A Delectable Recipe for Traditional French Homemade Sausages
This recipe for homemade sausages brings back the authentic taste of artisanal fare with a straightforward seasoning you can adjust to your liking. Easy to prepare and requiring only a handful of pantry staples, it’s sure to delight every fan of homemade charcuterie.
Sausage and the French Terroir
For centuries, sausage has been a culinary emblem of France, celebrated in every region.
Every area boasts its own specialty: Toulouse sausage, famed for its pure, meaty simplicity; the saucisse de couenne; and the dry-cured sausage of Ardèche.
Originally crafted by peasants as a clever way to preserve meat, sausage has become a pillar of French gastronomy and now appears on tables everywhere. And France is not alone! The whole world revels in this simple, delicious method of preparing and keeping meat—from saucisses catalanes to chorizo and merguez tunisiennes. The variety is endless, spanning boudin blanc aux cèpes, cervelas, and beyond.
Tips for Perfect Old-Fashioned Sausages
Do I need to leave the knife and/or plate in when stuffing the casings?
When stuffing sausages with a grinder fitted with a spacer and funnels, it’s helpful to know whether to keep the knife or plate in place. From size 8 upward, most models come with a “guide disc” that replaces the knife during stuffing. The auger then pushes the meat straight into the funnel. This disc—or a dedicated spacer—holds the auger steady so it turns smoothly without sliding back and forth.
If your grinder lacks a spacer, pair the guide disc with a plate that has large holes to keep the auger from shifting. Avoid re-grinding the meat while stuffing; the extra pass squeezes out moisture and mutes the flavor. If you absolutely must re-grind, use the coarsest plate available to limit these effects.
Which type of salt should I use?
Fine salt is ideal for sausage making because it disperses evenly and penetrates the meat, carrying the seasoning throughout. Reserve coarse salt and curing salts for pâtés or long cures.
Traditional Homemade Sausages
Equipment
- Hachoir
- 12 boyaux
Ingredients
- 700 g lean pork shoulder or ham
- 300 g pork fat belly
- 15 g salt
- 3 g pepper
Procédé
- Grind the pork and the fat using a 6 mm or 8 mm plate, depending on the desired texture.
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, kneading by hand to obtain a uniform paste.
- If you have a meat mixer, you can use it to make the mixing easier.
- Stuff the casings with the mixture using a meat grinder fitted with a 20 mm sausage funnel.
- This recipe is a base. You can customize the seasoning by adding herbes de Provence, tomato, bell pepper, or any other ingredient to suit your taste.
