Chicken sausage

Chicken sausage is an emulsified and cooked sausage made with chicken. The process is similar to that of a sausage, but it is thicker and is intended for consumption as snacks or chopped into cubes for starters, salads and cold cuts. I used the drumstick because I consider it has the ideal proportion of skin, meat and fat, which makes the product tastier (and more caloric). If you prefer, you can make it with chicken breast without the skin, but the skin is a great emulsifier as it contains a lot of collagen.

Chicken sausage ingredients

• Boneless chicken thigh – 600g
• Salt – 13g
• Curing salt 1 (6.25% of nitrite and 93.75% of salt) – 2g
• Antioxidant (with sodium erythorbate) – 2g
• Garlic powder – 3g
• Dehydrated onion – 1g
• Blonde powder – 1g
• Smoke powder – 2g
• Emulsifying mix (vegetable proteins, carrageenan and/or phosphates) – 16g
• Casserole – 2g
• Crushed ice – 120ml

Preparation of chicken sausage

• Remove the bones (if any) and keep the skin and fat. The fat and skin are used in the emulsion. Refrigerate well, ideally almost at freezing point;
• If your processor is not powerful, grind everything using the fine disc and refrigerate again. Leave some in the freezer so that it is almost at freezing point. This helps keep the dough cold longer while processing;
• Place the meat in the processor and start at high speed for approximately 1 minute;
• Add the dry ingredients and process for another 1 minute or until the dough reaches 7ºC. Add crushed ice periodically to keep the dough cold;
• Continue processing until you obtain a smooth, uniform dough, as close to the consistency of toothpaste as possible;
• Built in high caliber natural casing or plastic casing 45mm or larger;
• Tie the ends tightly as cooking will puff up the dough. In this case I used plastic fibrous casing, which is very resistant;
• Cook the chicken sausage in hot water at 80ºC for 1 hour or until the internal temperature reaches 65ºC;
• Remove from cooking and cool immediately in a cold water bath;
• Chill for 1 hour before slicing.