Lamb and Wild Garlic (Spring Sausage)

Wild garlic is nature’s reward for surviving the long, wet, British winter. It can be found in woodlands along riverbanks.

Ingredients

Night before

• Rinse and soak the sausage casings in water. Leave them in the fridge.
• Separate lean and fat (if possible), combine with salt, and leave them in the fridge.

On the day

• Chill the meat and grinder parts in the freezer for about an hour.
• Once the meat has reached 0-1°C, roughly chop up the wild garlic leaves, mix them with the meat, and mince the lot through a 6mm plate.
• Place the meat and salt mixture in the freezer and allow it to chill until it reaches 0-1°C again.
• Mix in the sriracha, pepper, and dill seeds.
• Mince again through a fine plate.
• Add milk powder.
• Knead the meat while gradually adding the water until the mixture becomes sticky.
• To check the taste, make a mini patty and fry it. Adjust the seasoning where necessary.
• Chill the remaining mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Place the mixture into the stuffer, carefully pipe it into the casings.
• Finish by twisting it into links.
• Leave the sausages to dry in the fridge for 24 hours before consuming.

Notes

• Preparing the meat and salt mixture the night before allows for greater extraction of myosin. This will help achieve a better bind later on.
• The drying step isn’t essential, however, it helps to improve the sausage ‘snap’. Omitting it may result in a chewy casing.
• Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water you’re soaking the casings in. This will make them more slippery and easier to put on the stuffer horn.