Follow basic sausage preparation practices when making this sausage.
- Clean and sanitize all of your equipment before and after use.
- Chill your meat to below 34f or 1c before grinding.
- Before you mix your meat make sure you rechill to 34f or 1c, if you add any liquid make sure its ice
- Mix the meat, liquid, and seasonings till the mince becomes very tacky.
- Stuff the mince into sausage casings and prick out any air pockets or just make sausage patties.
- Cook till you reach your desired internal temp.
Here are a few things you might find useful when making this sausage
- SavorYe Flavor Booster
- Ajvar Paste
- High Quality Natural Casings (AA Grade)
- Thermapen ONE (Accurate Thermometer)
- Sausage Pricker
- Kotai Chef Knife
- Sausage Stuffers
- Meat Grinder
- Meat Mixers
- Stuffing Horn Cleaner
- Butcher Twine & Dispenser
- Small accurate Scale for spices
- Large Capacity Scale (33 pounds)
- Drying rack and tray
- Custom Cutting Board
- Jende Lapping plate for sharpening our grinder plates and knife
If you want to see the different things that we use in operation our be sure to check out our new Amazon Store.
2 Guys & A Cooler Amazon Storefront
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. If you make this at home, I’d love to hear about how it came out!!
Today’s recipe was inspired by the Macedonian Recipe from the website Meats and Sausages.
Macedonian Sausage
A little spicy with an exotic twist
How much do you want to make? 1000 grams
Ingredients
- 500 g lamb
- 250 g pork shoulder
- 250 g pork back fat
- 18 g salt
- 7 g savorye
- 5 g black pepper
- 2 g cumin
- .5 g rosemary
- 15 g minced garlic
- 7 g smoked paprika
- 8 g fresh mint
- 40 g potato starch
- 15 g red wine
- 35 g water
- 50 g hot ajvar paste
- .7 g baking soda
- hog casing 29mm-32mm
Instructions
Prepare the casing (If you plan on having a cased sausage)
- Rinse off the salt and flush the casings with some cool water. Place the cleaned casings in some fresh water with some baking soda in it (I use 1 tsp per quart of water) and place in the refrigerator. If you let your casings soak for at least 12 hours, they will be nice and tender by the time you use them.
Prepare the meat and spices
- Combine the water, ajvar paste, and the wine in a container and mix in the baking soda to neutralize. Set to the side for later.
- Clean your meat of any silver skin, sinew, arteries and cut into small strips or cubes. Place in the freezer for an hour or until the temp reaches 32f – 34F. (0c-1c)
- Grind your chilled meat on a 10 mm plate. In my video I did a 6mm grind on the pork and fat and a 10mm grind on the lamb, you can do that if you want to. I thought this sausage would be better with everything on a 10mm plate.
- Mix the chilled meat with the spices, mint, and neutralized liquid till it becomes very tacky. If you grab a small handful, it will stick to your hand if you hold your hand upside down.
- Stuff your sausage into a casing and prick out any air pockets. Link the sausage to your desired size and refrigerate overnight. This is a fresh sausage so technically you don't have to refrigerate overnight but if you do the spices will come together better and the little twists between each sausage will dry up. This will keep the meat from spilling out while you cook it.
- Cook the sausage till you reach your desired internal temperature
Cooking a fresh sausage:
- GRILL METHOD | Bring the temperature of your pit to 225f – 300f (107.2c – 148.8c). Place the sausage on the rack and cook till you reach the desired internal temp. Flip often so they cook evenly.
- POACHING | Heat a pot of water to 165f – 176F (73.8 – 80c) and poach the sausage until you hit the desired internal temperature.
- STEAMING | If you have a steam basket or a steam pot, you can cook your sausages like this till you reach the desired cooking temperature.
- SOUS VIDE | Place the sausages in a vacuum sealed bag and cook them in a water bath. Your immersion circulator should be set to 145f (62.7c) and you will cook your sausages for 2 hours. If you have a very large diameter sausage like mortadella (100mm) then you might want to cook that one for 4 hours. Once finished, cool in an ice water bath. I generally cook my sausage sous vide for 1 hour for every inch that the sausage is wide. A 1-inch-wide sausage (25mm) I will cook for 1 hour
- SIMMERING | In a skillet with a little oil and on medium heat, pan fry your sausage till they take on a little color. Add your favorite cooking liquid (water, stock, beer) and simmer your sausage covered till you reach your desired internal temperature.
- BAKING | In a skillet with a little oil and on medium heat, pan fry your sausage till they take on a little color. Then place the sausage in a preheated oven 225f – 300f (107.2c – 148.8c) and bake till you reach your desired internal temperature.
Storage Instructions
- Fresh sausages are more perishable than cured sausages. So, refrigerate them and eat them within 1-2 days.
- You can also place these sausages in a vacuum sealed bag and freeze for later.
Ajvar Paste
An incredibly delicious spread from the Balkans
Ingredients
- 907 g red bell pepper
- 454 g eggplant
- 70 g roasted garlic or to taste
- 60 ml oil
- 15 ml vinegar
- 2.5 g salt
- 12 g savorye
- 1.25 g black pepper
- 2 g cayenne pepper or to taste
- 1 g chili flakes or to taste
- 4 g sugar optional
Instructions
- Brush the outer skin of your bell peppers and eggplant and roast on either a hot grill or in your oven set to 425f (220c). Once the outside has charred and the vegetables are soft, remove them from the heat and place it in a small container. Wrap with cling film and let the vegetables rest for 30 minutes.
- Clean the charred skin off the bell peppers and remove the stem as well as the seeds. Set to the side.
- Cut the eggplant in half and scrape out the meaty center leaving the skin behind.
- Roast your garlic and remove the cloves from the bulb. The amount of roasted garlic that you use is up to you. I like roasted garlic so the amount that this recipe calls for might be a little higher than normal. Adjust as necessary.
- Run the garlic, eggplant, and bell peppers through a 6mm plate on your grinder. If you don't have a grinder you can finely mince the vegetables.
- Add the oil to a skillet and on medium heat add the minced vegetables begin cooking. After 5-8 minutes of cooking, stirring occasionally add the spices to your vegetable mix.
- Continue to cook till the paste looses enough moisture so that when you slide your spoon through the center it leaves a valley. Once you reach this point add the vinegar and taste. Adjust the spices as you see fit.
- Refrigerate and enjoy!!
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Thanks for another recipe.
THANKS FOR THE RECIPE. I LOVE EGGPLANT AND IT PROBABLY WON’T GET INTO THE RECIPE BECAUSE I’LL EAT IT FIRST!!!
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