Homemade Pork Sausages

Ingredients

• •2 kg (4.4 lb) boneless pork shoulder, kept very cold, cut into 3 cm cubes
• •18 g (1 tbsp) fine sea salt
• •5 g (2 tsp) coarsely ground black pepper
• •4 g (1 tsp) sweet smoked paprika
• •3 g (1 tsp) dried sage, crumbled
• •2 g (1 tsp) dried thyme
• •2 g (1/2 tsp) freshly grated nutmeg
• •60 ml (1/4 cup) ice-cold water
• •2–3 m (6–10 ft) natural hog casings, rinsed and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes

Directions

1. 1Place the cubed pork shoulder on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes until the edges are firm but the meat is not frozen solid; also place the grinder parts (blade and die) in the freezer to keep them cold.
2. 2While the meat chills, soak the natural hog casings in several changes of cold water for 30 minutes; flush water through the inside of each casing and set aside submerged in cold water.
3. 3Grind the chilled pork through a coarse die (8–10 mm plate) into a large bowl set over ice; if the fat begins to smear, return the meat to the freezer for 10 minutes and continue.
4. 4Add the salt, black pepper, paprika, sage, thyme, and nutmeg to the ground pork; drizzle in the ice-cold water and mix vigorously by hand for 90 seconds until the mixture becomes slightly tacky and cohesive — keep the bowl over ice throughout.
5. 5Fry a small patty of the mixture in a dry skillet over medium heat until cooked through, taste for seasoning, and adjust salt or spices if needed; keep the remaining mixture refrigerated while you adjust.
6. 6Thread a length of soaked casing onto the sausage stuffer tube, tie a knot in the end, and fill the stuffer with the meat mixture; feed the casing steadily, keeping the fill firm but not so tight that links will burst — stuff the entire batch, leaving 8 cm of empty casing at the end and tying it off.
7. 7Twist the filled rope into individual links approximately 12 cm long by pinching and rotating alternating links in opposite directions; hang or lay the sausages uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator for 1 hour to allow the casings to dry and the seasoning to bloom.
8. 8To cook, prick each sausage twice with a pin, then pan-fry or grill over medium heat for 12–15 minutes, turning regularly, until the internal temperature reaches 71 °C (160 °F) and the casings are golden; store uncooked sausages refrigerated up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 months.

💡 Keep everything — meat, bowl, grinder parts, and your hands — as cold as possible throughout; warm fat smears and gives a greasy, crumbly sausage instead of a juicy one.

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