Smoked Turkey Sausage
Made with Dried Apples and Apricots
This is a recipe that I adapted from a low-fat breakfast sausage idea I found online a couple of years ago.
The starting point was a fresh sausage, but I wanted to add the distinctive flavor of wood smoke. I guess the only thing that really survives from the original recipe is the use of the turkey and the fruit, but my version is now a favorite at our house.
I have tried using fresh apples and apricots, and the sausage still turns out good, but I much prefer the more intense flavors imparted by the dried fruit called for here.
Recipe
- 5 lbs boned white and dark meat turkey (or chicken) with skin included.
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh onion or 2 tablespoons onion powder (I much prefer the fresh).
- 3/4 cup chopped dried apples
- 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
- 1 tablespoon dried sage
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon cure (Prague powder #1 or Instacure #1
1 cup dry nonfat milk powder
- Cut the meat and skin into workable pieces and grind them through the medium plate on your meat grinder.
- Add the cure, spices, and milk powder to the ground meat and mix well by hand.
- Grind the sausage mixture one more time through the medium plate on your meat grinder.
- Stuff immediately into natural or collagen casings. As with most poultry sausage, I prefer 32 mm casings.
- Smoke the sausage in your meat smoker using a species of wood that produces a mild flavored smoke. I like to use apple wood.
Click Here for Smoking Instructions.
As always when working with poultry, be sure to keep things very clean and watch for cross contamination.
I like to run everything that I can through the dishwasher during cleanup. That way I know things are sanitized.