healthy sausage

[rdemler]

Is there any way of making sausages more healthy,and still have something edible?ie. less fat and salt.Thanks for any info.

[Squirrel]

I think by making your own sausage to begin with makes it healthier. You are controlling the ingredients so experiment with say a chicken sausage with less salt and add extra spices for more flavor.

[barkonbutts]

Just dont put in as much fat....and add more spice and that will make it better!!

[DanMcG]

Is there any way of making sausages more healthy,and still have something edible?ie. less fat and salt.Thanks for any info.

Ya can but there are limits to how little ya can use and still have it taste good, it will also depend on the sausage you want to make.
salt ya need but extra spice helps add flavor, fat is easy to replace by using starch or proteins.
What were ya thinking about making healthy?

[Fishawn]

What they said. Lots of options and creating them is half the fun. Some chicken sausages are ideal for healthy eating and the addition of vegetables will help keep moisture. There are a lot of them in the sausage section. I've made jerk and garlic-chili-pineapple, Rich's Dijon, Ken's spinach/mushroom, etc. I'm thinking aboot a Wasabi-Mango-Ginger to make.

[Adiochiro3]

Good advice above. Be careful about going too low on the fat content, or you will have a pretty unpleasant product (IMHO through experience). 80/20 is probably as tigh a ratio as you want. the good news is, you can control what kind of ingredients -- including fat -- you put in.

[rdemler]

Thanks for all the replies,I'll have to do some recipe reading.Doc said BP is high,cholesterol is high,and now my sugar is at 1000 so it's time to do something differant.I hate gettin older,but it beats the alternative................

[Fishawn]

Are you looking for bulk "frying" type stuff, like breakfast JD etc? Or stuff like links for grilling,poaching etc? Lots of options with chicken, turkey and grinding lean pork also.

[rdemler]

I like the snack sticks and SS and bologna type stuff.

[Slanted88]

And I ain't jackin nooo dern oats in me sausages! Uhhh....likes me yardbird sausage!

[DDave]

Here is some info that Alex (Curious Aardvark) gave me a while back on his take on healthy sausage.

well all the recipes I post - with the exception of boerwors (and you can't leave out the fatty lamb and still call them boerwors) - are inadvertently very healthy.

I never add extra fat, trim the pork shoulder down to about 10 % fat and the oats lower your cholesterol. Which isn't any part of why I started using them (in fact the whole oats lower cholesterol thing definitely wasn't around when I started making sausages).

And it's not because I set out to make healthy sausages, it's just how they turned out when I'd worked out the recipes.
Everyone who eats them just says they are seriously good sausages, health never comes up. Simply because I worked out that the fat and liquid in commercial sausages is just there to make money and found a better way to get succulence, doesn't mean I set out to offend the gods of bbq with the 'healthy' word ;-)

Basic breakfast sausage and a good one to start with.

for every pound of chopped lean pork shoulder add:

1/4 tsp cbp
1 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp salt
1tbs beer
1tbs oats

mix all together leave for a couple of hours in the fridge. grind through a relatively coarse grid. and leave overnight before stuffing.

If you want to keep it healthy don't add any extra salt - otherwise those are just rough guides and season to suit :-)

so for example to make approx 6lb of sausage.

5lb lean chopped pork shoulder
2 1/2 tsp cbp
3 tsp salt
4-5 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 cup oats
small bottle of beer.

mix all ingredients thoroughly and leave for a couple of hours in fridge before grinding. then leave overnight in fridge before stuffing.
Can also be made without the beer and pretty much any seasoning mix you like.

This stuff is also great for naked fatties. A coarse grind and the oats give a sausage that holds together extremely well doesn't shrink and cooks fantastic either in the oven or smoker.

For a healthy fatty filling. use tortelloni, low fat cheddar and sundried tomatos.
you can add a little crispy fried bacon as well - bacon's definitely best on the inside of a fatty I reckon, you use less and get better flavour :-)

None of the water or fat cooks out - which is why you don't need to add any liquid that isn't there for flavour. and you don't need lots of fat.

rule of thumb to adapt any traditional sausage recipe is simple.
1) leave out any added fat (salami aside - special case, fats there to avoid voids)
2) add oats at approx 1/2 cup per 4-5lb meat before grinding
3) cut down the salt.
4) don't add any liquid that isn't there for flavour.

