Saucisson D'Alsace-Lorraine

Sounds pretty fancy, right.  As you may know by now I love all things sausage.  I could be the Bubba Gump of the sausage world.  Everything needs a little pork in it.  And one thing I have never made was a Fresh French Sausage.  And hey from what I hear the french kinda know what they are talking about when it comes to food.  Just saying.  So I stumbled across this recipe in Charcuterie and french pork cookery I knew I Had to give it a shot. The first step is to make a small batch of Quatre Espices, also known as Pate Spice, do not waste your money and purchase this pre made, very simple, and you most likely already have all of the components at home.

• 30g black peppercorns ground
• 8g freshly grated nutmeg
• 6g ground cinnamon
• 6g freshly ground cloves

Simple as that.  This is a great spice to have on hand for any French, or Middle eastern cooking.  Time to get my Mis En Place going.

• 910g Pork Shoulder
• 454g Back Fat
• 24g Kosher salt
• .3g Ground Ginger
• 1g  Ground white pepper
• 6g Dextrose
• 1.7g Quatra Espices
• 3g Cure #1

As you can see this is a very basic, mildly spiced sausage.  I am a long way from 'Nduja here!!  Like with all sausages you want everything as clean and as cold as possible.  I cut the shoulder and the fat into long strips and put in the freezer until almost frozen.  My grinder and mixing bowl went in as well.

I ground this through with the fine plate on my grinder, mixed in the spices, and mixed in my kitchen aid mixer for three minutes on low to ensure all of the spices mixed completely.  I then took a small sample of the sausage and fried in a pan to check for seasoning.  The salt is on point, I was hoping for more flavor out of the sausage.  It is mildly sweet, with a spicy finish.  When I say spicy it is not a hot spicy, but a savory spice due to the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  This would be great with some white beans with a drizzle of olive oil, and some fried sage.  Sounds like dinner.  After stuffing the sausages I hung them to dry for a little.

I know this looks pretty strange, but it works.  By drying out the casings for a short time it helps the sausage hold its shape better when being packaged.  Some sausages, I will hang in the refer for twenty four hours to develop more flavor and to firm up a little.  These I left out for 45min until the casing was dry.  This will really help you get that snap, when you bite into the sausage.  Bon Appitete.  Source local and Love your meat.