Have I recently mentioned how much I love breakfast? And by love, I kinda mean very, very strongly dislike.
But, my family seems to think that eating breakfast is important even if I am completely, totally, and utterly groggy in the mornings.
This often translates into something super exciting like instant oatmeal (unflavored kind of course) with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top for them *blush* and then I eat my version of “breakfast” later. The quotations are necessary because my idea of breakfast usually means something along the lines of sardines + beet kvass + sauerkraut OR sauerkraut + liverwurst OR sauerkraut + sausage OR hemp smoothie + sardines OR if I am lucky, ,leftovers.
Did you catch a theme there? We’ll call it the non-breakfast theme. Now you know why there are so few breakfast foods published here! Smoothie is about as breakfast-y as I usually get.
On Saturdays though, I try and put my breakfast rebellion to the side and come up with a big family breakfast. At least sometimes…the operative word is “try.” I do enjoy the typical American breakfast (sans the eggs since I am not a fan of being covered in hives)! Just not the work involved when doing it during the week.
For me that typical American breakfast must include sausage!
As easy as sausage patties are to make though, they overwhelm me first thing in the morning and I rarely remember to make a batch a few days ahead of time. So, last Saturday I decided on making a huge batch to keep in the freezer for easily adding to breakfasts down the road. An hour of work on a Saturday morning turned into having enough sausages for eight Saturday mornings!
While I have a sausage stuffer, I have yet to figure out how to do breakfast sausage links as the smaller casings are so much harder to work with, so I went with patties. Just season, cure if you can (refrigerate with the seasonings), shape, and freeze. Easy peasy and so much tastier than any store bought sausage patties I have had.
Freezer Sausage Patties Tutorial
The first thing you need to do is season the meat. Ideally the spices and meat will get to set together for a while to really flavor the meat. In a pinch though, you can just season and go.
Seasoning mixes for sausage vary greatly. I used what has become my favorite for one for breakfasts sausages. It is a mix of mustard, white pepper, garlic, thyme, sage, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and of course salt. The combo of peppery and sweet spices with the earthy herbs is intriguing as well as delicious.
Often a little bit of sweetness is also included. To keep these as no sugar added, so they would be GAPS legal sausages, I used applesauce.
After seasoning, and curing if you have the time, all that is left to do then was shape, package, and freeze.
Cut squares of freezer (or parchment if that is all you have) to go between the layers of sausage. Cut two big squares using the full width of the roll, then cut that big square into 1/4’s. You should need 8 squares.
Using a medium cookie scoop makes doing even portions super easy. Alternatively, you can use rounded tablespoons. I did 9 at a time, since that is how many sausages I did per layer.
You can shape by hand of course, but the patties won’t be as pretty and smooth as they could be. The domestic macyver in me looked through the house until I found the perfect sausage shaper. A small-mouth mason jar lid.
Simply put the lid on top of the mount of sausage, and evening press down the flat part of the lid. The ring will make sure the sausage keeps it shape. Remove the lid, and if the sausage stuck to it simply pull off. Smooth the edges of the pattie if desired.
Note: Work quickly as cold sausage isn’t as sticky as room temperature.
Do layers of the freezer paper and 9 sausages. Keep the patties close together so the stack can fit in a freezer bag.
Once all the sausage is shaped and stacked, put the stack in the freezer for about an hour. It is much easier to put frozen sausage into a bag then a stack of soft sausages. Put the whole stack in a freezer bag. It will be a tight squeeze, and you should be able to break the stack in half and do two bags instead of one.
Label and date the freezer bag before putting back in the freezer.
- 4 lbs of fatty (not lean!) ground lamb or pork (I used lamb)
- ½ cup applesauce
- 4 teaspoons granulated garlic
- 1½ teaspoons freshly ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 4 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried ground thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rub sage
- 4 teaspoons granulated real or celtic sea salt
- Mix the meat and and seasonings. If able let sit in the fridge for a day or two, or you can go directly to the next step.
- Cut two large square of freezer paper, using the full width. Then cut each of those in quarters.
- Put a square of it on a plate.
- Use a medium size cookie scoop to portion out 9 sausage patties. Alternatively, you can use a tablespoon and do rounded tablespoons.
- Put down on a work surface, such as a cutting board.
- Use a two-piece small mouth mason jar for shaping the sausage patties. Use the ring to keep the shape, and press down on the flat part of the lid to shape the patties. Press down as evenly as possible.
- Do layers of parchment or freezer paper and 9 sausages. Keep the sausages close together to conserve space.
- Freeze the whole stack of sausages. Once frozen put into a gallon ziplock bag (it will be a tight fit). Label and date.
- To cook, remove how many you want to cook. Put in a skillet over medium-low heat and cook about 2 minutes per side. Turn the heat up to high and sear on each side/finish cooking through.
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