Perhaps, any modern person ate a purchased sausage. Alas, the taste qualities of most varieties can satisfy only a very unpretentious consumer. But have you ever tried homemade sausages? After all, preparing them is much simpler than it seems at first glance, and the taste is simply excellent.
When was it first cooked?
To begin with, we will make a short excursion into history to better understand the issue.
Today it is impossible to more or less accurately determine where the sausage was first prepared. But it is known for certain where this delicious product was first documented - in the Greek chronicles of the fifth century BC. Therefore, it is safe to say that sausage is more than two and a half thousand years old.
The reason for its preparation is simple: in the hot climate of Greece, the meat of slaughtered animals deteriorated very quickly - in a matter of days. But there were no refrigerators to increase the shelf life. In addition, during military campaigns, a light, high-calorie and, if possible, tasty product was needed that every warrior could carry in his bag.
Then dried cured sausage was used . That is, the meat just dried in the shade. The hot salty air of Greece perfectly dried it, significantly increasing the shelf life, as well as eliminating excess water and reducing weight several times.
Pros of a home product
More and more people today refuse a ready-made store product, preferring to cook home-made sausages. Why so? There are several reasons for this:
- The composition will definitely not include numerous flavor enhancers, emulsifiers and other harmful substances.
- You decide which meat to use and you probably will not add stale products to the sausage.
- At hand you will always have a very tasty product that is stored for a long time and will be a great addition to the table if guests suddenly arrive.
- You will have invaluable experience in the completely new and for most people mysterious field of cooking home-made products.
True, mastering the preparation of home-made sausages is not so simple - you will have to seriously work. But the recipe will pleasantly surprise even the most demanding gourmet.
What is a good natural shell
Our ancestors knew well that it is best to cook homemade sausages in the gut. For them, this was very common material, which was often simply thrown away or fed to dogs. Still, when cutting piglets this stuff is more than enough. However, everything is clear here - in those days there were no synthetic analogues, therefore there was no particular alternative.
Why do experts to this day choose a natural shell, ignoring all modern solutions? The main advantage is naturalness. Before you enjoy a homemade sausage in a synthetic shell, the latter will have to be removed. The guts, when cooking, become thinner and become almost invisible externally and completely imperceptible to taste.
In addition, the natural shell has a large number of tiny pores - they practically do not allow moisture to pass through, but smoke and steam will easily pass through. Therefore, smoked home-made sausages in the gut turn out to be especially tasty and aromatic - exactly what a natural, extremely high-quality product should be.
If you decide to cook a dish on the grill, a sausage in a synthetic shell is clearly not suitable - under the influence of high temperature it will melt and will definitely ruin the product. But the gut will dry out, become crispy and will definitely not change the taste of natural meat.
Prepare the guts
If you are interested in home-made sausages, the recipe recommends starting with the preparation of the shell or intestines. Today it is not too easy to find them, although they are sold in some stores - already prepared, thoroughly washed and even scraped. But it’s much easier to go to the market and order a half kilogram-kilogram of pork intestines from a butcher - such a purchase will cost inexpensively.
But be prepared for the fact that you have to seriously work with them. Still, the gut is not the cleanest organ in the pig body. And the contents of the intestines in the sausage are definitely not needed. Therefore, rinse them thoroughly - if you have warm water at your disposal, then there will be no problems. It is enough to clean the intestines of any debris from the outside, then turn inside out and rinse again.
The easiest way to turn them out is by putting on a thin long object - something like a wand.
Make sure that they do not have an unpleasant odor - this can ruin home-made sausages.
Purified intestines should be soaked in a weak, slightly acidic vinegar solution for two to three hours. That's all. The natural shell is ready.
Cooking stuffing
Of course, the basis of any sausage is precisely the filling - minced meat with various additives. Here, a definite answer on the composition cannot be given. After all, it all depends on what kind of sausage you plan to get - chicken or pork, boiled or dried.
However, homemade chicken sausages are the simplest, so let's start with a more complex and interesting recipe - pork. To do this, you need the following ingredients:
- 2 kg of pork - it is best to take a neck;
- 200 grams of fat;
- head of garlic;
- salt pepper.
