• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

1 1⁄2 pounds/675 grams pork back fat (or a combination of pork and turkey fat), diced

1 1⁄2 ounces/40 grams kosher salt (about 3 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons/20 grams sugar

2 teaspoons/6 grams ground white pepper

2 tablespoons/12 grams minced fresh sage

1⁄2 teaspoon/1 gram grated fresh ginger

1⁄2 teaspoon/2 grams ground cloves

1⁄4 teaspoon/1 gram ground cinnamon

10 feet/3 meters hog casings, soaked in tepid water for at least 30 minutes and rinsed

1. Soak the dried cherries in the wine for 30 minutes. Drain the cherries, and reserve the wine. Refrigerate the wine to chill it.

2. Combine all the ingredients except the wine and toss to distribute the seasonings. Chill until ready to grind.

3. Grind the mixture through the small die into a bowl set in ice (see Note below).

4. Add the wine to the meat mixture and mix with the paddle attachment (or sturdy spoon) until the liquid is incorporated and the mixture has developed a uniform, sticky appearance, about 1 minute on medium speed.

5. Cook a small portion of the sausage, taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

6. Stuff the sausage into the hog casings and twist into 6-inch/15-centimeter links. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to cook.

7. Gently sauté or roast the sausage to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F./71 to 70 degrees C.

Yield: About 5 pounds/2.25 kilograms sausage; about twenty 6-inch/15-centimeter links

[ NOTE: See pages 107–116 for a detailed description of the basic grinding, mixing, stuffing, and cooking techniques. ]

Three different types of sausage (from left to right): Hunter sausage, which is smoked; an emulsified sausage with chunks of ham inside; and Spanish chorizo, a dry-cured sausage.

Emulsified Sausages

An emulsified sausage is one in which the seasoned meat and fat are pureed in a food processor or mixed to death in a standing mixer, until the fat is evenly suspended throughout the meat and water. The meat-fat-water emulsion looks like a smooth, creamy paste. When stuffed into casings and cooked, it has a superfine texture and uniform color. Think of the inside of a hot dog, one of the most familiar emulsified sausages. Or compare a slice of bologna, which is emulsified, with a slice of salami, which is not.

Making an emulsified sausage involves a few more steps than making fresh sausage. The process is not difficult, but the temperature must be watched vigilantly to ensure a stable emulsion and a delicious sausage. Just as hollandaise, a classic emulsion sauce, can break, so too can an emulsion sausage mixture. A broken sausage emulsion is sadder by far than a broken hollandaise, and there’s little to be done about it. And you won’t necessarily be able see it happening. Sometimes it will break precipitously, turning into the consistency of oatmeal, but another time, you might only notice that it has become very shiny on the surface. That may in fact indicate a broken emulsion, but you won’t know it until you take your first bite. Though flavorful, it will feel a little like eating clumps of soggy ground-up newspaper.

Done properly, though, making an emulsified sausage is an exciting process, a test of real craftsmanship in your manipulation of protein and fat, in the transformation of chunks of meat and fat and seasonings into a highly refined and flavorful package. Crafty though it is in its alchemy, it’s not difficult to do as long as you follow the directions here to a tee. Then it’s a breeze. If you serve one of these sausages to friends at home, they’re apt to look at you and say, “You made that? How did you make it?” Most people aren’t used to seeing homemade emulsified sausages, and so the creations that follow are especially impressive.

Yet, because their texture tends to be so fine and light, they lend themselves just as well to being served on a bun as featured in a formal first course, simply sliced on their own with some sauce or mustard. Homemade emulsified