A popular meat product known as "pork sausage" or "breakfast sausage" is usually made of minced pork meat, herbs, spices, salt and sugar. Basically, it's a kind of a fresh sausage, which is fried on a pan - either in patties (or burgers) or broken into chunks. However, did you know how easy, quick and delicious it is to make your own sausage at home? And it is also a budget friendly option of course!
I always make pan fried meat like this to stock up! I use part of it immediately and the rest I put in the freezer, where it waits for its star moment. Having prepared minced meat in the freezer is my favorite trick for getting through hectic weekdays. Pan fried minced meat from the freezer thaws quickly and goes with almost anything. All you have to do is add some veggies to the meat, find some bread or cook some pasta and a great lunch is ready for serving.
How to use pan fried minced pork?
You can use this minced meat with herbs in various baked dishes, with potatoes or with pasta. You can use it as a base for sauces, add vegetables, tinned tomatoes or passata and make a ragout or bolognese sauce. It is also excellent in egg omelettes for breakfast sandwiches. Or you can pan-fry it with onions, peppers and broccoli for a stir-fry and serve it with rice or noodles. Really it's that simple then, just add whatever vegetables you have in the fridge or freezer, add anything from the pantry and you have a delicious meal, usually with an already great tasting base - herby browned meat.
My TOP 5 quick uses for pan fried minced pork meat:
- add it to broth or soup if I have no cooked meat left
- add it into egg omelette for my favorite breakfast sandwiches
- add to the base of sauces for bolognese or chilli instead of raw meat
- add meat to fried rice or casseroles
- add it to vegetables and tofu stir-fry - tofu and pork are a great combination!
If you have just a little bit of meat left in the freezer, try my next tip. Combine it with tofu! Cut it into cubes or crumble it and fry it together with vegetables or thawed meat. It balances out the fattiness of the pork perfectly. Or just make my favorite Beef and tofu meatballs!
How to season this minced pork?
The spices you use are actually completely up to you, there is no specific combination of spices. It's good with almost everything. I use my favorite combination of oregano, sage, sage, thyme, ground coriander and pepper in this recipe. With this combination, the meat is seasoned very mildly and therefore it remains versatile for the following uses.
Add whatever spices you have a taste for, with rosemary and oregano the meat will be more prepared for Italian cuisine. If you add more ground coriander, add cumin or a curry spice blend, you can use it more in Indian or Asian cuisine. You can also add dried garlic and onions, dried parsley, chives, coriander leaves... just whatever you have on hand and like.
I also add a little bit of brown sugar. It will help to create a shiny caramelized crust on the meat, but you can omit it, if you want.
What kind of meat should I use?
The big advantage of minced meat is that it is relatively cheap , especially pork, which contains more fat. This is especially so because butchers can process various off-cuts into it that are otherwise difficult to process. Therefore, the quality of the meat you buy is very important. The higher the quality, the more certain you can be that your minced meat is really mainly meat and fat. If you are buying already minced meat, check the composition of the product carefully and watch the amount of salt added, this should be as low as possible.
If you want, you can buy different cuts of meat and grind it at home in a meat grinder. In this case, you can be 100% sure that you know what the minced meat contains and you can keep an eye on the amount of fat. A combination of the cheaper cuts of pig are most often used for grinding, usually the belly and shoulder (which is less fatty).
How to make homemade pork sausage with herbs?
Heat up a large, heavy pan, ideally cast iron, as it can keep the temperature perfectly and does not cool down easily after adding the meat. If the pan cooled quickly after adding the meat, the meat would release its juices and start to stew. If this happens to you, don't stir the meat, turn up the heat and wait for the water to "boil off". Only then turn the meat over and sear.
When the meat is half browned, add all the spices, sugar, pepper and salt. It's very important not to add salt to the raw meat right from the start, as it might start to release water and the meat will start to stew, which you don't want.
Pan fry the meat quite quickly so that it retains its juiciness and does not dry out unnecessarily. When the meat is done, let it cool and use it in the recipe of your choice. Or store it in the freezer for another use. I usually write the weight of the meat on the bag, so I know what recipe to use it in later. I use about 400g of browned meat for the ragout. For adding to stir fry or fried rice I use around 200g and for egg omelette sandwiches it's around 50-100g.
The great advantage of frozen roasted minced meat is also that, thanks to plenty of fat, the individual pieces of meat in the bag separate easily. Therefore, you can then only scoop out as much meat from the bag as you need. Similar to frozen peas or corn.
TIPS:
- if you like spicy, add chili to the mix as well
- you can also use minced turkey meat, ideally from the thighs
- be really patient when frying and don't stir the meat too much, especially at the beginning, so that the mixture doesn't start to stew
Recipe
Recipe for 800 g
Homemade pork sausage with herbs
Ingredients:
- 1 kg minced pork meat
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- pepper
- 1 and 1/2 tsp oregano
- 0,5 tsp satureja
- 1 tsp sage
- 1 and 1/2 dried thyme
- 0,5 tsp ground coriander seed
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Instructions:
- Heat up a large, heavy pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil.
- When the oil is hot, add minced meat and let sear. Don't stir.
- When the bottom of the meat is brown, turn it over and sear the other side. Then break the meat into chunks with a wooden spoon and let it cook until it's golden brown.
- When the meat is half browned, add all the spices, sugar, pepper and salt. Stir and let it caramelize.
- When the meat is done, let it cool and use it in the recipe of your choice or freeze it in a zip lock bag.
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