I don’t know about you, but if I’m looking for quality store-bought protein snacks, I run into some trouble. There is a real shortage of interesting and clean options out there. Sure, you can go for a protein bar from one of the supplement manufacturers, but you have to watch out for unwanted sugars in there. You could get some chicken breasts from the market, but you had those yesterday… and the day before that. The same thing goes for that boring protein shake. If you really want to keep it interesting, you’re going to have to take matters into your own hands, and what better way than to grab some sausage?
Sausages get a bad rap, usually because they’re filled with poor quality meat and fat, have artificial collagen skins, and are full of artificial flavourings or preservatives. However, when you make them yourself and strip them right back to the bare essentials, you end up with a wholesome and super tasty protein alternative. I know what you’re thinking, “What about the grinders and the sausage stuffers, and that weird technique for tying them up?” Sure, you can buy and learn these things (as I have) and do some great home charcuterie (that’s sausage-making for you non-French speakers), but you can even do it without all the tools and fancy French title.
Venison Slicing Sausage
This is a great recipe for any sort of game. Play around with the herbs and spices if they don’t suit your liking and feel free to change things up (let me know how you get on). This is a large slicing sausage, and there are two options for the casing. In the above picture, I am using a fibrous salami casing that's about 60mm across. The casings are less than a dollar each through Amazon.com and are meant to be removed before eating. They are quite rigid and hold up to being stuffed by the clumsiest sausage chef. The other option is to form a sausage by rolling the meat on a chopping board, wrapping it in plastic wrap like a Christmas cracker, and twisting the ends until it is tight and compact. Once cooked, you can eat this straight away, let it cool and enjoy cold, or you can re-heat it along with an omelette for breakfast, as I do.
What you need:
- 500 grams ground venison
- 100 grams outdoor bred pork fat, cubed
- 15 grams salt
- 1 medium-sized lemon rind, grated
- 3 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- Black pepper (to taste)
Directions:
- Mix all of the ingredients up until it is well distributed.
- Next, either stuff your casing or wrap it up.
- Poach the resulting sausage for about 30 minutes to ensure that it is piping hot throughout.
- Remove from the water and let it cool before removing it from your chosen wrapper.
Turkey Chorizo (sort of)
You can make this the same as you did with the venison slicing sausage; however, if you have a sausage stuffer, it works well to make this as “link” sausages.
What you need:
- 500 grams ground turkey
- 100 grams outdoor bred pork fat, cubed
- 15 grams salt
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried garlic powder
- Black pepper (to taste)
Directions:
- Mix all of the ingredients well and then follow the instructions above.
- If you are making link sausage, once you’ve stuffed and linked them, leave the to dry overnight in the fridge (this stops them unraveling once you cook them).
- To cook them, either grill or fry them just like you’d cook other sausages.