Garlic & Brandy Sausages

 

The best thing about making your own sausages is that you can do what you want, add what you want and create something that you either couldn't find or would cost you five times more than the ingredients.

These were the result of looking at pre-made sausages, checking the price and saying "wait!". About $4.00 worth of pork shoulder, some spices, some herbs (mostly from the garden) and a generous dash of brandy: something good, cheap and unique.

This is what went into them:

• Pork shoulder
• Salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Fresh garlic, fine mince. Be generous.
• Fresh thyme, from the garden
• Fresh sage, also from the garden
• Dried oregano, harvested in the garden last summer and left to dry in the garage
• Pâté spices, also known as four spice: cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Mixed at home because I don't like buying blends - buying individual spices lets you create your own blends as needed for greater flexiblity
• Urfa chili- a dark, almost coffee-like dried chili.
• Roasted cumin seeds, whole. Just a few, so every so often the flavor profile will change.
• Brandy (Cognac or Armagnac would work, too). This was cheaper.
• Dried milk powder - this is a kind of protein binder.
• Pork sausage casings, soaked and rinsed. Don't get the foolish type with plastic thingies inside the casings. Just simple casings packed in salt will do fine.

These could have had more pork fat added, but I decided to keep them lean.

Just grind everything up, fry a patty to taste, adjust the seasonings and stuff some hog casings with the forcemeat. 

Let them dry in the fridge for a day or so, then grill. Don't overcook or they'll be dry, since the extra fat was omitted.