Still doing a lot of wholesale business I had a request from one of my clients wondering is I was able to make/do a Pork and Apple sausage this item was in my original 57 verities that I used to make in my shop years ago
I looked at the recipe and toyed with the idea of just running a 14kg batch off for the Chef, but the more I looked at it the crazier the thoughts became ... What if I used that instead of that .. and so the process went on within my mind while doing other chores .....
The main thing that I was always up against was the amount of liquid within the apple itself and usually to combat that (if one wanted a decent apple flavour) was to add some sought of binder (Rusk normally as I learned my trade in the UK) but then the nagging voices in the crevices of my mind of my mentor telling me to keep things clean
And so the process went on over the course of the day, my work table (stainless steel) started to get covered with notes written using a dry eraser marker -- Spice combinations flashing across my mind tantalizing my taste buds. A quick break and a combination of spices bended to see what aromatics unfolded .... Nice; but something was missing
The whole idea was to use spices that are commonly associated with apple/s and along the lines of a great homemade apple pie .. a couple more blends by tweaking the spice ratios brought it ever so close that I could taste the finished product even though we had not made anything as yet .. the sad thing was, it was lacking something to take it over the edge
Talking to a close friend at the Club where I work came up with a brilliant idea to add some Cardamon to the mix, now most know (or should know) that Cardamon should be used sparingly as it can and will overpower everything, the other reason is that it is one of the most expensive spice on the market (try buying a kg at a time like I do and see the bank account go down
) Now that I had the missing piece of the puzzle I quickly added and subtracted spices at the same time re-calculating the ratios/percentage of each spice so that the whole would marry and produce what my taste buds were tasting
The following is the recipe which has remained the same since it was first made, the Chef was so pleased with the outcome it has been on the menu for some time now
Meat: Pork shoulder 70/30
Spices per kg
9g Sea salt
2.2g Ground Black pepper
1.03g Ground Cinnamon
0.44g Ground Cloves
0.37g Ground Coriander
0.29g Ground Nutmeg
0.29g Ground Cardamon
40g Dehydrated Apples
88.2g marks and spencer's Bramley apple sauce **
Zest and juice of 2 fresh lemons ***
** marks and spencer's Bramley apple sauce is chunky and if one reads the fine print it has some cornstarch to bind up the liquid (gluten free)
*** Do not be like I was when the Chef suggested the lemons ... tart and sweetness balancing each other in harmony ... we use one first but it can (and does) take two well
The following is part of my HACCP sheet showing how this sausage is made
The one thing I will emphasize is that you need to make a detailed record of everything you do as there will be times that questions are asked and you will not remember what you did let alone remember what you had for tea
Sausage making Procedures: Start Time:______________________
__________- Weigh out the spices according to the list above
__________- Take pork shoulder and dice up into large enough pieces to fit into the meat grinder
__________- Add the dehydrated apple chunks to the diced pork shoulder
__________- Grind the meat twice with the course plate
__________- Add the spices to the course ground meat
__________- Zest and juice two fresh lemons
__________- Mix spices in by hand
__________- Blend well but do not over mix
__________- Add the Apple sauce
__________- Blend well but do not over mix
__________- Re-grind with the medium plate
__________- Fill the sausage stuffer with the ground seasoned meat
__________- Fill into 29/32mm hog casings
__________- Link at the desired length
__________- Cut and tray
__________- Over wrap with saran and place in cooler
__________- Or place the trayed sausage into the freeze to be frozen
End Time:______________________
