Homemade Breakfast Sausage -- Fast & Flavorful

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I have been craving breakfast sausage for over a month. But no matter how badly I wanted that unique combination of spices and greasy meat I just could not bring myself to buy a package of Jimmy Deans. I tried to kill the craving with some hand-crafted Fra'Mani breakfast sausage but while good, they just did not taste like breakfast sausage.

I was getting desperate when I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for breakfast sausage penciled into the end pages of the copy of Putting Food By that I inherited from my husband's grandmother, Marcia.

Homemade breakfast sausage patties waiting for the skillet by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

I thumbed through the cookbook's spattered pages until I reached the sausage recipe and was pleased to find that it was remarkably simple. After a quick Internet search to cross-reference Marcia's recipe with a few others, I felt confident enough to begin.

There were two big surprises in this sausage-making endeavor.

First, it is incredibly easy to make breakfast sausage (I'm talking patties here, not links...casing would add a whole new layer of complexity that seems totally unnecessary and also a little gross.) All you do is chop up some herbs, mix them together with a few spices and some ground pork, form the patties, and fry them up in a nice hot skillet.

Frying homemade breakfast sausage patties by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

Second, marjoram is partly responsible for the taste I associate with classic breakfast sausage - who knew?! And guess who happens to have this lovely marjoram plant growing in her front yard...

Our marjoran plant by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog

I served these for brunch alongside hash browns and a spinach and scallion scramble. Craving satisfied!

Homemade breakfast sausage patties with hashbrowns and spinach scramble by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

-- print recipe --
Homemade Breakfast Sausage
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

* 1 lb of ground pork (use the best pork you can get -- look for something antibiotic and hormone-free, ideally from a smaller, local farm)
* 1 tbsp of fresh sage, chopped
* 2 tsp of fresh marjoram, chopped
* 2 tsp of fresh thyme, chopped
* 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
* 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
* 1/4 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp of brown sugar or maple syrup
* 1/2 tsp of salt
* 1/2 tsp of black pepper

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together well (I ended up using my hands as the fork was just not getting me anywhere though you could also use a food processor to really combine everything.)

2. Form the patties and fry over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until nicely browned, then flip and repeat on the other side.

You might also like:
For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

10 comments:

Amber said...

My friend and I were just talking about your blog... And how much we like sausage!! Too funny, I'm going to have to try this it looks so yummy!

Eve Fox said...

Thanks so much, Amber! Just checked out your blog(s) which are lovely. and what a truly wonderful birth story you have.

Kirsten Lindquist said...

homemade breakfast sausage ARE a revelation! I remember being surprised that savory was a key ingredient in the ones I made!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the idea! We recently joined Marin Sun Farms meat CSA and I've got all this ground pork in my freezer and no idea what to do with it. I'll definitely be making a batch of this.

Nathan said...

Great site. I look forward to reading more.

Tanya Sousa said...

Ohhhh, that sounds so good! The photos of food on this site are mouth watering.

Would you be willing to visit our website, www.RadiantHen.com, to preview my childeren's picture books that promote local/organic/humane agriculture? I'd love to hear what you think.

Eve Fox said...

Hi Tanya,
just checked out Radiant Hen and I think they look wonderful! I love the idea of books like this. My brother (he founded a company called Free Range Studios and has done a lot of socially conscious online videos -- have you heard of The Meatrix? -- really wants me to write some kids books in that vein, actually, though I can't imagine where I'd find the time right now so I am super glad to see that you guys are already on the case!

I'd be happy to review on the blog if you want to send me a few that deal with agriculture/food.

May Benatar said...

i am going to try this with ground turkey. i know it won't be the same, but...

Tanya Sousa said...

Hello Eve--

I'm sorry I didn't see your late Feb. reply until now! Our email address is naturese@together.net if you want to send me your address for the food/ag-related books to review.
Thanks!

jan at homemade sausage said...

