Homemade Breakfast Sausage

In preparing to write a review for The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook, I went grocery shopping for a few key essentials.  I had left my purse at home, and only had $40 cash in my pocket, so spending $4+ for a 1 pound package of bulk breakfast sausage was out of the question.  I quickly looked up a recipe from my phone on how to make homemade sausage and opted on buying 2lbs of pork at $1.99/lb and a packet of marjoram for 99 cents to make my own instead!

:: Homemade Breakfast Sausage

2 teaspoons dried sage
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cloves
2 pounds pork – I used very lean boneless loin chops

Cut the pork into small pieces, about the size of dice.  Place in a large zip top bag, and add all of the herbs, spices, and sugar.  Massage the meat in the bag so that all of the spices are mixed in and covering the bits of pork.  Stash in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Assemble your meat grinder using the coarse grind plate.  Put all of the pork in the hopper on top of the grinder.  Slowly push the meat through the shoot, and catch the already ground pork in a bowl.  Do this at least twice to break down the meat.

Then form into patties and fry in a little oil  (it is very lean meat) until browned and cooked through, or cook as crumbles for use in recipes.  Two pounds of cooked sausage crumbles is approximately 5 cups of crumbles.

If you do not have a meat grinder, purchase 2lbs of ground pork, mix the spices into it, and allow to chill for at least 2 hours.  Proceed as outlined in the recipe.

This makes a very mild flavored breakfast sausage, but it is absolutely delicious, and I will make it again.