Homemade Sausage Making

I got the whim to make some souse and this recipe turned out pretty good. Its a nice neutral flavor that is pretty respectable. I had hoped for a little spicier souse to mix with eggs but this fell short for that but its not a bad recipe nonetheless.


1 pigs head (preferably a happy one like this one who is psyched for the job)




Remove brain and tongue and eyes (toss eyes and save brain)
2 bottles of wine. I used foxgrape cause that's what I had
2.5 gallons of water or enough to cover
1 onion quartered
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 TBS salt
2 Bayleaves
1 tsp black pepper
2 cloves of galic
1 TBS Pickling spice

Bring to boil. Skim foam and and reduce heat to a good simmer for about 2 hours then remove tongue. Skin it and cut off the root.
When the head is done, about an hour later, take it out and put on a platter to cool. Take skin off and cut meat into pieces about the size of golfballs.
Strain liquid. Bring to boil add a bunch of green onions chopped in about 2 inch pieces then add brain and simmer for 15 minutes.
Drain and add the head meat and tongue meat to the brain in a mixing bowl.
Add spices and mix well.

Meat Spices
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp of nutmeg
1/4 tsp of mace
1 tsp of sage
1 oz of boudin spice
½ TBS of Red Pepper Fakes
Place mixture in a mould and cover with lukewarm liquid and a weight to keep meat submerged and refrigerate for a day or so.

For a mould and press I used those square stackable food containers used in restaurants. I put the meat mix iin the bottom one and filled about 75% full then put another one on top of it and filled with water till there was enough weight there to pus the liquid within an inch of the top. Worked beautiful

After a day



Sliced and waiting for some eggs.



Plated and ready to eat. Maybe not the most heart healthy meal but pretty good nonetheless

Did you include some of the skin and fat with the meat mix? I used to be able to get this for cold sandwiches.

Yes, I like the texture the skin give. Its sortof a cartlidgey texture and I like that.

Yum!

Looks like you nailed it in my opinion. Why did you toss the eyes? On a fresh pig head those 2 items are a delicacy to some... Not me, but to some.

I have this on the to do list, but I have to wait for the wife to be out of town first... She draws the line at me cooking heads when she's around... First time I made barbacoa I thought a divorce was coming soon! Hey, I didn't tell her to open the door to the smoker so she could see the head of the steer we raised looking at her! Well, maybe I did, but I thought she had a better sense of humor!

Charlie

Butterbean,
I like the look of it. I make something similar sometimes. Not from a pigs head though, for the same reasons you have. Next time I will make this, I am going to cure the meat first to give it a pinkish colour, add some vinegar and cubed polski ogorki.
Cheers,
Jan.

CrankyBuzzard wrote:Looks like you nailed it in my opinion. Why did you toss the eyes? On a fresh pig head those 2 items are a delicacy to some... Not me, but to some.

I'll eat about anything but I just have to draw the line at eyeballs. The pickles and vinegar would have been a nice addition I think.

Hey Butterbean ol' pard! Where ya been guy? We've missed you around this place. Your recipe looks amazing. My Aunt used to make it on the ranch way back when. You've really got a nice product there pal. Do you put a splash of vinegar over it?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for the interesting recipe and pics Butterbean. I don't think that it's unhealthy. probably a heck of a lot better than the highly processed stuff you buy at Walmart. I would not have included the brain in the mix but rather deveined it, nicely chopped it up and scramble-fried it with eggs and onions. It's delightful on toast and improves your memory as well!

Crusty, another way to get the pink colour into these types of products is to add a small amount of cure #1 into the cooking broth. It's quicker and you get a better distribution especially if you are cooking large pieces of meat with bone.

Red,
Thank for that advise. I never realised that you could add cure to a cooking broth.
Never too old to learn.
Jan.

Yes Crusty, but that is to get the colour only. It will affect the flavour slightly and don't rely on this as a "cure". My butcher dad suggested this to me.

Hope you had a great weekend down-under! I'm busy today smoking goose sausage and preparing some solid muscle meats for curing.

Best,

Chris

Red,
You are so lucky to have your parents around and a Dad as a butcher. No wonder you seem to have answers for lots of things Charcuterie wise.
Cheers,
Jan.

Chuckwagon wrote:Hey Butterbean ol' pard! Where ya been guy? We've missed you around this place. Your recipe looks amazing. My Aunt used to make it on the ranch way back when. You've really got a nice product there pal. Do you put a splash of vinegar over it?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Tree planting got the best of my time for the last few months. Planted the last one last week. Such glamourous work as this deprives me of my time.

I hadn't thought of putting vinegar on it but might try it. Next time I'll add about 1/2 cup of vinegar. I think this will perk it up some. I like the idea of the pickles too.

Butterbean,
This was my latest effort with out the polski ogorki but with some sweet paprika powder, garlic and capsicum pieces.
Cheers,
Jan.

That is beautiful. My mouth is watering.

You guys have inspired me to make some sulze, souse, head cheese, whatever one calls it. I want to use beef tongues (as well as the usual skin-on hocks and pigs feet). My question is: what would you recommend for a brine to pump the beef tongues? CW posted a 25° SAL brine for hams that sounds good. Could I use that formula? How many days do you figure it would need to then cure after injecting and soaking in that formula? I've had trouble in the past getting that nice pink color throughout on the tongues because of the thick skin preventing brine penetration. Thanks for any advice.