Homemade chicken sausage

This is the recipe for a chicken sausage totally homemade Natural, free from chemical additives, preservatives, colorings, stabilizers or industrial emulsifiers. Starting from this base recipe, you can add whatever condiments you want. The most important thing is to master the basic process of making sausage, which is what I intend to go through in this recipe.

What is a sausage?

All sausage is what is commonly called a meat emulsion or, in more detail, a uniform, stabilized mixture of water, fat and protein. The stability of this mixture depends on a good source of protein and low temperature. Powdered milk also helps to bind the dough together. If the temperature rises during preparation, the fat will melt and the emulsion will come apart. The skin can also be used as it is a great “binder”. Industrial sausages use a lot of skin, stabilizing and emulsifying additives as they overuse water and CMS (“Mechanically Separated “Meat”), which is a poor source of protein. To learn more about Brazilian legislation on sausages, see the post What is sausage made of?

Using domestic equipment it is very difficult to achieve a completely smooth dough, without grains, but with reasonable equipment and a dose of patience it is possible to get close to it. Don't be afraid to stop the process, cool the dough again and continue processing later. The biggest difficulty is the temperature, as domestic processors heat the sausage dough a lot, which is dense and requires a lot of equipment.

More traditional recipes usually use between 20% and 30% of fat in the product, that is, for 800g of meat they add approximately 200g of additional fat. I didn't add fat, I just used what was already in the thigh and skin. If you use chicken breast, you will need to add an extra source of fat.

Ingredients

• Chicken thigh – 1050g
• Vegetable Broth – 450ml
• Salt – 15g
• Sugar – 12g
• Paprika – 1g
• White pepper – 2g
• Powdered milk – 2 tablespoons
• Lamb tripe or collagen casing thin – 2m

The ideal is to use sheep intestine as it is thinner and more delicate than pork intestine. If you choose artificial casings, you can use low-caliber collagen casings or cellulose casings, which are inedible and must be removed after cooking. Supermarket sausages are usually cooked in cellulose casings that are removed after cooking.

Equipment removing casing from cooked sausages

Method of preparation

Grind and make homemade chicken sausage meat emulsion

1. Season the meat the day before, add all the ingredients except the powdered milk and vegetable broth;
2. Leave the vegetable broth very cold or freeze it and chop it very finely, like crushed ice;
3. Remove and reserve the skin from the thighs;
4. Remove the bone and cartilage while preserving the existing fat;
5. Optional: Pass the meat and skin through the grinder with the wide disc and place in the freezer for a few minutes to cool again;
6. Place the meat in the food processor fitted with the cutting knife and start processing on high power;
7. Add the powdered milk and continue processing;
8. Gradually add the well-chilled or frozen and chopped broth. It is important to add it little by little to cool the dough during processing;
9. Measure the temperature constantly and if it exceeds 15 degrees, take it immediately to the freezer and wait a few minutes for the temperature of the dough to reduce;
10. Continue processing until the mixture is smooth, homogeneous, with the appearance and consistency of a paste. The smoother the better;
11. If the consistency of the dough is too dense, add more liquid, which can be very cold water or crushed ice.

Insert and cook the sausage

1. Fill the casing with the dough, roll it up or tie it with string every 10 or 15 centimeters;
2. Cook in water heated between 75ºC and 80ºC for around 20 minutes;
3. Fry on a griddle or frying pan with a little olive oil.

Watch the video to see a summary of the production of natural chicken sausage.