So this isn’t a recipe, per se, but recently I bought myself a KitchenAid Meat Grinding attachment and with that, have been experimenting with flavors of my own homemade sausage.
In my latest YouTube video, I break down an 11-pound pork butt into 4.5 pounds of ground pork (the other parts were cut into 3inch pieces and placed in the freezer for a rainy day) and made two types of flavors of sausage – jalapeño cheddar and blueberry maple. If you don’t have a meat grinder, no worries, you can still do this with the ground pork you buy from the store. It’s a really fun way to make new, custom flavors, and take your pork from zero to 100.
So here is my guide for how to make flavored sausage (uncased). As always, season to taste whatever your preference is – the possibilities are endless. I would advise having a pan ready to cook small test pieces before committing to the whole batch so you can tweak the flavor accordingly.
The sausage pictured are jalapeño cheddar (left) and blueberry maple (right) which were later turned into corndogs.
Sausage Making Guide
Solid Mix In Sausage Guide
1 lb ground pork
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup total of solid mix-ins minimum (minced jalapeño, shredded cheese, crushed blueberries, cooked wild rice)
Any additional spices you’d like
Mix in your solids with the pork. You can send it through the grinder or mix in by hand afterward.
Spice Mixes below are for one pound of ground pork. Toast all spices in a dry skillet for maximum flavor.
Breakfast Sausage
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp red pepper flake
Mix spices together until well combined and then mix into the pork before use.
Chorizo
2 dried ancho chiles (stemmed and deseeded)
2 dried guajillo chiles (stemmed and deseeded)
2 large cloves garlic
1/2 small white onion, chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Soak the chiles in hot water for 15 minutes or until soft. Once soft, put everything into the blender (except the pork) and blend until smooth. Fold into the ground pork and then cook.
I hope you try these out and can’t wait to see how it goes!
Happy Eating!
Kelly
