5.0 from 48 votes
Swedish Breakfast Sausage
This is a sausage of barley, pork fat and meat -- pork, beef or venison -- that is fermented at room temperature a few days and then hung to dry a few more before eating. It's deliciously tangy.
Prep Time
1 hr 30 mins
Curing and Drying Time
7 d
Total Time
7 d 1 hr 30 mins
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 222 kcal
Course:
Main Course , Breakfast , Appetizer , Lunch
Cuisine:
Scandinavian
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram lean meat (pork, venison, beef, lamb, etc.)
- 500 grams pork fat or pork belly
- 36 grams sea salt (or kosher salt)
- 175 grams yellow onion, chopped
- Butter or oil for frying
- 300 grams cooked barley
- 10 grams freshly ground black pepper (about 1 tablespoon)
- 4 grams ground allspice (about 2 teaspoons)
- 2 grams ground cloves (about 1 teaspoon)
- 1/2 cup ice water (distilled if possible)
- 4 grams LHP starter culture (optional)
- Hog casings
Instructions
- Cut the meat and fat into chunks that will fit in your grinder. Mix well with the salt, then put in a covered container in the fridge overnight, or up to a day.
- Cook the onion in a little butter or oil until just barely browned. Sprinkle with a little salt and set aside to cool. This can be done a day ahead.
- Get about 10 feet of hog casings ready by soaking them in warm water. If you want, run fresh water through them to check for leaks and to flush any excess salt out of them.
- Mix the meat, fat, cooked onion and barley with the spices. Grind this through a very coarse die. I use 10 mm. If you only have "coarse" and "fine" options use the coarse.
- If the meat mixture has warmed beyond 40°F, put it in the freezer while you clean up and get ready to grind again. When the meat mixture is cold enough -- and this can be immediately after the first grind in some cases -- grind it a second time through a 6 mm die, or the "coarse" die one more time.
- If you are using the starter culture, dissolve it in the distilled cold water (if you're not using the culture, the water need not be distilled). Let it sit about 15 minutes.
- Mix the cold water with the meat mixture and work and knead it with your clean hands or a stand mixer on low for about 2 minutes. This sausage doesn't bind like a normal one because of the barley, but you want it to bind as best you can, and mixing does this.
- Thread the casing onto the sausage stuffer tube and stuff it with the mixture. Stuff a whole coil before making links. When you're done, twist off links by spinning one away from you, then, working down the line, the next link towards you, then away from you, and so on. Here's a video showing you how.
- Hang the links in your oven (turned off, of course), with a baking sheet underneath. Let them ferment like this for 2 to 3 days. Spritz them with water at least once a day. You want a warmish, stable, humid environment. They should start to smell nice, meaty and tart-smelling, if there is such a thing.
- Finally, hang the fermented links in a cool place, ideally dark and below 60°F, for at least a day, and ideally a week or even two. Then they are ready to eat or store. They keep in the fridge for a couple weeks, and freeze well.
Cup of Yum
Notes
- The weight of the barley is after cooking. This tends to be about a cup dried.
Nutrition Information
Calories
222kcal
(11%)
Carbohydrates
6g
(2%)
Protein
14g
(28%)
Fat
16g
(25%)
Saturated Fat
6g
(30%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
2g
Monounsaturated Fat
7g
Trans Fat
0.2g
Cholesterol
49mg
(16%)
Sodium
740mg
(31%)
Potassium
256mg
(7%)
Fiber
1g
(4%)
Sugar
0.4g
(1%)
Vitamin A
8IU
(0%)
Vitamin C
1mg
(1%)
Calcium
14mg
(1%)
Iron
2mg
(11%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 20servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 222
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 222kcal | 11% |
| Carbohydrates | 6g | 2% |
| Protein | 14g | 28% |
| Fat | 16g | 25% |
| Saturated Fat | 6g | 30% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 2g | 12% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 7g | 35% |
| Trans Fat | 0.2g | 10% |
| Cholesterol | 49mg | 16% |
| Sodium | 740mg | 31% |
| Potassium | 256mg | 5% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugar | 0.4g | 1% |
| Vitamin A | 8IU | 0% |
| Vitamin C | 1mg | 1% |
| Calcium | 14mg | 1% |
| Iron | 2mg | 11% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.