In my teens and while we were in Goa during the summer holidays, my aunt wanted to prepare sausages at home. I have seen how they were made and also extended a helping hand in filling of the casings. The boneless meat was sliced all over without cutting it all the way through and heavily salted. Stored in a basket for 24 hours with some weight on top to drain out any liquid and dry out the meat. Next day, the meat was cut into small cubes (after the rind was separated), rinsed with water to get rid of the saltiness, drained well and kept in the sun to dry out. The spice paste was ground in vinegar, combined with the dried meat pieces and marinated for a day. Casings were filled with meat using metal funnels, tied and then smoked. Sausages were usually prepared to be eaten during monsoons when the fish is scarce. They are never consumed raw. Enjoyed just cooked in some water accompanied with a chilled beer or with pão (chouriço bread). Other dishes prepared with Goan sausages are; chouriço chilli fry (with some onions and potatoes - recipe and picture below), sausage pulao (with rice) or feijoada (with red kidney beans).
Saltpetre is also known as potassium nitrate. It is used as a food preservative for centuries but has some unique chemical properties that can pose a number of health risks. I have refrained from using it in the sausage meat. Managed to get the deep dark red colour with the dried Kashmiri chillies and use of red wine vinegar. A good amount of fat is required for a balanced moist sausage.
Perfecting the recipe took several attempts and not only I am excited to share but extremely happy. My husband too was speechless as we always enjoy the best sausages available from Cansaulim (his village) market. He had nothing to comment and if you follow the recipe to the tee, you will soon be enjoying Goa sausages made by you in your very own home. Viva Goa!!!
Ingredients:
2 kg boneless pork (final weight after the rind is removed)
1/4 cup kosher coarse salt
1/2 cup feni
2 metres casings
Grind to a slightly coarse paste (with either 2 cups Goa toddy vinegar, apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar)
40 red dried Kashmiri chillies
10 hot red chillies (I have used Portuguese hot peppers grown in our garden)
30 whole black peppercorns
20 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
8 grams - 4 cinnamon sticks (1.5” each)
70 grams garlic (small pods with ends cut off, grind with skin)
50 grams ginger (peeled)
1 gram nutmeg
Method:
Cut meat into tiny cubes, wash, drain well using a colander. Transfer into a salad spinner and spin to remove any water. Discard the water and salt the meat. Keep some weight on top of the meat and refrigerate. Turn every four hours, simultaneously spin and drain off any liquid.
(I refrigerated the meat in the salad spinner. Use a plastic plate to cover the meat and weigh down with a mortar pestle. Do not use metal utensils.)
Next day, grind the spices in vinegar to a slightly coarse paste. Spin meat for the last time in the salad spinner and drain off any liquid. Transfer meat in a glass bowl and mix in the ground paste. Add the feni in the blender jar to loosen any paste and add to the meat.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours to allow the meat to marinate.
Rinse the salted casing with fresh water and soak them to rehydrate. Open casing at one end and place under the faucet in the sink. Allow water to enter into the opening, flushing it out from the other end. This will facilitate smooth movement of the casing onto the stuffing horn (funnel).
Slide casing onto the stuffing horn (as much it can take, see picture above) and tie the other open end with a knot or butcher’s twine.
Fill in the sausage meat and use the end of the wooden spoon handle to push the meat down into the casing. Simultaneously, use your fingers gently to move the meat along to prevent a tear.
Once all the meat is stuffed, tie the sausage at 1”, 1 1/2” or desired intervals with twine to make links.
Dry sausages in a dehydrator moving racks up and down, turning sausages after every 1/2 hour. It took four hours to dry. Alternatively, they can be dried for a longer time in the dehydrator depending on the level of dryness preferred, even in the sun if you don’t have a dehydrator or smoker.
Place dried sausages in food safe plastic bags and freeze.
Without casings, the sausage meat mixture are preserved using the following two methods though I have never tried it:
- The marinated meat mixture can also be stored in a sterilized glass bottle, refrigerated and stirred before use. As the meat is raw, I would not keep the mixture refrigerated for too long.
- Placed directly in food safe plastic bags and frozen.
Note:
The following were used:
- Boneless pork ham (picture below)
- Salad spinner
- Colavita red wine vinegar (available at Costco, Canada)
- Feni (available at LCBO, Canada)
- Salted casings (available at Highland Farms, Canada)
- Big plastic funnel (from Goa)
- Wooden spoon
- Two pairs of gloves
- Butcher’s or cooking twine (availabe at Canadian Tire). Go for one that is thinner. The butcher’s twine was a bit too thick.
- Koolatron Total Chef Food Dehydrator, available in Canada.
- My husband to fill and tie the casings.
In a pan, add sliced two onions with few sausages, four potatoes (quartered) and some water. Cover and cook till sausages are cooked through and potatoes tender. No chillies, tomatoes, vinegar or salt was used as the sausages were perfectly balanced.