It is not at all difficult to cope with the preparation of minced meat - pork and lard must be passed through a meat grinder along with peeled garlic. It is enough to add salt and pepper to the prepared meat - the basis with which home-made sausages will turn out simply breathtakingly delicious is ready.
Why in the sausage saltpeter?
Probably every person who has heard about cooking home-made sausages knows that saltpeter is often added to minced meat. More precisely, nitrite salt - nitrate is a deadly poison and is not sold in its pure form.
It would seem, why do you need to add poison to the sausage, which you will eat yourself and feed loved ones?
In fact, do not worry. Nitrate enters the body in tiny, completely harmless quantities. After all, if you eat a kilogram of salt at a time, a fatal outcome will also be inevitable. And no one was dying from a pinch.
But nitrite salt is used only if you want to get dried sausage. It is not subjected to heat treatment, therefore, dangerous bacteria rapidly develop in meat. It is an admixture of nitrate that kills them, making sausage safe. It also allows the meat to maintain an appetizing pink color.
We form a sausage
When the intestines are cleaned and the minced meat is cooked, we proceed to the important stage - stuffing the shell. To cope with the task without special equipment is not easy. Fortunately, many modern meat grinders are equipped with special nozzles in the shape of a truncated cone.
It greatly facilitates the process. Get started:
- Remove the knife and grill from the meat grinder, put the nozzle in their place and fix it.
- Pull a clean gut over the nozzle - like a stocking on your leg. Tie the loose end with a thin but strong cotton thread.
- Put the minced meat in a meat grinder and watch how the gut is filled.
- At intervals of 15-20 centimeters, tie the shell with a thread, forming separate sausages.
It is not worth stuffing the intestines with excess forcemeat - because of this, home-made sausages may burst during cooking and all contents will deteriorate. It is better to leave enough free space. Anyway, during heat treatment, the gut will decrease in volume and tightly fit the minced meat.
Cook sausage
If you are interested in the most simple way of cooking, then it is best to cook homemade sausages. The recipe is simple - bring salted water to a boil and lower the product into the pan. Moreover, it is very important not to forget one simple nuance. The shell for homemade sausages must be punctured with a toothpick in several places. Otherwise, it will burst during cooking.
Cook for about 10-15 minutes - this time is definitely enough for the meat to boil well.
This is not the most delicious way, but it is quick and can be used in a city apartment - without using a smokehouse.
Cooking a real sausage
But if you are interested in real home- made pork sausages, it is better to resort to cheese making. In this case, about 40-50 grams of nitrite salt should be added per kilogram of minced meat.
The guts in the preparation of dried sausage can be packed tightly - they will not burst.
Ready-made sausages should be hung in a well-ventilated place - best on the balcony. The wind must constantly blow them, accelerating the process of evaporation of moisture. However, in modern cities this should be done with some caution - the air here is far from clean, so a soot deposit may well appear on the sausage, which is unlikely to improve the taste of the finished product.
The main thing is that the temperature is not too high - not higher than + 15 ... + 17 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it is best to cook dried sausage in spring or autumn.
The finished product must be dry and resilient. Color - like a purchased sausage or with a slightly brownish hue.
Harvest for the future
Or maybe you want to get homemade sausages for frying? This is also a fairly common option. In this case, the finished sausages do not need to be boiled or dried - you can simply put them in the freezer. Here it can be stored frozen for up to a month. If necessary, just take it out for a few hours and let it thaw completely.
Then cook it in a frying pan (pouring a little vegetable oil so that it does not burn) or on the grill during a trip to the countryside - a great substitute for a regular barbecue.
During cooking, sausages must be actively turned over - they must be cooked evenly. If you leave them unattended for a long time, then in the center the minced meat will remain damp, while at the edges it will greatly burn.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are no special difficulties in cooking home-made sausages. Yes, the process takes a lot of time.
Therefore, it is best to cook immediately 5-7 kilograms of sausage, so that it lasts a long time - you still have to spend the whole evening, so it’s better to approach the issue on a grand scale. Fortunately, the finished product is stored very well, and it is consumed simply surprisingly quickly.