Bangers sausage (with keto variation)

[radshop]

I first discovered Bangers in the mid-90s when an English branch of my extended in-laws used to bring them to Thanksgiving dinner every year. I quickly learned to save a little room on the turkey and dressing, so I'd have some corners to fill in with the sausages. Then a few years later I took several business trips to London and carried on my appreciation of them. Finally, when I got my sausage making setup, they became one of my staples. But the problem recently, since I started on the low-carb/keto diet, is that Bangers have a substantial amount of bread crumbs as a filler/binder, so they don't work on that diet. Finally this weekend, although I was skeptical if it would work, I tried using ground pork rinds as the filler, plus a little whey protein to help with the binding. I'm surprised how great it works. [I know that for an online recipe I'm supposed to have a backstory of at least 10,000 words, but this is all I could come up with.]

My sausage stuffing press holds just about exactly 10 lbs, so based on my percentage-ratio recipe, I started with 7.5 lbs of pork and it turned out just right. Note the percentages mean "compared to the pork weight" not "percent of total weight".

• 7.5 lbs Pork
  • 4 lbs Pork cushion meat or butt
  • 3.5 lbs Pork belly
  • (note - this is a fairly fatty sausage with this ratio; adjust to your liking)
• 24 oz (20%) cold water
• Traditional Filler/binder
  • 12 oz (10%) bread crumbs
• Keto alternative Filler/binder
  • 12 oz (10%) unsalted ground pork rinds (adjust salt added if the pork rinds are salted)
  • 1.2 oz (1%) unflavored whey protein powder (or substitute nonfat dry milk powder)
• 2.4 oz (2%) salt
• 1.2 oz (1%) ground white pepper (black pepper is okay if it's what you have or you prefer it)
• 0.6 oz (0.5%) powdered ginger
• 0.24 oz (0.2%) each of ground sage, thyme, and mace

Method:

• Add the bread crumbs or pork rinds to the water so they can hydrate
• Double grind the pork
• Add all the ingredients
• Mix thoroughly. (Note this is not just to blend the ingredients. This is an emulsified sausage, so you are going for a really thorough mix to emulsify the fat. There are lots of online explanations/videos if this is new for you.)
• Stuff (I usually use natural pork casings out of habit; sheep casings make a nice thin breakfast sausage, though)
• Dry 24 hours uncovered in the fridge
• Precook to 152 internal temp in hot water or in the smoker (preferably very mild smoke flavor)
• Now you have a precooked pork sausage perfect for grilling or frying

I forgot to take any pics until I was all done and had them vacuum sealed for freezing.

[TripleB]

Very nice. I love English bangers. So good and I've had a hankerin for making some sausage. I will have to bookmark this and give it a try.

Appreciate the filling variation. I just made some bulk sausage (2 lbs./ea) this past weekend. Mexican Chorizo and Breakfast Sausage. Not happy with it. Trying new recipes from a book. Two strikes against it... not good

Thanks for posting.

[Alan Brice]

This is all new to me. Into paprika. Need sausage making hdwr. MCS ;-)