Chicken Sausage
Equipment
- 1 sausage grinder
Ingredients
- 1 kg boneless skinless MCAS-safe chicken thighs — about 8 thights; see know your ingredients
- 15 g salt
- 125 g fresh celery (include leaves) — chopped
- 0.3 g MSG — optional
- 1/4 tsp lactic acid powder — optional
For sweet sausage, add
- 1-2 Tbsp green peppercorns — in brine
- 3/4 tsp sugar — optional
or, for spicy-savory sausage, add
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 4 Tbsp green peppercorns — in brine
- 1/4 c fresh parsley — chopped, optional
Instructions
- Chop chicken thighs into about 1" pieces. Finely chop celery. Combine chicken pieces, celery, salt-sugar-MSG mixture, green peppercorns and finely chopped parsley (if using) in a large bowl and combine well, mashing ingredients together (I use disposable gloves to really mix it together)
- Grind mixture according to your meat-grinder's instructions. If you have multiple cutting discs, use the finer one with holes around 1/8–3/16 inches in diameter.
Notes
This is a very versatile and tasty source of protein that can be used in a variety of recipes.
When prepping sausage it is important to keep the chicken cold to prevent histamine formation. The easiest way to do this is to start with partially defrosted frozen chicken thighs, that are still icy but cuttable. The chicken should remain cold long enough to get through the whole process before warming too much. After preparing the sausage, portion into storage containers (I prefer small, single-serving size) and freeze portions you won’t use the same day, place the rest in the fridge until required.
When cooking, it helps to brown the sausage, depending on what recipe you’re using. I tend to fry the sausage in enough olive oil that it splatters and makes a mess on the stove; it helps the texture and taste develop.
You can trial run your seasonings with a small amount before grinding the whole batch and adjust to taste.