Toulouse sausages

Making your own sausages is a revelation, here Matthew Evans shares his recipe for Toulouse sausages. The secret is that a good sausage simply relies on great pork being used with no fillers, binders or emulsifiers added. Try to source some old-breed pork as the flavour is fantastic and the fat to meat ratio is just right.

• makes

  15–20

• prep

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork shoulder
• 1% salt to the pork weight
• 1 tbsp ground white pepper
• pinch of ground nutmeg (freshly grated is preferable)

Soaking time 1 hour

Hanging time 4–6 hours, at least

Instructions

Cut the meat into small enough pieces to grind through a mincer using a medium-size disk. Tip: It’s best to chill the meat well before mincing so the blade cuts through easily rather than tears the meat.

Use your hands to combine the meat, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Be careful with the amount of freshly grated nutmeg, as although the flavour will be much better than pre-ground, the intensity is much higher and too much will make your mouth numb.

Soak sausage cases in cold water for an hour. Rinse them inside and out.

Set up a sausage stuffer. You can use either a special sausage stuffing machine or a simple large piping bag with long funnel tube. Fill the bowl of the stuffer with the force meat. Be careful not to leave any air pockets in the mixture. Slide the casing on the fill tube. Tie a knot at the other end of the casing after it is fully on the fill tube.

Fill the casing with force meat. Do not overfill the casings. Guide the casing along the work surface as it fills. Massage the sausage to ensure that it’s filled evenly. Twist the filled sausage to make 5 inch sausages. Tie a knot at the other end of the filled casing.

Hang the sausage overnight in a cool place for at least 4–6 hours (or preferably 12 hours). Place a dish underneath to collect the liquid that drips off.

Use within a couple of days or wrap tightly and freeze. Use in Matthew Evans' pan-fried Toulouse sausage with pork fat potatoes and truffle salt and his braised hare with Toulouse sausage and white beans.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.