Maple Breakfast Sausage Link General Questions
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I am planning on making some Maple Breakfast Sausage Links next weekend and have a few questions:
I read some of the reviews for the Maple Breakfast Sausage that said that there was maple flavoring but that it was not very pronounced and also not very sweet. I would like a little bit of sweetness and a good maple flavor to my sausage. So, what would you recommend and how much extra ingredients for an added maple flavor/sweetener? Maple Syrup? Brown Sugar? If so how much? I understand that this is a subjective question, so just general recommended amounts are all that I am looking for.
Are there any other optional ingredients that you would suggest?
What is the recommended casing and size for traditional breakfast sausage links? It appears that the 21MM Fresh Collagen casings are the recommended casings for a traditional breakfast sausage link? Are these the right ones?
https://www.waltonsinc.com/21mm-fresh-collagen-casings
Thanks,
NDKoze
Gregg - Fargo, ND
Grilla Silverbac & Chimp Pellet Smokers, Smokin-It #3 Electric Smoker, Masterbuilt XL, Big Chief (still used occasionally for fish), and few others over the years, also several Weber Gas/Charcoal Grills, Anova Sous Vide, etc. devices. -
Jonathon Team Blue Admin Walton's Employee Power User Kansas Dry Cured Sausagereplied to NDKoze on last edited by
NDKoze Yes, 21mm fresh would be the best casing to use for a traditional breakfast sausage. Maple is usually experienced more as a scent than a taste so you will sometimes have an issue where the taste is not as strong as you would wish. Because you want the maple to stand out as much as possible I would not use brown sugar as it has a flavor that will counteract the maple a little. I think your best bet is to add maple syrup or maple sugar. As for usage yes it is subjective so I would try a smaller than 25 lb batch for your first try. I’d begin using 2.5 oz of maple syrup for 5 lb of meat and see where you can go from there. If that ups the maple but you still want more sweetness I would look at adding some dextrose or regular sugar. Good luck and let us know if you need anything else!
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Thanks for the reply. I will give it a shot next weekend and respond with my results.
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Jonathon Does Excalibur make a seasoning for maple breakfast sausage?
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NDKoze Team Blue North Dakota Old-Timer Veteran Sous Vide Grilla Pellet Smokerreplied to Bacon Acres Farm on last edited by
Yes they do. It is hyperlinked in my original post.
I am going to be making my first batch tomorrow night. So hopefully it turns out well.
I have never used this recipe before, but have tried it from a local butcher who uses Excalibur seasonings and it was awesome!
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NDKoze Curious how your maple sausage turned out. I am making a batch 2 weeks from now. I bought a lb of ground pork and will be testing a couple recipes tomorrow for breakfast. Most recipes I found call for about 5-10% maple syrup to 100% meat weight. Jonathon gave 2.5oz to 5 lb which is about 3%. I have a couple test patties as low as about 6% and as high as 18%. So we will see what kind of sweetness and maple flavor I get.
NDKoze will to share your recipe? Next time I will keep in mind the Excalibur.
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NDKoze Team Blue North Dakota Old-Timer Veteran Sous Vide Grilla Pellet Smokerreplied to srg158 on last edited by
srg158 said in Maple Breakfast Sausage Link General Questions:
NDKoze Curious how your maple sausage turned out. I am making a batch 2 weeks from now. I bought a lb of ground pork and will be testing a couple recipes tomorrow for breakfast. Most recipes I found call for about 5-10% maple syrup to 100% meat weight. Jonathon gave 2.5oz to 5 lb which is about 3%. I have a couple test patties as low as about 6% and as high as 18%. So we will see what kind of sweetness and maple flavor I get.
NDKoze will to share your recipe? Next time I will keep in mind the Excalibur.
It looks like I forgot to post a follow-up on this. But, I have since made these breakfast sausage links a second time. It turned out really well both times.
I used the Excalibur seasoning that I linked in my original post along with Jonathan’s recommendation of 2.5oz of Maple Syrup per 5 lbs. You could use a little more if you want a pretty strong maple flavor. But, I was satisfied with the amount of Maple Syrup flavor in my batches.
I would definitely recommend this seasoning! The seasoning itself has maple flavoring, so I think that is why the 3% was enough. If you are adding syrup to a non-maple syrup flavored sausage recipe, I think that your 5-10% would be more appropriate.
As Jonathon said earlier in this thread, the maple is usually tasted more as a scent than a flavor, so I wonder if Maple extract wouldn’t be another option in addition to the maple syrup. I would defer to the Walton’s pros on how much if any of this to use though.
