So, the Kitchenaid grinder I ordered for $59 on sale with a discount coupon a while back, along with some other folks, arrived while we were at the hospital, and sat in the box until last night. On a whim last night, as Yvonne dozed in her recliner, I got an 8 pound butt out of the refrigerator (had not frozen it yet, and had a use or freeze by date of 6/30/2020 on it), cut it into 1" chunks (time consuming with the bone in there), and followed the recipe for breakfast sausage on the free side.
Unfortunately, only while in the middle of this did I realize we had no sage, and a Google search said to sub rosemary, thyme, etc. So I did half rosemary and half thyme, both of which were probably already in the MMD that was in the recipe. I ended up filling my bowl almost up with this homemade sausage mix.
Regardless, a couple of observations.
First, I think you NEED the sage. Rosemary and thyme were not a good sub. It's edible, and has a nice flavor, but not the flavor I would expect.
The second observation is that this is very lean sausage, even with all the fat cap and such on the butt mixed in. I think I need a slab of much fatter meat, like pork belly, to mix in. Observations of the skillet below show that little fat rendered out, and I cooked it to 165-175. I just thought I would have a decent fat to lean ratio with a bone in pork butt from Sam's Club, but apparently it needs more. The 75/25 ratio called for in the recipe, and I just went with carving up the butt with a boning knife willy nilly.
Sorry - didn't think to take any pics after flipping the sausage over, as I was busy feeding eggs, sausage and buttered toast from homemade bread to myself and Yvonne!
I don't see eating 5-6 pounds of this very quickly, so plan to make patties and freeze on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, then vacuum seal and into the freezer in 1 pound portions. I will probably end up giving at least half away to the kids as they come to visit.
Jim
Unfortunately, only while in the middle of this did I realize we had no sage, and a Google search said to sub rosemary, thyme, etc. So I did half rosemary and half thyme, both of which were probably already in the MMD that was in the recipe. I ended up filling my bowl almost up with this homemade sausage mix.
Regardless, a couple of observations.
First, I think you NEED the sage. Rosemary and thyme were not a good sub. It's edible, and has a nice flavor, but not the flavor I would expect.
The second observation is that this is very lean sausage, even with all the fat cap and such on the butt mixed in. I think I need a slab of much fatter meat, like pork belly, to mix in. Observations of the skillet below show that little fat rendered out, and I cooked it to 165-175. I just thought I would have a decent fat to lean ratio with a bone in pork butt from Sam's Club, but apparently it needs more. The 75/25 ratio called for in the recipe, and I just went with carving up the butt with a boning knife willy nilly.
Sorry - didn't think to take any pics after flipping the sausage over, as I was busy feeding eggs, sausage and buttered toast from homemade bread to myself and Yvonne!
I don't see eating 5-6 pounds of this very quickly, so plan to make patties and freeze on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, then vacuum seal and into the freezer in 1 pound portions. I will probably end up giving at least half away to the kids as they come to visit.
Jim
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