Ukrainian Garlic Sausage

[onewheeler]

It's a strange time in which we live. After two years of plague, we end up with a war in Europe and a house full of refugees. Well, more specifically, two lovely ladies called Tanya (it saves confusion!)

Wanting to make them feel at home, I hunted for a Ukrainian recipe for sausage. After some consultation with our Tanyas and a bit of a Google, this is what we ended up with.

Per kg of fatty pork shoulder:

A bay leaf or two, dried in a low oven if fresh
A head of garlic
8 g salt
A generous grind of black pepper

The pork must be cut with a couple of sharp knives into chunks of around 1 cm.
The bay leaves must be ground to a dust with a pestle & mortar.
Chop up or slice the garlic, and mash it up with the bay leaf dust and the salt & pepper in a pestle and mortar until you have a pulp.
Knead it in with the chopped pork until it goes sticky.
Fill into hog casings and leave in a spiral (like Cumberland sausage). (I was surprised how easy the big chunks of pork were to push through the stuffer).

To cook, put it in a pan on the hob and give it a few minutes on each side to brown. Transfer to the oven with a splash of white wine and cook at 200 C or so for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Our girls said it was as good as anything they'd had at home! I thought it was one of the best sausages I've ever made. It shall be a regular!