Home Made Sausages

Making home made sausage is fun and can be frustrating at the same time.  Luckily we have this sausage maker attachment to our kitchen aide mixer, which does made life a little bit easier.  At first it was tricky but then we figure out some cheats to do it a little bit faster.  It should be fun to make it with the family as doing it alone isn't really that fun with all the mess you have to deal with, but at the end of the day you realize its is really worth it.  You can control the seasonings, amount of fat that goes in that sausage, and best of all,  no preservatives and the relief that you know what is in that sausage you are having on the table.

Here is a quick video of what we've done.

We are often frustrated with store-bought sausage, most of the times, there is so much fat in it. You can see as it you cook further, the amount of fat you that goes to the sides of your pan, which i usually spoon out to the drain. Aside from that amount of fat, sometimes it just have a nasty smell of "not so good" meat then you start to wonder, what is in this sausage?

Collagen Casing

For our homemade sausage, we used pork loin and shoulders (less fat).  For the casing we used the collagen casing  which is ready made and it is available in barbecue aisle of most shops, we bought ours from Academy Sports + Outdoors.

sausage making kit attachment

Kitchenaide mixer with attachment

finished product: homemade sausages

So, there won't be any recipe for this post as everything weren't measured, but bare in mind that when you make sausages, you better make a lot as it is a lot of work.  Freezing them makes it convenient. I hope to update this post with specific measurements, but for the time being we didn't bother to measure. All ingredients were estimated as per proportion of the meat.  We certainly used lean meat, cut it in cubes, seasoned it with salt and pepper, a little bit of paprika, cayenne pepper,  garlic powder, and onion powder.  Then comes mine and daughter's favorite part being the critic plays the crucial part. Tasting!  Hubby did a mini burger and cooked it over a heated pan subject to our criticisms.  Hubby then adjusts what is needed and if agreed with satisfaction, the fun begins with stuffing the casing.  I haven't took the video during stuffing as we were all got busy hands.

We usually serve sausage with salads and vegetables, or with egg for breakfast.  L loves it with a hotdog bun for school.  Sometimes pasta, or it is also good just as it is.

Thanks to hubby, who did most all of the job.  We were just helpers on the side waiting for his command. We really enjoyed making it for the 2nd time now, and i guess it won't be the last.  Rest assured, we won't be buying sausage from stores anymore.

Chef's Ring

Chef’s Ring

I am not a professional chef and it’s not my ring! Well, this one makes wonders. I use this for molding rice, mashed potatoes, cakes, dough, anything that needs a round mold. It is great for molding layers of different textures, colors and flavor.

Kitchen fixtures

Been shopping something for my kitchen. I was looking for a multipurpose working table and found out this collection of enclume pot racks which look cheek and multi functional. I really need this one to have the things I need within my reach when I'm cooking or baking. This would perfectly fit in our outdoor kitchen in the barbeque area. All I need is to gather all my things and put them above or below this rack and use the board as my working table. This would complement our outdoor brick oven too! Perfect for barbi time!

Another thing that I wished I have in my kitchen is this:I would love to have this unit added to my kitchen so I can see all the pots and pans. When I need to grab one in the middle of cooking I can see it immediately without making a mess, no need of opening cabinet doors with oily hands. Oh and I love these kinds of pots and pans too!

Knives

knives

Knives are very important in performing tasks in the kitchen and the most important thing to remember is "use the right knife for the right job"

The first two knives from the left are chef's knife, next is bread knife, next is filleting knife, and the paring knife. Sharpen knife with the sharpening rod.

Bamboo Mat

bamboo mat

Useful to make sushi or anything that needs to be rolled in a log shape

bamboo steamer

Bamboo steamer and wooden mortar and pestle

Bamboo steamer - used to make steamed dumplings. The bamboo steamer adds a subtle wooden aroma to your dish. I prefer to used bamboo steamer than steamers made of metal.

To use a bamboo steamer, it should be placed over a simmering water where the steam is just bellow the bottom of the steamer so that the steam won't escape.

cookie cutters

Cookie cutters

Egg Molder

Want a perfect circle fried egg? Use the round non-stick molder or a heart shaped fried egg on valentines day! The choice is yours!

ice cream scooper

For scooping ice cream and sorbet. I also use this for serving mashed potatoes in scoops. I find it easier and more attractive than serving with a spoon. I am using this more often; you can see it in most of my posts.

Potato Masher

As the name suggests, it mashes potatoes! It is a lot better than mashing potatoes with fork, hence, saves a lot of your energy and time.

Rolling Pin

For flattening dough. Alternatively, a round shaped long bottle could be used, but its easier to maneuver a rolling pin than a bottle.

Chef's Ring

Chef’s Ring

I am not a professional chef and it’s not my ring! Well, this one makes wonders. I use this for molding rice, mashed potatoes, cakes, dough, anything that needs a round mold. It is great for molding layers of different textures, colors and flavor.

Double Boiler

What is a double boiler? I feel like I need to post about a double boiler as not everyone knows what it really is and I am using it more often in some of the recipes.

A double boiler consists of two sauce pans. A large sauce pan and a small sauce pan. The large pan is used to boil water and the smaller pan is where you usually put the ingredients which you are going to cook. A recipe usually calls for a double boiler if the ingredients used requires indirect heat for controlled temperature cooking. Cooking that requires not more than the boiling point or 100 degrees C. For example, melting chocolate or butter, making custards and certain sauces, etc. With the indirect heat, this prevents from burning your sauces or chocolates, or scrambling your custards. Theoretically, you cook over simmering water, hence, not directly from the flame.

There are available double boilers in the market that you can choose from, but for me, I just assemble 2 ordinary pans (shown in the picture). The effect is the same, but it won’t cost me much for the same purpose. Choose the pans with long handles, it is easy to use.