Years ago at a German American festival, a booth was selling these jalapeño brats.... and they were fucking delicious. I never found them since, but I never forgot them.
"Fuck it," I said out loud earlier this summer. "I'll make my own."
Universe created, and extra jalapeños went into the garden, in May. Stage set.
This is the recipe I used, which I followed to the letter, aside from doubling it, and adding a dozen blender-diced-jalapeños, from my garden.
https://www.daringgourmet.com/homemade- ... bratwurst/
I already have pork on hand. No pics, but I'll buy that 2.5' long pork shoulder tube from Costco, for usually less than $3 per pound. Some of the cheapest, good-quality protein you can get. So I chunk those up into 1.5 pound bits, vacuum seal those, and take them out when I feel like some bbq boneless pork chops and slice them myself. SO I just used 4 pounds worth of what I already had in the freezer.
But for sausage you also need at least a 25% fat content, and most people say you need 50% for a good taste. I've never purchased pork fat before, and had a boggle for a moment. Called a local butcher shop and they weren't even fazed, said unless I needed 100+ pounds that I didn't even need to make an order. SO just walked in and got 5 pounds. I had expected it to be super cheap.... I'm getting pork at $3 per pound, and pork fat is just trimming waste. Nope. Those fuckers charged me $4 per pound. I will be looking for an alternate source, next time. Maybe Costco trims pork in-store... I'll tap on the glass and ask, next time. BTW, they assumed I was making deer sausage. Lots of hunters around here.
You have a choice between artificial (cellulose) and real casings (intestines). I kind of had a minor aversion to handling intestines, but they were right there at the butcher shop so I grabbed those and I'll just tuck my vagina lips in and deal with it. Ultimately I ended up using about 10% of that pack, for like 20 sausages.
Here's the lean pork, alongside a chunk of fat. I was trying to cut it 50/50, I wasn't planning on any exact weight-measurements, because that's exhausting. I just do it by instinct. "Seems right."
Here's mid-grind.
This is the mix, the seasonings are in there, as well as the jalapeños. Those are the green bits.
Stringing the intestines. The blender off to the side is how I "chopped" the peppers.
I fully cop to the fact this was a big learning experience. All in all it took about 3 hours, and more effort than I expected. More than once I had to go to the internet manual to look up how to use this mixer w/the attachments. Actually was using it wrong the first 30 minutes before I realized I hadn't put in the blade, duh. And then I didn't know the proper technique for actually stuffing the sausage.... so some sausages are fat, some thinner, and twice they actually overfilled and burst the casing. I'll own that, I'm still learning. And I learned this is almost a 2 person job... would have been easier to have one person feeding meat into the hopper, and the other person focusing on the casing to get a consistent thickness. It was actually frustrating, by the end. Harder than I thought because of the "first time" issues, and the sausage itself wasn't pretty, and on top of all that I didn't even know if the recipe was any good and I'd be able to eat these.
Used that section of casing, went through another, and then half of another.
At the end of this 4 hour process my feet hurt, my forearm hurt because I was missing the plunger to push meat down the hopper and had to use my fingers, the sausages weren't pretty, I figured it was going to taste like shit, and I was frustrated. But I sat for a minute, twisted them into sausages, and threw them in the fridge. The kitchen was trashed and I was too tired to cook one.
Left for the evening, had a slumber party with a girl, and came home this morning and fired up the grill.
They smelled right.
Used some plain yellow mustard, I was trying to taste the sausage, so didn't overpower with hot mustard.
Jesus fuck they are delicious and perfect. Perfect amount of flavor and heat (for me). It was all worth it, and the next batch I make will be easier since I've learned all the "first time" stuff. So, A+ on that recipe. And I know the meat was pure pork shoulder, and pure pork fat. No crazy shit usually associated with sausages and frankfurters.
Making your own SAUSAGE
Making your own SAUSAGE
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"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Making your own SAUSAGE
I couldn't stop thinking about them and had another 2 for dinner that night, heh.
I'm currently prepping them up for vacuum seal, and freezer. I made exactly 24, out of the 6-7 pounds of meat I mixed.
Purchased a new, better meat grinder. Will be making another batch in about a week, with the remainder of the garden jalapeños. This wont be a frequent thing, just this time of year when the peppers are in. Also made a ton of salsa, and homemade stuffed jalapenos, this year.
New meat grinder, hmmm. I wonder what a hamburger would taste like, made from a new york strip....
I'm currently prepping them up for vacuum seal, and freezer. I made exactly 24, out of the 6-7 pounds of meat I mixed.
Purchased a new, better meat grinder. Will be making another batch in about a week, with the remainder of the garden jalapeños. This wont be a frequent thing, just this time of year when the peppers are in. Also made a ton of salsa, and homemade stuffed jalapenos, this year.
New meat grinder, hmmm. I wonder what a hamburger would taste like, made from a new york strip....
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Making your own SAUSAGE
For your edification, this is what I call "the meat tube," a 2 foot long chunk of porn loin, from Costco. This one is 9.6 pounds, and I bought it at $2 per pound. Super cheap, high quality protein.
I'm going to make hot dogs tomorrow, and more sausage the next day, so I'll leave some out, thawed.... but otherwise I'll cut it up and vacuum seal it in 1.5-1.75 pound chunks, for future use. I've been using them as bbq pork chops. Delicious.
I'm going to make hot dogs tomorrow, and more sausage the next day, so I'll leave some out, thawed.... but otherwise I'll cut it up and vacuum seal it in 1.5-1.75 pound chunks, for future use. I've been using them as bbq pork chops. Delicious.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Making your own SAUSAGE
Batch 3. Batch 2 was an attempt to make hot dogs, and sucked.
I'm getting better at stuffing these casings. Hot Italian sausages and I'm concerned too hot. A lot of heat went into the seasonings.... and then I added my own garden jalapeños. Eek.
I'm getting better at stuffing these casings. Hot Italian sausages and I'm concerned too hot. A lot of heat went into the seasonings.... and then I added my own garden jalapeños. Eek.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."