Braised homemade sausages and red cabbage
Sausages - simple to cook, easy to buy, and a fast filling meal, but how easy is it if you want to make them from scratch? I can't recall if I had too much time on my hands, wanted to make sure I knew what was in my food, or simply inspired by good friends who were raising their own pigs, but I gave it a go!
I had already invested in a Kitchen Aid mixer so added on a food grinder and sausage stuffer and ordered the necessary ingredients and an important recipe book from a great website.
I decided on Cumberland and Lincolnshire sausages made with a mix of pork belly and pork shoulder, set in natural casings. Orders were placed, items were delivered and off I went.
Natural pig casings require a thorough soaking to rid them of salt, and smell (you have been warned). Leave to soak in warm water whilst you get on with the filling.
The casings need to be rinsed inside and out.
Grind the two different cuts of meat and then pass the ground meat through the grinder once more for a finer texture.
Mix in the spices and filler (breadcrumbs or rusk) using the paddle attachment. Work quickly as you don't want the mix to get warm.
Thread the skins carefully on to the sausage stuffer. They are hardy, but can split. Leave a lot of space at the beginning as you will need it for the sausage to expand in to when you twist the final shapes. Think of creating animal shapes from balloons!
Ready to rock...
Now, if you were expecting an easy ride from here you are wrong. It's not as easy as you may have seen on TV. As this isn't an industrial sausage machine you will need to work slowly and carefully, and it is definitely a two-person job. One to push the mix through the stuffer, one to handle the casing.
There is definitely a sense of accomplishment when you make your first sausage, and as you may imagine, many opportunities for hilarity!
When you have created your long sausage you can twist into smaller, more familiar, sausages, or coil into the traditional Cumberland shape.
I used my first sausages in a simple braised red cabbage dish. Cook down some red cabbage with red wine vinegar, red onions, some dried fruit and the homemade sausages.
