Breakfast Sausage Patties - Revised

Since first posting this recipé, I've done a little experimentation, I think I've hit on a better mix of herbs and spices. Today's post revises and supplants the original.

It can be difficult to consistently eat on the low-carbohydrate plan without seriously overdoing one's fat intake, and breakfast is one of the most difficult meals at which to avoid those fats.

At first, one is tempted to avoid fats by avoiding conventional breakfast foods, but that road leads to despair and diet abandonment.  After all, if one is denied all of the pleasures in life, why bother with life at all? Faced with this question, rational people will put any diet aside.

Enough philosophy, for now. The purpose of this post is to describe to you how my Honey and I make a spicy, home-made bulk pork sausage.


Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork, 90% lean
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp garlic, granulated
1 tsp onion flakes
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp sage
¼ tsp dry ground mustard
¼ tsp turmeric
pinch thyme
¾ tsp salt

Directions:


Before doing anything, make sure to wash and rinse your hands thoroughly first!


Combine olive oil, herbs, and spices, and allow to steep.  The longer, the better up to a point - overnight would be good - because this allows the flavor of the spices to develop or "bloom" in the oil.

When the oil/spice mixture is ready to use, mix in the ground pork.  Start out by folding the spiced oil into the meat, as if you were working a stiff dough, then after twenty or thirty folds, grab chunks of the mixture and squeeze it through your fingers, until every particle of meat has made the trip at least three times.

Alternatively, after the folding step, you can pass the mixture through a sausage grinder three or four times.

Place the meat mixture into a clean, covered bowl and leave the bowl in the refrigerator at least overnight.

After the meat has "rested" in the refrigerator (again, at least overnight) take it out and divide it into 2-ounce portions.  Roll these portions into balls, and then roll the balls out into patties with a thickness of about ¼" to ⅜" - this will happen when the diameter of the patties is about 3".

Stack the patties, separated by layers of waxed paper, and freeze the stack inside a zip-lock freezer bag.  Push as much of the air out of the bag as you can, without damaging your patties, before putting them in the freezer.


Makes about eight (8) two-ounce patties, or four standard (4 ounce) servings of meat.

Nutrition Facts*

Serving size: 2 patties (112 gr)
Calories223
   Calories from fat126

Total Fat14 grams

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Carbohydrates0 grams
   Dietary Fiber0 grams

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Protein22 grams

*uncooked, calculated from ingredients

To use your patties, take out only the number you need for a meal, and cook them until well done, as you would any bulk sausage patty.

The taste and texture of these patties will be subtly different from most commercially available bulk sausages.  You may or may not like the difference, but if you do, the lower fat content is a plus (12½%, as opposed to 25-60%), and the fact that 3.5 grams of the fat in each serving is from olive oil is good, too.

You may feel, as we did the first time we tried this, that one or more spices is either overpowering, or unnoticeable.  Go ahead and play with the proportions, and come up with your own, signature blend of herbs and spices.

Enjoy!

Mariner