Recipes - misc

Cumberland Sausage

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork shoulder
3/4 oz. rusk, crumbled up ( or toast, that you bake in the oven to dry out, don't let it burn )
1 Tbs. salt
1 1/2 Tbs, black pepper, ground
1 Tbs. sage, dried
2 Tbs. oregano, dried
1 Tbs. mace, ground
3/4 tsp. nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. white pepper, ground ( if you don't have, increase the black pepper )
1/2 tsp. dextrose ( it's a sugar, if you can't find, substitute other sugar )
1/2 cup ice cubes

Wash your casings if your doing links rather than patties. Than soak in salted water overnight. Rinse before using to wash off the salt water.
Mix all dry ingredients and set aside. If your buying your meat ground from the butcher ask for a medium grind. If your grinding it yourself, grind it the first time adding 1 cup of the ice cubes to the meat, grind with the coarse attachment, than add all of the dry ingredients. Now add the remaining ice cubes and grind it the 2nd time with a medium attachment. You don't want a fine grind because Cumberland sausages have a coarser grind than most sausages. Before stuffing the mix into casings or making patties, break off a small piece and fry it up and taste it to see if you need to adjust the seasonings. When ready use your stuffing attachment and stuff the casings and twist about every 6 inches to make your links or make into patties. Either wrap and freeze or put into the fridge until your ready to prepare today or tomorrow. posted 7/8/09


Lorne Sausage ( also known as square sausage or steak slice )

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lbs. ground beef ( i use 75/25 or 80/20 )
4 oz. rusk soaked
1/2 lb. water
2 oz. rusk dry
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper, ground
3 tsp. oregano, dried
2 tsp. thyme, dried
2 tsp. sage, dried
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, ground
3 tsp. coriander, ground
2 tsp.onion powder
1/2 tsp. barbecue rub ( i use my own, but you can use Paul Prudhomme's or others )

For your rusk, if you can't find it in the store or if your like me, you just want to make your own. Cut the crust off and weight the bread to get a total of 6 oz. Put the bread in a low oven and bake until their dried out, but not burn. Take 4 oz. of the rusk, and break into small pieces about the size of a pea. Pour the water over the rusk and set aside to let it absorb the water. Rusk should be able to absorb twice its own weight. The other 2 oz. of rusk crumble up to make crumbs, but not as fine as store bought crumbs and set aside. Put all of the spices into a small bowl and mix together to blend and set aside. Now take a cookie sheet, spray it with cooking spray and crumble up the ground beef and spread it across the sheet. Next sprinkle the spices over the beef as evenly as you can and then the crumbled dry rusk and last the moist rusk. Take a loaf pan and put handy wrap going the long way and another piece the short way, so that the pan is completely covered, with a little over hang all around and set aside. Now work your meat to incorporate the spices and rusk into it, but don't over work it. After that put the meat into the loaf pan and press the meat mixture down into all the corners and pack it down. Take the over hang handy wrap and bring it up and over the meat mixture so that it's completely covered and place it in the freezer for about two hours so that it can set up. Once it's cold enough use the handy wrap to easily lift the sausage out and put it on a cutting board. Take a sharp knife and spray it with cooking spray and start slicing the sausage into about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices and set them on wax paper. Periodically you'll have to wipe the knife and spray it again, to keep it from sticking. After it's all sliced, put each slice into a sandwich bag and once that is done, put the bags in the freezer, laying flat for about an hour, so that they set back up. Than put as many as will fit in a large freezer bag and into the freezer. Doing it this way they don't break up on you. Now whenever you want a sausage you can pull out just one or 2 or how ever many you want. When your ready to make them, put on a hot griddle sprayed with cooking spray and cook through. posted 7/9/09