Homemade Sausage: Preparing The Sausage Recipe

For reasons for which I inherently understand, but cannot fully explain is that when preparing the sausage recipe allowing time for the seasonings and spices to infuse into the meat, significantly increases the depth and complexity of the overall flavor of the sausage is achieved.

Dry and Wet Ingredients with Ground Pork in the Mixing Pan

Although these steps refer to Ground Pork, these instructions are relevant for any ground meat that is to be used when making sausage.

Thoroughly Hand Mix The Ingredients with the Ground Pork

1. Select the desired sausage recipe and confirm that you have all of the necessary ingredients.
2. Grind the Pork Loin and Pork Fat Trimmings together, thoroughly mix and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least three hours. Overnight is preferred.
3. Combine all of the dry seasonings and spices in a bowl.
4. If there are wet ingredients (minced garlic, wine, chipoltes), combine these ingredients together in a second bowl.
5. In a large bowl or mixing pan, add your ground meat and then add the dry and wet ingredients.
6. Mix all of the seasonings and flavorings thoroughly with the ground meat ensuring that all of the ingredients have been thoroughly incorporated into the ground meat.
7. Once the sausage mixture has been thoroughly mixed together, cover and allow the combined ingredients to chill for an an additional three hours. If possible, overnight in the refrigerator is optimum.

Note:

Chilling the mixture for at least three hours accomplishes two objectives. First is to ensure that the flavors have had enough time to be absorbed by the ground meat (in essence marinate). Second, well chilled sausage mixture is easier to use with the Kitchen Aid sausage stuffing attachment.

Ground Pork with Ingredients Thoroughly Mixed Together

Once the flavors have thoroughly infused into the ground meat and it has been thoroughly chilled, the mixture is now ready to be stuffed into sausage casings.

These recommendations for preparing the sausage mixture ahead of time are not exclusive to preparing the ingredients for making sausage. I have discovered over time that when preparing ground meat with seasoning for burgers or meat loaf, the overall flavor profile of the meat is enhanced when sufficient time for the seasonings to marinate with the meat is allowed.