Why This Recipe Works

Fresh bulk sausage is nothing more than salted and seasoned meat that you grind and vigorously mix, and making a good batch is simple if you adhere to a few principles and use a reliable formula. We started by weighing the trimmed pork (well-marbled pork butt) in grams; this allowed us to calculate the precise amount of salt to add (1.5 percent of the weight of the trimmed meat), making the recipe easy to scale up or down. Curing the meat with the salt and seasonings (brown sugar, sage, and cayenne and black peppers) for at least 8 hours before grinding ensured proper salinity and juiciness; plus, the salt dissolved the meat proteins (myosin), which acted as a glue that bound up the meat mixture and gave the sausage its snap. Kneading the ground pork mixture further developed its myosin. Briefly freezing the cured pork before grinding firmed it up so that the ground pork contained distinct pieces of meat and fat. This prevented the pork fat from overheating and melting away from the protein during grinding and from leaking out when the sausage was cooked, which would leave it dry and crumbly. Once made, the sausage could be formed into patties and cooked straight away or refrigerated or frozen for later use.

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Before You Begin

Because sausage requires a precise ratio of salt to trimmed meat, you'll need a scale that measures in grams, and you'll need to do some simple math. This recipe requires at least 8 hours of salting. Because you'll be measuring the salt by weight instead of volume, you can use either table salt or kosher salt. Pork butt roast is often labeled Boston butt. For the best texture, buy a well-marbled roast that has a defined fat cap. This recipe can easily be halved or doubled and freezes well.

Instructions

Mix sugar, sage, pepper, and cayenne in small bowl and set aside. Leaving fat cap intact, cut pork into ¾-inch pieces, trimming and discarding all sinew and connective tissue. Weigh trimmed pork and note weight in grams. Multiply weight of pork by 0.015 to determine salt amount (round to nearest gram). Weigh out salt.

Toss pork, salt, and sugar mixture in bowl until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 2 days.

Transfer pork to rimmed baking sheet and spread in single layer, leaving space around each chunk. Freeze until pork is very firm and starting to harden around edges but still pliable, 35 to 55 minutes.

FOR A GRINDER: Place meat grinder attachments, including coarse die (3/16 or ¼ inch), in freezer for at least 1 hour before using. Set medium bowl in large bowl filled with ice. Grind pork at medium speed into prepared medium bowl.FOR A FOOD PROCESSOR: Place one-quarter of pork in food processor and pulse until finely ground into ⅛- to 1/16-inch pieces, 14 to 16 pulses, stopping to redistribute pork around bowl as necessary to ensure meat is evenly ground. Transfer ground pork to large bowl. Repeat with remaining 3 batches of pork.

Inspect ground pork carefully, discarding any strands of gristle or silverskin. Using your hands or stiff rubber spatula, knead pork vigorously, smearing against sides and bottom of bowl, until pork begins to tighten, feels tacky, and sticks to bottom of bowl and palm of your hand, 1½ to 2 minutes. Using your damp hands, divide meat into 16 pieces (about 2 ounces each) and form into 2½-inch patties about ½ inch thick.

Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook half of patties until well browned on both sides and meat registers 145 to 150 degrees, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to serving platter and tent with aluminum foil. Repeat with remaining patties. Serve.TO MAKE AHEAD: Raw sausage patties can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 24 hours or frozen for up to 1 month. Cook frozen patties for 7 to 9 minutes per side.