Nice blog and lovely pictures

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Homemade Breakfast Sausage -- Fast & Flavorful

I have been craving breakfast sausage for over a month. But no matter how badly I wanted that unique combination of spices and greasy meat I just could not bring myself to buy a package of Jimmy Deans. I tried to kill the craving with some hand-crafted Fra'Mani breakfast sausage but while good, they just did not taste like breakfast sausage.

I was getting desperate when I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for breakfast sausage penciled into the end pages of the copy of Putting Food By that I inherited from my husband's grandmother, Marcia.

Homemade breakfast sausage patties waiting for the skillet by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

I thumbed through the cookbook's spattered pages until I reached the sausage recipe and was pleased to find that it was remarkably simple. After a quick Internet search to cross-reference Marcia's recipe with a few others, I felt confident enough to begin.

There were two big surprises in this sausage-making endeavor.

First, it is incredibly easy to make breakfast sausage (I'm talking patties here, not links...casing would add a whole new layer of complexity that seems totally unnecessary and also a little gross.) All you do is chop up some herbs, mix them together with a few spices and some ground pork, form the patties, and fry them up in a nice hot skillet.

Frying homemade breakfast sausage patties by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

Second, marjoram is partly responsible for the taste I associate with classic breakfast sausage - who knew?! And guess who happens to have this lovely marjoram plant growing in her front yard...

Our marjoran plant by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog

I served these for brunch alongside hash browns and a spinach and scallion scramble. Craving satisfied!

Homemade breakfast sausage patties with hashbrowns and spinach scramble by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2010

-- print recipe --
Homemade Breakfast Sausage
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

* 1 lb of ground pork (use the best pork you can get -- look for something antibiotic and hormone-free, ideally from a smaller, local farm)
* 1 tbsp of fresh sage, chopped
* 2 tsp of fresh marjoram, chopped
* 2 tsp of fresh thyme, chopped
* 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
* 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
* 1/4 tsp garlic powder
* 1 tsp of brown sugar or maple syrup
* 1/2 tsp of salt
* 1/2 tsp of black pepper

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together well (I ended up using my hands as the fork was just not getting me anywhere though you could also use a food processor to really combine everything.)

2. Form the patties and fry over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until nicely browned, then flip and repeat on the other side.

You might also like:
For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.

10 comments:

Amber said...

My friend and I were just talking about your blog... And how much we like sausage!! Too funny, I'm going to have to try this it looks so yummy!

Eve Fox said...

Thanks so much, Amber! Just checked out your blog(s) which are lovely. and what a truly wonderful birth story you have.

Kirsten Lindquist said...

homemade breakfast sausage ARE a revelation! I remember being surprised that savory was a key ingredient in the ones I made!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the idea! We recently joined Marin Sun Farms meat CSA and I've got all this ground pork in my freezer and no idea what to do with it. I'll definitely be making a batch of this.

Nathan said...

Great site. I look forward to reading more.

Tanya Sousa said...

Ohhhh, that sounds so good! The photos of food on this site are mouth watering.

Would you be willing to visit our website, www.RadiantHen.com, to preview my childeren's picture books that promote local/organic/humane agriculture? I'd love to hear what you think.

Eve Fox said...

Hi Tanya,
just checked out Radiant Hen and I think they look wonderful! I love the idea of books like this. My brother (he founded a company called Free Range Studios and has done a lot of socially conscious online videos -- have you heard of The Meatrix? -- really wants me to write some kids books in that vein, actually, though I can't imagine where I'd find the time right now so I am super glad to see that you guys are already on the case!

I'd be happy to review on the blog if you want to send me a few that deal with agriculture/food.

May Benatar said...

i am going to try this with ground turkey. i know it won't be the same, but...

Tanya Sousa said...

Hello Eve--

I'm sorry I didn't see your late Feb. reply until now! Our email address is naturese@together.net if you want to send me your address for the food/ag-related books to review.
Thanks!

jan at homemade sausage said...

Nice blog and lovely pictures