Domashnia Kovbasa (домашня ковбаса, homemade sausage)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Meat grinder with coarse plate
• •Sausage stuffer or grinder stuffing attachment
• •Clean needle for pricking air pockets
• •Wide baking dish
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill the meat

   Put the pork shoulder, belly or fat, grinder parts, and mixing bowl in the fridge until everything feels properly cold. Cold fat cuts cleanly; warm fat smears, and smeared fat gives you a dense sausage instead of a juicy one. This is the step that doesn't forgive laziness.

2. 2

   Grind it coarse

   Grind the meat and fat through a coarse plate, or grind two thirds and chop the rest by hand into small pieces. You want a rough, honest texture with visible fat, not a smooth paste. The bowl should look like sausage already, pink meat freckled with white.

3. 3

   Season and mix

   Crush the garlic with some of the salt until it turns wet and sticky, then add it to the meat with the remaining salt, black pepper, coriander, paprika if using, and ice-cold water. Mix with your hands until the meat changes from loose pieces to one tacky mass that clings to your fingers. It should smell loud with garlic and pepper, but still like pork, not like a spice cupboard.

   Fry a teaspoon of the mixture and taste it. Raw sausage mix lies to you; a hot little patty tells the truth about salt and garlic.
4. 4

   Rest overnight

   Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. The salt moves through the meat, the garlic settles down, and the mixture firms enough to stuff neatly. If you only have a few hours, cook it anyway, but overnight tastes more like a holiday.

5. 5

   Prepare casings

   Rinse the soaked casing inside and out with cool water, running water through it like a tiny hose to check for knots or tears. Keep it wet while you work. Dry casing fights you, and there are enough arguments in a kitchen already.

6. 6

   Stuff the sausage

   Feed the casing onto the sausage horn, tie the end, and stuff slowly, guiding the filling with one hand so the casing fills plump but not tight. Leave room for the sausage to expand when it cooks. Twist into one long coil or two shorter rings, then prick any air pockets with a clean needle.

7. 7

   Dry the casing

   Set the coils uncovered in the fridge for a few hours, or up to overnight, so the casing dries slightly. This helps it bake glossy and taut instead of pale and soft. When you touch it, it should feel a little tacky, not wet.

8. 8

   Bake until glossy

   Heat the oven to 190C. Oil a wide baking dish with unrefined sunflower oil, lay in the sausage coils, and add a splash of water to the bottom of the dish. Bake, turning once, until the casing is deep golden-brown, tight, and glossy, and the sausage gives a small snap when pierced. The center must reach 71C on a thermometer.

9. 9

   Rest and slice

   Rest the sausage before cutting so the juices settle back into the meat. Serve warm if you can't wait, but for the Easter board I like it chilled, sliced thick, with mustard, khrin, black bread, and dill. It should cut cleanly, with fat shining in small pockets.

Chef Tips

• •Use pork shoulder for flavor and pork belly or back fat for juiciness. All-lean meat makes a dry sausage, no matter how lovingly you glare at it.
• •The casing should be plump, not drum-tight. A tight sausage bursts in the oven, and then you have very good meatloaf in a casing costume.
• •If you don't have a stuffer, shape the seasoned meat into a thick log, wrap it tightly in parchment, chill it, then bake it uncovered. A bit more modern, but the garlic and pepper still know where they come from.
• •Food safety is one place to trust the thermometer. The sausage is done at 71C in the center, then your senses can take over for browning, gloss, and that little casing snap.

Advance Preparation

• •Season the meat the day before and let it rest overnight in the fridge.
• •Stuffed raw sausage can be refrigerated uncovered for up to 24 hours before baking, which improves the casing.
• •Cooked kovbasa keeps 4 days in the fridge and slices beautifully cold for holiday boards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)