thai sausage

Another brown looking dish... I really have to work on that. Well in any event, a while back I posted some pictures from my sausage making day. I ended up making 5lbs of sausages that day, including 2lbs of Northern Thai sausages. I first enjoyed these in Chicago at Sticky Rice, a great Northern Thai restaurant. Then I sampled them in Thailand, and really fell in love with their unique flavor. So when I decided to make my own sausages, trying to recreate what I'd eaten in Thailand was a no-brainer.

I found this recipe online that seemed pretty authentic. In with the ground pork went a ton of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal (like ginger, with less spiciness), cilantro and red curry paste. The process of making sausages is pretty straightforward, although time consuming. You season the meat and let it marinate for a day, grind it, then stuff it into the casings. I used all-natural pork casings which I purchased at Butcher & Packer, and soaked in water for a few days before using. Stuffing the meat into the casings is the challenging part - particularly if you do it alone. With one hand you have to push the meat through the grinder assembly, through the stuffing attachment, and into the casing. With the other you're trying to hold on to the casing, ensuring that there aren't any air bubbles, that the whole thing doesn't get jammed. Of course everything must be done quickly to make sure it stays cold. Definitely a two person job. Now I know.

Five pounds of sausages lasts a while (in the freezer)... So today I grilled a couple of them up on the bbq and served them with baked eggplants and fried tofu topped with a red curry sauce. The flavor of the sausages is pretty much on point. I'm not sure I could make a living selling these from a food cart in Thailand, but for our purposes here in Atlanta, it sure hits the spot.

Just for kicks, Thai rice and  pork sausage balls and a garlic sausage on a stick from the streets of Chiang Mai... god I miss Thai street food!!!