Understanding sausages

Don’t tie your dog to a leash of sausages, goes an old French proverb, and ‘never ask what’s in your sausage’ is an equally wise Kiwi saying because you might not want to know. Sausages are only as good as what’s put into them and a sure way of knowing what’s inside the casing is to buy the best or make your own – which is surprisingly simple.

The universal popularity of sausages, particularly among kids and barbecue Neanderthals, has a lot to do with their ubiquitous shape, unrecognizable ingredients and concentrated flavour.

In other words, sausages are visually non-challenging inside and out, and punch beyond their size when it comes to their mouth-filling yummy-ness from the generous quantities of fat, salt, seasonings, and fillers most often involved in their making. A sausage mixture needs to be about at least a quarter fat (and most are a lot more), otherwise you end up with dry sawdust-like texture. The rest of the sausage process (whether commercial or homemade) is about recipe mixtures, mixing, seasoning and hygiene (as usual) – reminding us of another great French quote, ‘Doc – do you think it could have been the sausage?’

Sausages are not made equal

Sausages are like laws, advised the German leader Otto von Bismarck, it is better not to see them being made. Australasian sausages tend to mimic the English tradition of using (up to 25 percent) bread and other starch-based fillers. European and Asian sausage recipes tend not to use fillers.

At the top end of the Kiwi sausage offerings are those boutique commercial products selling at the same price as top-quality beef – among them Salumeria Fontana in Northland and the Black Rock variety made and sold in Auckland by the Nosh Food Market outlets. 

At the bottom end are those greasy sizzles, served in white bread with greasier onions and sold from fund-raising, footpath gas-barbecues. They have become so common around the country that most council websites have licensing conditions and health advice on the practice. The Clutha District Council website, for instance, includes this useful comment; “If Bar-b-que sauce is to be added to the meat, make sure that it is applied using clean equipment. The use of animal drenching guns is most certainly not advisable!”

Hold the onions please

A plea from Foodstyle Review to all fund-raising committees entertaining another footpath sausage sizzle – please use quality sausages and condiments, dress your bread and buns, hold the soggy sump-oil onions, and double the price - you will triple your turnover and earn the gratitude of the Heart Foundation. 

On the subject of the iconic Kiwi barbie sausage - ‘roasting’ your sausages in the oven usually producers a far better, more even result (with less effort and grease) than letting dad and uncle Ron sizzle them to a painful death on carbon-caked BBQ grill - although it won’t provide the same entertainment.

Lessons with a master

Foodstyle took a lesson in home-made sausages from Greg Scopas at one of his cooking demonstrations.

Greg is a Kiwi of Italian decent – his parents arrived here after WWII and settled in Christchurch – and he has learnt a lot about making quality sausages.

Last year (2009) his company Salumeria Fontana won a Cuisine Artisan Award for his pork sweet fennel sausages which the judges described as “beautifully elegant” with “tender skin” among other rich lashings of compliments.

Greg is self-taught and his sausage skills evolved by accident and through travel inspiration, as they often do for culinary-inspired Kiwis.

He was travelling through Italy when he picked up a hand-operated Italian sausage-filler in Bologna (long story – no room). Back home, he began making sausages as a hobby which got out of hand when he bought a commercial sausage-making machine from a defunct factory in Auckland and then bought the factory (as you do). One thing lead to another, like a string of sausages and, since 2006, he and his partner have operated the Salumeria Fontana Olive Grove at Hoteo North, five kilometres south of Wellsford on the Kaipara Coast Highway. They produce virgin olive oil, and pure pork sausages, dry-cured bacon, and air-dried pancetta using top quality ingredients and traditional methods. 

Lessons in the sausage art

Foodstyle Review sat in on one of Greg’s cooking demonstrations organsised by Maria Lempriere who specialises in lifestyle food making courses that also include cheese (see the spring 2009 issue of Foodstyle Review) and bread making.

Greg’s basic rules for home sausage making

Equipment

If you only intend having ‘a go’ at home sausage making you can get away with using a funnel to pack your sausage mixture. You can then use a wooden dowel to force the ground meat into the casing. Stepping up, there’s a number of electric mincing machines with sausage-making attachments on the market, or semi-commercial hand-cranked ‘stuffing’ machines, if you get into some serious sausage making.

Sausage meat

The world’s your sausage when it comes to choice of meats, but pork is the most popular and easiest to handle. Beef, lamb, veal, goat, chicken, turkey, rabbit, venison, or a combination of any of these - leave a world of recipe options. Pork is often added to drier meats such as chicken because of the moist fat it contributes. 

You can buy your sausage meat already minced from a retailer, have a butcher mince it for you, or get into the heart of the exercise and mince your recipe yourself. 

Your source meat should be a mixture of lean and fatty, and most sausages need to be at least a quarter fat if they are not going to be too dry. Make sure any meat you mince is well-chilled. How fine you mince your meat is up to you – courser to medium makes a nice grainy-textured sausage.

Seasoning and herbs

The most common herb used in sausage making include sage, parsley, chives, thyme, garlic, oregano, fennel, mint, rosemary, marjoram, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and chilli pepper. As a rule, for every 1kg of ground meat, use 15-20 grams of salt and 2-4 grams of seasoning.

Mix thoroughly

Mixing thoroughly by hand is an important part of the home-making process. For every 1kg of sausage meat, add 50ml of white wine, which will make the mixing easier and help the mixture into the casings. You can take out a spoonful of the mixture and pan cook it for tasting until you have the seasoning in your mixture right.

Casings

You can buy both artificial and natural sausage skins from a butchery supply company. Pig casings make the ubiquitous ‘average’ sized sausage size and sheep casings the narrower ‘breakfast’ sized ones.

Natural skins need washing before using as they are packed in salt. Depending on the number of sausages you are making, cut the length you need, tie a knot at one end and  feed the open end onto the nozzle of your ‘stuffing’ apparatus so the casing ‘piles up’. 

As the meat is forced into the casing, you gently tease the casing length off the nozzle at a pace which doesn’t cram the casing but doesn’t leave air pockets. Start with short lengths of casing while you get the hang of the exercise. Any air bubbles can simply be pierced.

To create a string of sausage, pinch the filled casing at desired intervals and twist the length clockwise and then anti-clockwise at your next link. Natural casings are delicate, so be gentle through all processes. Let your string of sausages rest overnight in the fridge. As they don’t contain preservatives they then need to be frozen or cooked within a few days.

Autumn 2010 - by Alan Titchall

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