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Wellspent Market founder Jim Dixon has been writing about food and restaurants for Willamette Week for a long time. He wants our readers to eat well, and he shows them how with the recipes he creates just for us by using simple cooking techniques and easy-to-find ingredients.
During the year I worked behind a butcher counter, I made thousands of sausages. I mixed salt and spices into ground meat and forced it into a natural casing using a hand-cranked stuffer. They looked good and sold well, but they were actually just what Anthony Bourdain called “encased meats.” Management wanted to quickly get them made and into the case to sell, so two things necessary for turning ground meat into sausage were neglected: salt and time.
The word sausage comes from the Latin salsicus (“seasoned with salt”), but that salt does more than just add flavor. It breaks down the meat’s protein structure, causing one of its proteins, myosin, to dissolve and give sausage that cohesive, snappy texture. The process requires enough salt, about 2% of the meat’s weight, and at least a few hours.
Those “sausages” I was making didn’t have enough salt, and they weren’t rested to give what little salt they had time to work its magic.
Better butcher shops make real sausages, and when I want a snappy link in a tube, I buy them. But if all I need is that sausage texture and flavor, I’ll make my own bulk sausage. All it takes is ground pork (beef and lamb work; I don’t think chicken makes good sausage), salt and time.
Most of the time, I lean Italian with the seasonings, but the possibilities are endless. So are the different ways of eating sausage. This classic combination of peppers and onions is a good starting place.
Recipe
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon kosher-style sea salt (*It’s best to weigh the salt to get the 2% ratio, but if you’re using coarse kosher-style salt, a tablespoon is very close in this recipe.)
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup dry wine
- 1 teaspoon herbs de Province or similar blend
- 1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 red bell peppers, sliced
- Extra virgin olive oil
Add the salt, cold ground pork, spices and wine to a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix well, squeezing and kneading for at least a minute, or until it starts to get a little sticky. Transfer to a smaller container and refrigerate covered overnight.
Form the meat mixture into patties or, if you’re feeling adventurous, tube-shaped pieces that mimic the stuffed versions. Depending on the size, you can get 6-8 sausages.
Cook the onions and peppers in a glug of olive oil over medium heat until the onions are starting to caramelize, about 25-30 minutes. If the vegetables start to burn, add a few tablespoons of water. Push them to sides of the pan and put the sausages in the center. Cook, turning occasionally until lightly browned, about 10 minutes total.
