[Fleecewife]

I'm looking for a couple of flavour suggestions for our current batch of sausages, from the three hoggets which went off today.  I find mint doesn't work, but chilli, black pepper, herbes de provence and lakeland sausage mix are all good.
Sheep meat makes much drier, harder sausages than pork, so generally stronger flavours are best.
Can anyone suggest other flavourings we could try please?

[macgro7]

Polish sausages are just meat, lots of garlic, salt pepper and I think that's about it. No bread, rusk or any of that rubbish. Then They are either smoked or barbecued. Although traditionally sausages made from sheep gut are obviously quiet thin (like a finger) and harder and drier - I never seen then non-smoked.

[pgkevet]

You've covered the obvious strong flavours apart perhaps from mustard, garlic as mentioned, or even ginger?Only other suggestion is to pull some of the ideas from chevapchichi recipes??

[SallyintNorth]

Our butcher made us some hint-of-mint sausages from the ewes we sent off recently, and they are just about the best sausages I've ever had.   I even like them better than our own pork sausages.  But being proper mutton, the meat was a little more fatty, so that probably makes the difference.  And the mint is a good counter to the fatty flavour, so it all works really well.

I wonder if apricot might be nice in a primitive-type hogget sausage?  I used to stuff my rolled breast of hogget with chopped apricot, it was awesome

[PipKelpy]

Glad you said chilli, but are you thinking the mouth busting hot type or the delicious sweet chilli flavour? I know it's laden with sugar but Heinz sweet chilli dipping sauce is fabulous! I've also been partial to "chinese" flavour (think sticky ribs) but some manufacturers overdo the aniseed flavour which I absolutely hate! I've bought pork sausages with cheese in, very nice! Problem i find with mint is whether they use mint out the garden flavour mint, or mint flavour! Mint to me, is the nice green stuff that by the time it's been washed, cut, sugared and covered in boiling water and vinegar, the butter drowned new spuds can't get to the table fast enough. Yet i find burgers which have mint flavour added to them, to taste artificial. The burgers themselves we Can't get enough of as they are goat burgers, absolutely devine! So, sweet chilli, cheese, definitely mustard, maybe tomato? Imagine every known relish, condiment etc put in front of you and you're sticking a chunk of lamb/hoggett in it to taste, which do you think would go? I like sharwoods mango chutney but not with lamb, (unless I've made a curry!)

[pgkevet]

It's a personal thing but anyhing tht makes meat taste sweet makes me wonder if it's going off. For those of us with a refined palate (I wish) it'll be hot chillies.. preferably home grown chopped jalapenos.

Only other thoughts.. chop in some spring onion, eperiment with lime flavour or try a jerk marinade...

[Fleecewife]

Thanks everyone - lots of ideas there.


Yes Sally, I have tried apricot in combination with north african spices and it was good.  I will need to experiment more to get the spices just right.


Macgro7, I like garlic but not for an entire batch of sausages.  I might put a little in the mix as it always adds fullness to the flavour.  Pepper yes, salt no! The last batch the butcher used a wider gut for stuffing, not so fat as big pork sausages, but better than the skinny ones, less hard.


I hadn't heard of chevapcici pgkevet so I watched a youtube clip - so much salt!!  I do like the idea of lime, I think it would cut the fat, although Heb Hogget is not fat but there is always a taste of it.  The butcher did once add spring onion to the mix as he had some for sale, and that was good.


PipKelpy I use my home grown chillies, not mind blowingly hot but fine for us and flavoursome,  but I can't take sugar in anything, so I stick with savoury flavours.  I used to love sweet and sour, but even that is out now. I would never have thought of cheese!!  I agree totally about adding mint.  I had some added to a batch a while ago - a huge amount of home-grown and chopped mint sauce mint, but when it was added to the sausages, the flavour had gone, so disappointing.  Much better to keep it for the gravy or mint sauce I think.  Wholegrain mustard I will definitely try too.


This year the butcher will have to make a single batch of sausages, all the same flavour.  We are about to start, tomorrow, having our kitchen stripped out and rebuilt.  It will take about 5 or 6 weeks, so I will have no opportunity to experiment, without a kitchen.  However, I thought that rather than also getting burgers, I would have half the mix as mince.  Then over the next year I can play around with that, making burgers, meat balls etc, and try out the various flavours.  Shepherds pie with a kick too.  The batch next week will be mainly chilli and plenty of black pepper with herbes de provence and maybe a hint of garlic.  They have been popular in the past, and I know the butcher is confident with quantities for those. Then next year I will have my big working kitchen and I can get out the big sausage stuffer and make my own, with batches of various flavours. There will only be two meat lambs next year, so making sausages from them won't be too much to get through.


So thank you everyone, between you you have given me lots of ideas,  some new ones I wouldn't have thought of.