Breakfast Sausage

MacInAction · Joined: 11 Feb 2011 Posts: 6

After studying many recipes from various sites, I still cannot find the 'secret' ingredient that gives a store bought sausage roll the unique flavor and color. Most online recipes have similar herbs and spices, but none that I can find offer anything new to get a flavor that compares to the commercial products.

I assume it must be a curing salt, or some other chemical additive, due to the unusual dark color of cooked sausage from the store. When using ground pork with a custom herb/spice blend, the color is much lighter in comparison, and it burns much easier than pork in a tube. Can a Jimmy Dean style sausage log be duplicated at home?

Jarhead · Posted: Sep 12 2011 Post subject:

What kind of sausage are you trying to duplicate?
Using your own grind of butts?
Type of casing?
Smoker Temp?
Pics?
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MacInAction · Joined: 11 Feb 2011 Posts: 6

I am trying to duplicate the 'roll sausage' that is found in supermarkets, no casing will be used and smoke will come at a later time when the recipe is tweaked. For now, I am using ground pork from the meat section. Once I find the correct ingredients, I'll move to a pork butt or better cuts.

I hate the new flavor that Jimmy Deam introduced years ago (the old flavor was MUCH better). Cloning the spices isn't that difficult using online recipes, but something is definitely missing that changes the flavor and color of the cooked sausage. Similar to the way a ham tastes and looks like plain pork without the special curing ingredients.

patruns · Posted: Sep 13 2011 Post subject:

I believe sage is the predominate spice in breakfast sausage.....
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MacInAction · Joined: 11 Feb 2011 Posts: 6

I'm using sage, marjoram, cayenne, crushed red, black pepper, salt, savory, cloves, maple syrup, and thyme with plain ground pork from the butcher. The herb/spice flavor is very good. What is not good is the color and meat flavor.

Seasoned ground pork tastes and looks nothing like grocery store breakfast sausage, as pork tastes nothing like ham without the secret curing ingredients that change both the flavor and color.

What gives Jimmy Dean and the knockoffs the unusual dark color and unique breakfast sausage flavor after it's cooked?

My finished sausage patties look more like a pork burger than a sausage patty, with a VERY light color. I've never seen a brand of commercial sausage that cooks to such a light color. What am I missing in my mix?

wnkt · Posted: Sep 16 2011 Post subject:

have you tried tossing in some curing salt ...a.k.a. pink salt or sodium nitrite.?

Jimmy Dean Regular Pork Sausage contains : PORK, WATER, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF THE FOLLOWING: CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICES, DEXTROSE, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE.

so it says there isnt any sodium nitrite even IN it..
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MacInAction · Joined: 11 Feb 2011 Posts: 6

I sent a question to Jimmy Dean to find out if it has sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite. I'll get a response as soon as I send a barcode of a product for them to check the ingredients.

Pkerchef · Posted: Oct 15 2011 Post subject:

Our ancestors we're making pork breakfast sausage at home long before the commercial varities we're available. I can't beleive someone is actually trying to clone a national brand breakfast sausage. Rytek Kutas has a breakfast sausage recipe in his book . I will post it for you if you like. I would like to find the recipe that my grandfather and his father used to use to make breakfast sausage in the old country. I remember them making it i just never asked them how they did it and why. One thing is for sure the quality of the pork they used was much different than the pork we get today. Todays hogs never get their feet on the ground, they are raised in a house much like a chicken and if they ever escape and get outside they are destroyed.
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solaryellow · Posted: Oct 15 2011 Post subject:

I doubt they put any cure in it since it a fresh sausage. Rytek's recipe is surprisingly good although I don't put much stock in his recipes. Here is one you can try Mac. Len Poli's recipes are usually right on and the citric acid would make a difference in the flavor by adding a slight tang to the sausage.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Link-JDean.pdf

Kevin P · Posted: Oct 18 2011 Post subject:

As you can see from the Jimmy Dean label, sweetener & salt are the two primary ingredients, followed by the 'herbs & spices' & a dab of MSG. NO Cure is used as it is fresh.

I would also venture to guess, unlike most homemade sausage (25-30% fat), the percentage of fat in a commercial product allowed by law is nearly 50% (!). High fat makes for a juicy, flavorful sausage (and is cheaper to make), but in the long run, the percentage is too greasy for my tastes.

The good thing about making breakfast sausage is it's cheap so you can make & mix a variety of ingredients, sample 'em, & tweak them to your tastes.

Some maple breakfast sausage: