Fresh Country Sausage
Recipe with Savory
Almost every country sausage recipe can trace its origins back to a specific ethnic group.
I've always enjoyed using the clues found in sausage making ingredients to try and guess the history behind those recipes.
This fresh country sasuage is made with a mixture of pork and beef. It calls for the addition of summer savory in the spice mix, which leads me to suspect that the recipe has its origins in Bulgaria or Atlantic Canada.
Summer savory is a very popular spice/herb in both those geographic areas, and its not at all a stretch to speculate that our sausage started in one of those places and spread from there.
Recipe
- 2 1/2 lbs boned pork shoulder
- 2 1/2 lbs boneless beef chuck
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dried summer savory
- 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
- 1 tablespoon fine ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablesoons granulated garlic (or three large fresh cloves)
- 1 cup ice water
- Bone the pork and beef, trimming out any gristle or connective tissue. Cut it into 1 inch cubes, and grind it through the medium plate of your meat grinder.
- Combine the spices and herbs in a small container and mix with the 1 cup of ice water.
- Pour the spice and water combination into the combined ground pork and beef. Mix thoroughly for at least 2 minutes, using your hands for mixing to assure even distribution.
- Stuff the sausage into 1 1/4 inch collagen or 32-35mm natural casings.
After stuffing, this sausage should be left uncovered and set to dry in the refrigerator for about 4 hours before packaging for storage. As with all fresh sausage, it can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Remember that the garlic flavor will become weaker the longer the sausage is kept frozen.