Breakfast Sausage

For my 24x24 last month I made breakfast for dinner. I wanted to try making homemade breakfast sausage with fresh sage since I thought the fresh herb taste would elevate it a bit. It came out extremely flavorful. Making it at home is actually a lot simpler than you might think. All that's required to make breakfast sausage at home is ground pork and some herbs/spices. Homemade is so much healthier. There's no additives or fillers to worry about and you can customize the shape and flavors. The one thing I really recommend is finding a high fat content ground pork. Otherwise, you might find these a little on the dry side. If you have the opporunity you could even ask the butcher to sell/give you leftover pork fat and grind it up to incorporate into the sausage mix.

P.S. Taking pictures of meat isn't pretty. :)

Breakfast Sausage

2 lbs ground pork
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbl fresh sage, chopped finely
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried fennel, crushed
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbl kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 large egg whites
vegetable oil and/or bacon grease

In a large bowl mix together the ground pork, garlic, sage, thyme, fennel, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Add the egg whites and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Shape the pork into 2 1/2" round patties or 3" long logs and refrigerate for another 15 minutes. Set a skillet over medium-high heat and add some vegetable oil and/or bacon grease. Fry the sausage for about 2 minutes per side or until browned and no longer pink inside. Serve.

Source: Recipe adapted from Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn.