Gamebird Weiss Wurst

Weiss Wurst is a sausage from Munich which is typically enjoyed with a German breakfast.  The sausage is traditionally made with veal, pork and bacon but I prefer using gamebirds (pheasant, chukkar, quail), chicken or turkey.   The sausage is finely ground then whipped while adding crushed ice to keep the mixture cold.  Cold is the key to making this sausage, closer to 30F the better.   It also helps to make sure all your equipment (grinder, stuff and if possible food processor as cold as possible), I usually put what I can in the freezer or, since I live in MN, during the winter I use my walkout deck freezer.  

For the sausage, I referenced the following 3 recipes.  Most Weiss Wurst recipes include Phosphate as an ingredient.  Phosphate helps with retaining moisture.  I didn't have any so skipped adding Phosphate, thought the sausage turned out nicely. 

• Weisswurst Saussage – Bavarian Specialty - Site with some great information. 

• Wurst Cirlce - Site with step by step photos. Does include additional sausage recipes. 

• Sheboygan Brats - A lot of recipes for wild game and sausages.  The Sheboygan recipe is one I like making for a good ol'Brat.  I pulled some of the spices from here to add to my Weiss Wurst. 

Ingredients

• 1000g  of Meat
  
• 500g pheasant, chukkar, quail, chicken or/and turkey.  Cut into cubes size to fit your grinder, I like about 1".  Put in a container or ziplock
  
• 300g pork belly Cut into cubes not larger than 1".  Put it in a ziplock and toss in freezer
• 200g crushed ice

• 20g salt
• 2 g ground white pepper, I like grinding it fresh
• 4 g onion powder, you could use 20g fresh diced onions
• 3 g ground ginger
• 1 g ground mace
• 1 g marjoram (optional)
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• zest from 1 lemon or 1 to 2 g lemon powder
  
• 1 g ground mustard seeds
• 2 g caraway seeds (optional, I like this flavor but is not found in a traditional Weiss Wurst)
• 1/2 bunch chopped parsley about 30g - stems are fine to include, just clean up the bottoms of the stalks.
• Hog casings using Brat size will need about two casing.   Rinse in warm water.
  

Tools

• Meat grinder - I have a stainless steal grinder from smokehousechef.com which fits on my Kitchen Aid mixer.

  Sausage stuff

  Scale to measure grams accurate to 0.1g

  Iodophor (optional) - I like soaking all my equipment in a light solution and have a spray bottle of it to spray down surfaces.   It helps to sanitize equipment and tools.  You can get it at a home brew shop.

  Latex gloves - I prefer wear gloves which I spray with Iodophor before touching meat.  You can grab a new pair each time or wash with soapy hot water between use with re-spray of Iodophor each time.

  Sharp knife

  Clean cutting boards

  Butcher string - usually not needed but sometimes I use it to tie between links.  I like this video about "How to tie link sausages", the author gives two techniques
  

  Large pot - used to poach the sausages when they are linked and ready.  Poach in water, beer or broth at 165F for 30 mins.
  

1. Mix salt, pepper, onion powder, ginger, mace and marjoram.  Add mixture to the bird meat.  If you are using fresh onions, don't add them until after first grind.  Spices and meat can be placed back in it container and put in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight. 
2. With the meat and pork cold, (less than 35F), get your grinder ready and put it in the freezer for enough time to get it cold.   Setup the grinder with your medium or large disk.  Grind the meat and pork.  Make sure the ground mixture remains cold, below 40F is best. 
3. Put ground mixture in a container, add the lemon zest, ground mustard and caraway seeds.  Mix all ingredients.   Return container to freezer to keep cold.  
4. Clean up grinder and prepare it for a second grind with the smallest holed disk.   Once grinder is cold, grind meat through the small disk.    Using you hands, mix the cream into the finely ground meat.  
5. Setup the food process with the blade and have your crushed ice ready.  If the ground mixture is below 35F it can be run in the food processor.  Working in batches so not to overload the processor, process the meat mixture so it gets the consistency of a dough.  With the food processor run, add a couple handfuls of crushed ice which helps to add texture as well as keep the mixture cold.    Don't mix too long and make sure mixture remains close to 35F.   When the mixture is done processing, add a portion of the parsley to the batch and mix to combine.   Continue with remaining batches. 
6. When done with processing, check the temp.  If temp is below 40F, again colder the better, you can proceed to stuff the sausage.