HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE MAKING.-
I should qualify the title by saying as I've made these quite a few times before.... "how I managed to make Italian Sausages at home, in an Airbnb, without having my Chef's knives with me or any of the equipment I have always been used to working with".... So, definitely a new challenge and if it can be done then anyone can do it as well....
Since we've been traveling for the last six months with just our suitcases, we either sold, packed or gave away all our professional and gourmet cooking equipment. The things we packed are in four boxes at my daughter's house, first in Portland, OR and now that she moved back to Las Vegas, she was kind enough to drag them with her so they are in her garage. I thought I could manage a way to have them sent but Customs still being difficult, under the best situations, either the cost of shipping or Customs Fees have virtually made this impossible. I have brought many things on other occasions but not just shipping, so this has been more difficult than before. Oh well, make do, right?
If you've ever stayed in an Airbnb then you know the kitchen situation is limited at best. Sure, you get the basics but things like good Chef's knives or large pots and pans, etc are usually not included and since we haven't decided where we will ultimately land for a long stay, don't want to start buying stuff only to have to get it shipped once more (Oh no! here we go again!!) We've been shipping my husband's oil paintings (his own and his family's) and let me tell you, it's been a hassle. Used Estafeta (they are amazing!) from city to city: UPS from Oregon to Puerto Vallarta, then to Guadalajara, then to Queretaro, then to Mexico City and now to Merida, Yucatan.
Anyhoo, decided to make Italian Sausages since the ones I found here were very dry (vendor said that they sell to Expats and they wanted sausages with very little fat so ratio to fat was at most 20%, Oh No!!) bought some to insure we'd like them (we didn't, too dry) so I decided to make our own.
Being in Yucatan and even though at this time you can get so many more things than before (talking about 10 years ago) I started on my choice of supermarkets, ingredients, etc. Supermarkets were more limited so I headed to the local San Benito Municipal Market due to not finding herbs and spices that are not used in Yucatecan cooking. Found the fresh pork meat, fatback and casings from a local man (after calling all over town), then a Mayan lady sold me some of her granulated garlic (just garlic and nothing else) and chicken consome (like Knorr but without the MSG)- went to about 4 markets for the herbs and spices (fennel seed was hard to locate but did), and since I no longer had my sausage stuffing machine went to a local plastic housewares vendor for a large colander, funnel and a type of wooden pestle. I was set....
Here are the ingredients I got:
1.5 K Pork Meat - Butt, Shoulder or fatty cut, about 3.375 lbs
.5K Pork Fat, about 1.125 lbs
.5K Natural Pork Casings
3-4 Tbl Kosher or Sea Salt
1 Tbl fresh ground Black Pepper
2 Tbl Fennel Seeds, toasted and ground + 2 Tbl Fennel Seeds used whole
2-3 tsp Pepperoncinos
2-3 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2-3 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (more or less depending on your taste)
2 tsp finely grated Garlic
First of all I began by rinsing the casings (they came heavily salted) and then individually rinsed out by putting them under the sink faucet and letting the clean water clean the inside several times plus I noticed they were really very clean, white and lovely, I left them in a bit of water so they would be soft and easily stretched . Then came making my spice mix, toasting the whole spices and then grinding them in my coffee grinder (cleaning it afterwards by wiping it down with vinegar), then came the cutting and chopping the meat and fatback into small cubes so my food processor could handle the grinding for the ground meats. Once I had all that done, it took most of the afternoon, I was ready to make my ratio of meat vs fat and we had decided on a 40% mix of fat so they would be nice and juicy. In a big bowl I had previously bought I placed some of the meat and fat (about a 1/4 at a time, added 1/4 of the spice mix) the spice mix and blended gently but completely, added more meat, fat and so on until I was done and it looked well blended. Covered with some plastic and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half and hour.
Now came the real challenge, filling the casings manually. I took the large funnel and set it tip up on the counter and selected a small piece of casing (as a test) and ran it down with my thumb and index finger, gently pressing on both sides to get the water out of it, then I took one end and opened it (it takes a little figuring it out since it's very thin and then stick together but keep going, casings are a lot hardier then they look)- found the opening and gently stretched it so it would fit on the end of the funnel. Moved this end of the casing down the tip of the funnel by making an "O" with my thumb and index finger or moving the end of the casing down on side or another until the whole casing was sitting around the funnel tip. Took about 2-3 inches of the ending of the casing and tied a knot to close it and placed it right down on the funnel, trying to leave no room since this would just allow air into it.
Placed the funnel on it's side, carefully considering that part of the casing was touching the table, and took a handful of meat to place on the bottom of the funnel. I tried forcing the meat into the casing with the wood pestle I bought but found this would not work for me so I decided to just use my hands. I pushed the meat with my fingers and it started filling the casing! YAY!! I continued this way until the casing was almost full, leaving about 3 inches at the end to make another knot and close the casing. On this first sausage I noticed it wasn't really even so I placed it on my counter, rolled it around so it would even out and I gently pricked any air bubbles I found (or the sausage could explode so better make sure). I looked good so I proceeded to go for one then the rest of the casings until I ran out of meat. I put the sausages in the fridge to "cure" overnight.
Following day we were ready to taste the sausages so put some water in a pan and turned the heat on to medium and placed some sausages in the pan, put the cover on and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Checked the water, added a little more, turned the sausages and covered them again for another 5 minutes. Uncovered them and then just cooked them for about 5 minutes, turned them, cook some more, turned them until they were golden brown and looked ready to eat, about 10-15 minutes total I'd say.
The texture on the sausages was spot on, nice and even, they were also juicy and very flavorful and every now and then you'd get one of the whole Fennel Seeds which would give you a little more fennel taste which I love. Really nice. The casings had the bite you look for when you bite into them. We definitely found our meat provider, plus I can call him and order exactly what I need, good old Don Carlos at the San Benito Municipal Market. I will be returning for sure, I will also seek out the Mayan lady with the spices, they were amazing quality. I would also just do one change to this recipe and that would be to add more spices since these were not Hot Italian at all yet they were full of flavor and lovely. We all enjoyed them!
If you do decide to go ahead and try this let me know what you think of the process and the results. Maybe I can get the sausage machine from Amazon again, it won't be the KitchenAid one I used to have but I found a plastic one I purchased to test which was also quite good.
Something else to consider: Once you get this process down to where you like it, you will have options to make any flavor sausage you can dream of. I've made Chicken, Fish, Meat with all flavor combinations like Chicken Feta Basil, Fish with a little cream and herbs, Breakfast Sausage (that's next), German Pork Sausages, Habanero or Jerk Chicken ones.... you have no limits!
Hope you will try it!
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