorizo sausage:

Fresh Chorizo
Ingredients:
· 2 pounds ground pork (It's also good with ground turkey)
· 4 cloves mashed garlic
· 6 Tbs chili powder
· 2 Tbs oregano
· 2 Tbs minced onion
· 1 tsp ground cumin
· 1 tsp salt
· 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
· 1 tsp paprika
· ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
· 2 Tbs olive oil
· 2 Tbs water
· 2 Tbs vinegar
· 1½ tsp sugar
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, divide into quarters, roll each quarter into a log, and tightly wrap each log with plastic wrap, twisting the ends to secure.
 
Okay, sorry I don't get it, you said you only use 1/10th of each spice, but 1 rounded teaspoon is about 1/3 of a tablespoon. Are you over-seasoning deliberately to get the flavor you want or just made a typo?

I made this once, and it didn't taste strongly spiced. Then again, maybe I used just under a tsp? :huh: Yeah, we'll go with that! Guess my math skills kinda slip after midnight... Nice catch, medtran. ;)
 
What seasoning combinations have you used?

Something generic off the internet. It seems like the sausages are ALWAYS underspiced. I used to try to stuff them. Now, I think I'll make patties until I get a recipe that I really like. The outcome always seemed to be overworked, tough, and flavorless.
 
I love and plan live by Chief Longwind's suggestion of cooking up a teaspoon sized patty and tasting the mix, then adjusting the seasonings as needed. I'm a strong believer in letting my taste buds overrule recipe recommendations.
 
I do it different all the time, there is no trick to it. Grind the pork mix in the spices make your patties and cook them...

2 tsp sage, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp ground pepper, 2 tsp sea salt, 2 teaspoon parsley flakes, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp cin, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, with 2-2 1/2 lbs ground sausage.. Mix it all together form the patties, and refrigerate the patties for 24 hours or so...

I tried something very similar to this. I bought a pound of ground pork and seasoned with thyme, spg, red pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and fennel. It came out pretty solid. It wasn't overpowering with that black licorice taste. I'd try it again, but I'll try the other recipes listed here too.
 
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