PORK, CHESTNUT & DRIED CRANBERRY SAUSAGE

Food styling, recipes & photography David Neville

	1kg pork shoulder, coarsely ground
	100g stale bread
	100ml milk
	60g dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
	80g tinned chestnuts, crushed
	2 cloves garlic, minced
	100g bacon, finely sliced
	20g dried thyme
	10g salt
	oil, for frying

1.	Chill the pork mince in the freezer for 30 minutes before starting.
2.	Tear the bread into a medium bowl and add the milk.
3.	Add the cranberries, chestnuts, garlic, bacon and thyme.
4.	Leave for 10 minutes, then loosely combine.
5.	Add the chilled pork mince and salt and mix until it just comes together, in as few movements as possible. Do not stress if it doesn’t look thoroughly mixed.
6.	Weigh the mix into 100g portions.
7.	Hold each portion in your palm and give it one firm slap to release any trapped air.
8.	Use damp hands to roll each portion into a sausage shape on a clean cutting board.
9.	If it is sticky, place on a damp sushi mat or small sheet of plastic wrap and roll into shape, then twist the ends tightly before carefully unrolling. This stage will bring the meat together to form a tight sausage of uniform density.
10.	Return sausages to the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
11.	Heat a heavy frying pan with a small amount of neutral oil until you can see small wisps appearing.
12.	Batch cook the sausage for 3 minutes on each side, turning carefully and only when needed.
13.	Eat straight away or refrigerate for up to 3 days.
14.	The cooked sausage can also be frozen for later use, but I wouldn’t advise freezing the mixture raw.