Homemade cheese sausages

preparation

Preparation

Start by mixing approx. ½ tbsp salt into the ground pork. Adding the salt first helps keep the sausage meat from separating. Then mix in the milk, egg, grated onion, pepper and flour. You want a mixture that’s not too wet and not too firm. Beat the sausage meat well. Grate the Castello Tickler Extra Mature cheddar, cut the bacon into small cubes and add both to the sausage meat. Refrigerate the meat to keep it as cold as possible throughout the entire process. Fry a small spoonful of the meat, taste to check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Before stuffing the sausages, soak the casings in cold water. This will remove the salt used to cure them. Find the end of the casing and run some water through it to remove any salt from the insides.

Wet the sausage funnel to make it easier to slip the casing over it. Slip the entire casing over the funnel. Pull off a length of the casing (approx. 5-7 cm) before you start stuffing the sausage. Don’t knot the end as you want to be able to press any air bubbles out. Begin stuffing the casing, taking care not to pack it too tight as that increases the risk of the sausages bursting during cooking.

When all the sausage meat has been run through the sausage stuffer, it’s time to form the sausages. Tie a knot on each end. Squeeze some space between each link and twist 5-7 times until you have the desired number of links.

Heat a large pot filled with water to approx. 80-90°C – just below boiling point. Add salt and a couple of bay leaves. Place the sausages in the water and poach them for about 15-20 minutes. Less if you used sheep casing.

Now the sausages are ready for frying in a pan or on a grill. They are already cooked almost through, so frying them is primarily to heat them up and add flavour. After all, pale sausages don’t look very appetising. A little charring works wonders.