I have a friend in Chicago who is always tweeting about her neighborhood butcher and the delectable meats that she gets. Recently she went on a sausage spree and that got me thinking about the making of sausage. My mother tells me that she used to love watching her mother make sausage but she has never actually made it and my grandmother never wrote down a recipe. Since I don't know anyone who makes their own sausage I did what I usually do when I want to learn how to do something, I Googled. I found basic instructions and a few recipes that I used for inspiration and here is what I came up with.
I started off with about 2 lbs of boneless pork butt.
Cut it into 1 inch cubes
Place cubes on a parchment lined baking sheet and put in the freezer for 30 minutes
While the meet is in the freezer, place a large mixing bowl in the fridge to chill.
In a separate bowl,combine the following:
1/2 Onion, diced
3-4 Tbsp Fresh Sage. minced
1/3 Cup Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, minced
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp Whole Fennel Seed
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 tsp Coarsely Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Sea Salt
Once the meat is firm but not frozen solid, place about one third of the cubes at a time into a food processor fitted with a sharp blade.
Pulse for 2 seconds and repeat 10-12 times or until you have something resembling ground meat.
Put the chopped up pork into the chilled mixing bowl and chop the 2 remaining batches of cubes.
Once all of the pork is chopped up, add the seasoning mixture to it.
Mix together with a fork, try not to compact the meat.
Gently shape the sausage into patties.
I grilled them for about seven minuted per side. You could also pan fry them.
They were really good!
