Homemade Sausage Making

By now most of the regulars here know that I prepare a lot of sausage using turkey meat. Used in combination with 50% pork, turkey produces an excellent product. Yesterday I made an excellent New York style spicy Italian fresh sausage, based on a recipe in Bruce Aidells' book and my favourite Polish style smoked, from Marianski's Polish Sausages book. It's going to be a good weekend!


New York style spicy Italian sausage, ready for the grill.



Smoked and poached pork and turkey sausage. Can be eaten cold, hot or lightly grilled.

Nice, Looks very tasty !

cheers,

Rich

The smoked and poached sausage looks very good!

Looks like perfection

Thanks guys. The sausage has been a hit and now almost gone! Gotta find some time to make some more.

Red, can you explain the reason for poaching in the process.

Good question nuynai. When we smoke sausage we have two options as to the type of heat treatment we choose to finish or "cook" the sausage. The choice can be a matter of personal preference or, we are following a recipe, and want to craft a specific type of sausage. You can keep the sausage in the smoker longer, turn up the heat and essentially bake the sausage until it reaches the desired internal temperature. (usually around 68°C). Using this method our sausage will have a more pronounced smoke flavour, have less moisture and have a darker appearance. If you are using natural casings, the product will have have a snap when you bite into it, but the casing can also be tougher and more difficult to peel off. Many claim that sausage finished in the smoker is tastier.

After smoking the sausage at a temperature range of 55-65C, we can poach it after it has taken on the desirable amount of smoke and colour. Sausages are poached in water with a temp of 65-80C. The length of time will vary with the diameter of of the casing. Experts tell us not to hurry the process. A poached sausage usually will be more moist, lighter in taste and colour and have a plumpier and smooth appearance.

Next time you are making sausage, finish half in the smoker and poach the other half. You will have two different tasting products which will help you decide which tastes better.

Thank you for the clarification Redzed...I'll have to try the 50/50 split on my next batch of smoked sausage...

Cheers,

Rich

I agree but also if you bake in the smoker you have additional options. You can submerge the finished sausages in an ice bath which will keep them more plump, smooth and compliment the snap on the bite or let them cool slowly in the smoker which will sometimes give a more wrinkled appearance.

Not saying either way is better than another it just allows you to make several "different" sausages from the same recipe depending on your preferences.