Japanese Artisan Handmade Sausage (Plain & Coarse-Ground)

Steps

1. 1
   Carefully trim the pork thigh, removing sinew, blood vessels, and tough connective tissue. The degree of trimming depends on whether the meat will be coarsely or finely ground. Cut the meat into blocks.
2. 2
   Place the meat and fat separately into a vegetable bouillon (celery, onion, carrot) brine and let them cure for several days, allowing the salt and umami flavors to penetrate slowly.
3. 3
   Finely grind a portion of the cured meat and blend it in a high-speed cutter with frozen pork-vegetable broth ice cubes and brewed vinegar powder seasoning until it forms a smooth emulsified paste — this becomes the base for the sausages.
4. 4
   Coarsely grind another portion of the cured meat and fat, keeping a chunkier texture, to add bite to the sausage.
5. 5
   Mix the emulsified base with the coarsely ground meat and fat in the desired ratio. For the plain sausage, season only with salt, sugar, and pepper. For the coarse herb sausage, add garlic, dried onion, parsley, oregano, and fennel seed.
6. 6
   For specialty flavors: mix prepared Natsumikan orange with rosemary into the filling for the Natsumikan Rosemary sausage; blend spinach or edamame into a paste and fold into the meat for the green sausage; or season salted coarse-ground meat with tomato, paprika, and chili for the spicy chorizo.
7. 7
   Fit softened sheep casings onto the sausage stuffer, fill them with the seasoned meat mixture, and twist into individual links at the desired length.
8. 8
   Hang the freshly stuffed sausages to dry the surface moisture.
9. 9
   Place the sausages in a smoker, raising the internal temperature from ambient to about 50°C to dry the surface, then smoke with beech and cherry wood chips for about 40 minutes (timing varies slightly by flavor), and finally cool them down with a water rinse.
10. 10
    Once fully cooled, pack the sausages into portions — they are now ready to be sold or enjoyed as finished handmade smoked sausages.