It's no secret I'm a fan of stupid TV like COPS, America's Most wanted, high speed car chase type stuff, etc etc. Good wholesome couch potato stuff. Cheaters cracks me up with their cheesy lines, like "A computer programmer calculating his fiance is getting her '
hard drive' from another source". Cracks me up. They use words like gumshoe, watering hole and eatery. "A pastry chef who suspects her lover is getting her buns fluffed elsewhere."
Hee hee.
ANYWAY! So this past weekend's experiment was two fold. Could I make my own tasty sausage, and would I save money? Would it be worth it?
The first thing I did was finally buy a grinder for my
KitchenAid. They're not exactly cheap, but I had a $10 card for Kohl's and was able to walk out with one for under $50.00. The next step is of course meat. My local grocer seems to always have meat red-tagged, 50% off or $2.00 off or whatever. The day I looked, I hit the jackpot with pork chops, pork loans, a small pork shoulder and some pork stew meat, all marked down. All told, I spent $11.21 on 5.97 pounds of meat. After bones and trimming, it was right at $2.00 a pound. Not cheap by any means, but not bad!
The first step you do is to chop things up in strips or small chunks, then partially freeze it. This allows for a cleaner grind, less gumming up. I ground it up without spices, and here's what it looked like:
After everything was ground, I sprinkled the following "Italian Sausage" recipe on top, and worked it in, then ran it through the grinder again.
2 tbsp. table salt
1 tbsp. fennel seed, cracked
1/2 tbsp. coriander
1 1/2 tbsp. paprika ( I ran out, so i used some taco seasoning with paprika #1)
3/4 tsp. red chili pepper, flakes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (didn't use)
The sample patty:
Overall? Success! Plenty of things to change, it was more like breakfast sausage, needed more fennel, less salt, less sugar, and more fat as I used pretty lean meat. But it was FUN and I'll do it again.
