Highly saturated fats like beef or lamb become waxy and
will form an unpleasant coating inside your mouth as they
cool. On the other end of the spectrum, chicken or duck fat
is almost completely liquid at room temperature. Only pork
fat is firm but not waxy at room temperature, and it has a
relatively neutral flavor, making it the ideal fat for any
number of sausages. Whenever I make, say, a nice lamb
merguez (a North African sausage flavored with harissa), I’ll
combine my lamb with some pork back fat or even nice
fatty bacon (making sure to adjust the salt level accordingly
to account for the salt in the bacon). Same for my venison
sausage, which I make from the organic proceeds of my
annual hunting trip.
I usually try to limit flavoring ingredients to about 2
percent of the total weight of the sausage, often far less. I’ve
included a number of recipes in this chapter to get you
started and to provide basic guidelines for some of the more
popular seasonings, but really, your imagination and your
palate are the only things restricting you in this realm.
Experiment a bit and see what you can come up with.
If you’re afraid to inadvertently ruin an entire batch of
sausage meat with overzealous seasoning, start by scaling
down: season just a tiny portion of your meat, then cook a
small patty of it in a skillet or in the microwave (I usually
just throw a quarter-sized patty on a microwave-safe plate
and zap it for about 15 seconds, until it’s cooked through).
This’ll allow you to taste and adjust the seasoning as
necessary before any full-on commitment.
To Stuff or Not to Stuff