Do you love to eat sausages like I do, well who doesn’t? Today we shall learn how to make homemade fish sausages.
But before we get into the details of making fish sausages, let us make sure you get to know a brief history of the whole concept of sausages and their origin.
What Is Sausage?
Sausages are made-up of ground meat mixed with fat, salt, and other seasonings, and preservatives, and sometimes they may have fillers like grains or breadcrumbs. Sausages can be fresh, which requires some cooking before consuming, sold fully cooked, cured, smoked, or dried.
They were originally made as a delicious way to preserve meat. Any kind of meat can be used in sausage, including less traditional meats, and the flavour can also vary greatly depending on what spices and other ingredients are used. The price also varies depending on the ingredients, type, and maker.
Types of sausages
There are very many different types of sausages on the market. Let us categorise them into 3 basic types.
Fresh Sausage: These sausages are sold uncooked either in bulk or in casings or pre-cooked, but are not smoked or dried.
Smoked Sausage: These sausages often offer strong flavours and are either pre-cooked and smoked or simply smoked.
Dried Sausage: These sausages have a hard texture and concentrated flavour. The dried sausages don’t require cooking.
Though sausages are traditionally a meat dish, a wide range of vegetarian and vegan options are available. These are made using tofu, pea protein, grains, and lentils; they often mimic the texture and flavour of fresh sausage.
How to make homemade fish sausages
We are now ready to learn about making our homemade fish sausages. We don’t have to always buy our sausages after all we can adjust the recipe to suit the desired preferences of our families.
Ingredients for homemade fish sausages
The following ingredients will make you about 10 pieces of sausages
¾ cup dry white wine
4 tsp mild curry powder
500g Nile perch fillet (skinless and deboned)
2 eggs
1 ¼ cup cold heavy whipping cream
½ bunch of spring onions
1-meter sausage casing (available from your fishmonger)
1 tbsp any vegetable cooking oil
1 small orange
¾ cup ketchup
Kitchen utensils needed
1 cooking pot, 1 small pot, 1 bowl, 1 measuring cup, 1 cutting board, 1 large knife, 1 small knife, 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1 wooden spoon, 1 fine-mesh sieve, 1 slotted spoon, 1 whisk, 1 kitchen twine, 1 piping bag, 1 food processor, 1 citrus juicer, 1 kitchen towel, 1 thermometer
Preparation steps for making homemade fish sausages
Step 1:
Place the food processor bowl and blade in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then boil the white wine in a small pot over high heat until it forms a syrupy. Stir in 1 teaspoon curry powder, let the mixture cool and then let it chill in the refrigerator.
Step 2:
Rinse the Nile perch fillet, pat dry and cut into small pieces. Beat the eggs and separate egg withes from the yolk, for this recipe we only need the egg whites. Combine egg whites and fish in the food processor and crush it until forms a thick and smooth liquid/ puree.
Step 3:
Fill a large bowl with a generous amount of ice, and then rest another bowl on top. Pass the fish mixture through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
Step 4:
Whisk chilled soy creamer/ heavy whipping cream into the strained fish mixture until combined, then set aside to chill.
Step 5:
Next rinse the spring onions, shake them dry and finely chop them. Then Add finely chopped spring onions and chilled white-wine reduction to the fish mixture. Season it with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 6:
Flush sausage casings repeatedly with cold water. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large tip with fish mixture. Pipe the fish mixture into one end of the casing, pressing to remove any trapped air. Tie that end of the casing with kitchen twine.
Step 7:
Continue filling the casing with the remaining fish mixture, pressing to remove air bubbles. Separate into 10 small sausages, twisting between each and tying with twine. Prick sausages several times with a pin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 8:
Peel the onion and chop it finely. Heat the oil in a small pot over medium heat. Cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Squeeze juice from the orange and measure out 75 ml (about 1/3 cup) of juice.
Step 9:
Add ketchup and orange juice to the onion sprinkle with remaining curry powder and bring to a boil. Season it with salt and pepper.
Step 10:
In a wide pot, bring about 5 litres (approximately 5 quarts) of salted water to 70°C (approximately 160°F) on a thermometer (if the water is too hot the sausage will toughen). Add sausages, cover pot with a kitchen towel and let steep until fish mixture cooks through about 15 minutes. With a skimmer, lift out sausages and transfer them to plates. Serve immediately with the sauce.