Makes about 5 pounds
Robust seasonings and long, slow cooking in the oven make this a fine-textured, flavorful sausage that cries out for a good homemade mustard and crusty bread.
• 5 pounds ground beef chuck
• 3 tablespoons curing salt (such as Morton’s Tender Quick)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon pressed garlic
• 2 tablespoons each chopped rosemary and sage
• 3 tablespoons chopped sweet marjoram
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, or 2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeño or serrano chiles
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground, toasted coriander seed
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
1) Mix the ingredients with your hands. Grind the mixture in a meat grinder or food processor. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, remixing with your hands two or three times.
2) Divide the meat into eight portions and roll each into a long, narrow log. Rinse eight pieces of cheesecloth in hot water to remove lint, press dry in a terry towel, then moisten liberally with vegetable oil. Roll each log in a double thickness of cheesecloth, then rub with more oil. Bake the logs on a rack at 250°F, turning occasionally to keep them round, for 4 hours, or until a meat thermometer shows an internal temperature of 160°F. Remove from the oven; remove the cheesecloth when cool and pat the sausages dry with paper towels if necessary. Refrigerate for as long as 10 days, or freeze, double-wrapped. Serve at room temperature.
Click here for the original article, Low-fat and Herb-loaded Sausage.
Madalene Hill and her daughter, Gwen Barclay, have been growing and cooking with herbs for decades. They live in Round Top, Texas.
