The Caledonian Sizzler
Posted on Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 9:19 pmCategory: Recipes, Sausages and Related Products
I don’t want anyone to think that I’m stretching the look-at-me-I’ve-been-to-Scotland thing a bit far, but I did gain a little inspiration while I was there.
I have for some time now been producing homemade sausages. These are worth the effort involved in chopping, mincing, soaking and stuffing because the product is far superior to that available from commercial sources for the same price.
I have decided that during the summer I shall be proposing a sort of concours des saucisses, an “eat-off,” if you will, where I shall present a selection of my output for consumption and judgement by an assortment of friends & family.
I shall award the winning sausage a medal or something. I haven’t quite worked out the details yet.
I’m hoping that I may be able offer up to a dozen, though that might be ambitious given the time it takes to get each recipe right. Still, we can all dream.
Now, the inspiration I received came from the haggis of which I ate vastly. I’ve always favoured a 100% meat sausage, which is usually the norm in France where binders and rusk are not widely used, but I was much taken by the texture that came from the use of oat meal in haggis.
So, here it is. Sausage number 1, “The Caledonian Sizzler:”
For 1 kilo of coarsely minced pork shoulder (about 20% fat):
- 100g of medium-ground oat meal (some rolled oats put through the blender will suffice at a pinch)
- 10g good sea salt
- 3g black pepper
- Fresh sage and thyme, about 10 leaves of the former and a good sprig of the latter
- A level teaspoon each of both ground mace and coriander
- A good dash of Worchester sauce
- Water, to moisten
I stuffed the mixture into medium hog casings and found that they cooked best when fried rather than baked.
February 15th, 2010 11:19
I’m more than willing to volunteer for the arduous task of being a Banger Judge next time I visit! And how is the chorizo turning out?
February 15th, 2010 13:46
Sounds scrummy, Jon, but how d’you catch your Hog Casing?
February 15th, 2010 15:21
Sounds super.
I use recipes from
‘Wurst aus eigener kuche
by Karl-Friedrich Schmidt
which is fine except that my knowledge of German is strictly limited to that garnered from war films when a child and nowhere in the book is there mention of ‘achtung!’
However, with a basic knowledge of sausage making and a dictionary, the results are distinctly edible.
He has a chervil sausage which is always called for when the family visit.
Well, I hope it was chervil….it works, anyway.