Making your own homemade sausages is fun, and relatively easy. You need a meat grinder, but except for that all ingredients can be found in your grocery store. Here we’re combining leaner meat (boneless beef outside) with slighly fattier meat (veal shoulder) and pure fat (beef tallow) to make tasty beef sausages. This has a relatively neutral flavoring, but it is a good base for further experimenting.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs boneless beef outside
- 1.3 lbs veal shoulder
- 0.4 lbs beef tallow
- 16 ft casings
- butcher's twine (optional)
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- 3 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
Instructions
- Place the casings in a bowl of cold water the day before so it becomes easier to work with. Store it in the fridge overnight.If the veal shoulder contains any bones it must be trimmed off. Except for that, no trimming is to be done. Cut the meat in large chunks so it fits in the meat grinder. Grind all the meat and place in a large bowl, or even easier, on a large pan.
Flavoring
- I usually use a large pan so I can lay out the ground beef flat. That way it is easier to add all spices evenly. Once you’ve added the spices, mix it somewhat with your hands. If you’re unsure of how much spices to add, sample your product by shaping a small chunk of ground beef into a meatball and fry it in the frying pan. Taste it and see if you need to add more salt and/or spices.
Stuffing
- Now mount the casings on the meat grinder ‘snout’. Add the meat and start the grinder so it pushes all the air out and ground beef starts peeking out. Stop the grinder. Now pull the casings out an inch or two, and twist it a few turns. Place a large oven pan on the table, very thinly covered with a neutral oil. This helps slide the sausage away when it starts coming out.
- Do resist the urge to pack the casings too much, or ‘roll’ the sausage like a rolling pin after filling. This will make it too compact.
- Now start the grinder again, and fill the casings. Don’t push or pull, let the ground beef fill the casing at its own speed. You just need to assist in pulling the sausage back slightly when the thickness is just right. The challenge here is to fill the casing evenly and without air bubbles. When doing it this way you make one very long sausage, which is easier. When it is all done you can start tying the sausages off in short links. Pinch your thumb and index finger together every 3-5 inches, then twist the sausage a few turns, and continue with the next one until they’re all done. Leave the sausage for a few hours or overnight, so the flavors blend well. Freeze whatever raw sausages that are left over, they should be treated just like minced meat, meaning they don’t last more than a day in the fridge. Optional bonus task: tie off each sausage with some butcher’s twine. I cut 3-4 inch lengths and tie them off. Just because it looks nicer. Place two knots between each link and cut in between.
Cooking
- With homemade sausages I prefer to cook them in the oven. They become more evenly cooked and juicier than when cooking in a frying pan. Turn on the stove, set it to 175° C / 350° F and wait for it to be properly warmed up. Place the sausages on a pan and cook them for 20-25 minutes (depending on thickness), then serve.
Easy process for beef sausages.