Trimmed country style ribs are the best for sausage I find - no waste or buggering about with skin and surface fat. Lose any obvious lumps of fat but otherwise there's almost no buggering about. just chop, season and grind :-)



Hope he doesn't mind me reprinting it.

Dave

[JustSmoke2]

When they first told me I had to be diabetic they sent me to one of them diet ladies. After her scolding me for an hour I said lets talk. If I kept my summer sausage to 70/30 I could have 4 oz at a meal as a swap. Jerky was okay because it was even leaner just cut back as much salt as possible. Dietician will help you along.

[Gunslinger]

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15197

These are snack sticks, but if you used pork loin or chicken breasts and the fat replacer for fresh sausage, they'd be nearly fat free.
And I was going to keep it under my hat until I was able to tell the whole story, but......... http://www.alsosalt.com/index.html This stuff is fantastic as a salt substitute. It's a bit spendy but a little goes a long way and well worth it just for health concerns. It absolutely tastes like salt and they'll send you a few free samples.

[cowboysfan]

Here is some info that Alex (Curious Aardvark) gave me a while back on his take on healthy sausage.

well all the recipes I post - with the exception of boerwors (and you can't leave out the fatty lamb and still call them boerwors) - are inadvertently very healthy.

I never add extra fat, trim the pork shoulder down to about 10 % fat and the oats lower your cholesterol. Which isn't any part of why I started using them (in fact the whole oats lower cholesterol thing definitely wasn't around when I started making sausages).

And it's not because I set out to make healthy sausages, it's just how they turned out when I'd worked out the recipes.
Everyone who eats them just says they are seriously good sausages, health never comes up. Simply because I worked out that the fat and liquid in commercial sausages is just there to make money and found a better way to get succulence, doesn't mean I set out to offend the gods of bbq with the 'healthy' word ;-)

Basic breakfast sausage and a good one to start with.

for every pound of chopped lean pork shoulder add:

1/4 tsp cbp
1 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp salt
1tbs beer
1tbs oats

mix all together leave for a couple of hours in the fridge. grind through a relatively coarse grid. and leave overnight before stuffing.

If you want to keep it healthy don't add any extra salt - otherwise those are just rough guides and season to suit :-)

so for example to make approx 6lb of sausage.

5lb lean chopped pork shoulder
2 1/2 tsp cbp
3 tsp salt
4-5 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 cup oats
small bottle of beer.

mix all ingredients thoroughly and leave for a couple of hours in fridge before grinding. then leave overnight in fridge before stuffing.
Can also be made without the beer and pretty much any seasoning mix you like.

This stuff is also great for naked fatties. A coarse grind and the oats give a sausage that holds together extremely well doesn't shrink and cooks fantastic either in the oven or smoker.

For a healthy fatty filling. use tortelloni, low fat cheddar and sundried tomatos.
you can add a little crispy fried bacon as well - bacon's definitely best on the inside of a fatty I reckon, you use less and get better flavour :-)

None of the water or fat cooks out - which is why you don't need to add any liquid that isn't there for flavour. and you don't need lots of fat.

rule of thumb to adapt any traditional sausage recipe is simple.
1) leave out any added fat (salami aside - special case, fats there to avoid voids)
2) add oats at approx 1/2 cup per 4-5lb meat before grinding
3) cut down the salt.
4) don't add any liquid that isn't there for flavour.

Trimmed country style ribs are the best for sausage I find - no waste or buggering about with skin and surface fat. Lose any obvious lumps of fat but otherwise there's almost no buggering about. just chop, season and grind :-)



Hope he doesn't mind me reprinting it.

Dave

I DO BELIEVE BEER IS THE KEY INGREDIENT THERE

[rdemler]

Thank you everyone for the replies,lots of good info.Now I have to read alot more.