Homemade Salmon Sausage

As I mentioned previously, my husband and I are now the proud owners of the meat grinding & sausage stuffing attachments for our much loved KitchenAid stand mixer. Since Kyle is such a proficient baker, I wanted to make sure that we diversified our use of the stand mixer so it was not purely used for the baking arts. We had been talking about getting into sausage making for a while now, and we were both excited when we finally bit the bullet and ordered the attachments. We were successful in our first attempt at making a basic breakfast sausage, so on the next go ‘round, I wanted to step it up a bit.

Quite a few years ago, my mom and I would regularly attend the local farmer’s market, and my mom would always stop off at one particular stand. The company was called Out of the Blue, and they made the most incredible salmon sausages- they were packed with fragrant herbs, fresh salmon and had a subtle texture. At this point in my life, I ate almost no seafood, but I could not get enough of these salmon sausages. My mother would serve them grilled and sliced for cocktails and they were always the first to go. At some point, the purveyors stopped attending the local farmer’s market, and the salmon sausages were all but a memory. Until now!

Armed with my memory and fresh ingredients, I set out to re-create the much loved treats. I ordered some vegetarian collagen casings, went to the ever popular Anthony’s Seafood Market to pick up the salmon, and set to work. From memory and a little online technique research I began piecing together a recipe. Upon chatting up the guys at Anthony’s, they recommended that I go with wild caught salmon tail meat- the reasoning being that it has an excellent fat content, good texture, and was much less expensive than the filet cuts. As sausage making in general is all about using less expensive meats to start with, I knew it would be a perfect match, and they removed the skins for me in the market. Wanting to replicate the smoky flavor of traditional sausages, I added in some cold smoked, wild caught salmon for Washington, which brought a lot to the flavor profile. After letting the sausages “cure” in the refrigerator overnight, Kyle and I had our first sampling yesterday, and the flavor was just as good as what I remembered from all those years ago- subtle, fresh and delicate. Initially, I had planned on using the sausages for a hash last night, but Kyle and I agreed that the flavor was just too wonderful to overpower with a heavy pan dish. Instead, I’m leaning towards using them this evening with a bright spring salad, and I know it’ll be a perfect match.

If you’re apprehensive about using casings for the first time (I know I was!), the meat is just as good loose, or formed into patties for sandwiches or any other application. I have to be honest, I did burst a few of my casings on this first attempt (which in turn caused me to bust out a few four letter words), but as my husband patiently reminded me, it’s all about learning and the experience. If you do decide to go the casing route, be sure to work with even pressure and gently- over handling the casing or overstuffing will cause them to burst! As with any sausage making, it is important that all equipment and ingredients be very cold: I usually put my grinder, die and meat in the fridge for a good 30-40 minutes before grinding, and then put the meat back into the fridge for another half hour time out before stuffing.

Fresh Herb & Garlic Salmon Sausages

-2lbs. Fresh, wild caught salmon tail meat- skins removed & cut into chunks
-8oz. Wild caught smoked salmon, broken into pieces
-3 Cloves of garlic, chopped
-3 Tblspns fresh dill, rough chopped
-3 Tblspns fresh flat leaf parsley, rough chopped
-Zest from ¼ lemon
-Juice from ¼ lemon
- ½ - ¼ Tspn smoked paprika (optional)
- ½ Tspn celery salt
-1 Tbspn(ish) sea salt
- ½-1 Tbspn fresh cracked pepper
-Small (21mm) sausage casing (vegetarian available)

Combine all ingredients in appropriate size cold bowl & let rest in refrigerator for 30-40 minutes or until well chilled. Fit stand mixer with meat grinding attachment and small grinding die. Working in batches, feed salmon mixture through grinder at a medium speed into chilled catch bowl below. Once all meat has been pushed through, mix thoroughly. At the point, you can pull off a small amount of the sausage mixture and cook it off to test for seasoning adjustment. Place mixture back in refrigerator to rest and chill for an additional 30-40 minutes and clean out grinder (see note for tip). If you do not plan to use casing, make sure mixture is covered tightly and let “cure” overnight in the refrigerator before using. Can be formed into patties for sandwiches and salads, crumbled into stuffing or used in any other sausage application. For casing use, follow additional directions:

Grab a friend or a loved one, as this works best when working with two people, especially if you are a first timer (also why I don’t have photos of this part of the process- all hands were busy!). Re-attach grinding attachment to stand mixer and fit with small sausage stuffing tube. Slide casing over end (if you have a large amount of casing, you may want to cut the casing down to size to work in batches, otherwise you won’t get a good fit over the tube).At a medium speed, begin feeding salmon mixture through the grinder. Once salmon has reached casing, pinch or tie off end with kitchen twine and begin slowly feeding salmon into casing, making sure not to overstuff. I found it works best if you have one person feeding the mixture into the hopper, and the other guiding at the casing end. We worked in 3 sections of about 2-3 feet each so as we had a little more flexibility and didn’t become overwhelmed with one large casing. Once all stuffing has been fed into the casing, lay stuffed sausages on a flat surface, and twist into sections of desired relatively even length (I tried to keep ours around the 6” length) by holding starting end in one hand and twisting open end clockwise for 4-5 rotations to seal off each link. Once the process has been repeated to create all links, wrap tightly in butcher’s paper or parchment paper and allow to “cure” for 6 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Cook as you would any other link sausage over medium to medium-high heat in a skillet for 10-12 minutes to ensure they are cooked through. Fresh sausage will last about 2-4 days in the fridge, or can be frozen for a max of three months.

Note on cleaning: Anyone who has ever cleaned out a meat grinder knows it is a bear! To simplify the process, feed a couple of pieces of bread (stale works best!) through your meat grinder. The bread will pick up a lot of the bits and pieces left behind in the grinder, cutting down on cleaning time immensely. Some folks even mix in the bread with their sausage so as not to lose any little bit of flavor, but I’ll leave that choice up to you!

Salmon Sausages over Spring Salad