New secret ingrediend - Farmer's Sausage

We've all known for years that the secret ingredient to make things taste good is a little bacon.

Recently I have found another favourite - Farmer's sausage. My wife and I like it grilled or fried, but one day I was looking for ingredients for supper, I decided on a stew using farmer's sausage, sauerkraut and diced tomatoes. To my surprise, it was incredibly tasty.

I make a navy bean and turkey dish last night and put a bit of farmer's sausage in as well to give it some flavour and it worked very well again.

I have just been buying the generic one from Superstore but the Harvest brand is another I buy when on sale.

I like regular sausage, but usually find it too greasy for casseroles or stews, bu the farmer's sausage fits the bill very well. I will keep it on hand - along with bacon, of course!

What makes it '' farmers sausage''? Is it a particular spice or ratio of fat and meat...never heard of it and it sounds intriguing.

Farmer Sausage is a favorite at our house. We just bought about 20 sticks of it from a local maker in a small town nearby, freeze them in 3's, and thaw and BBQ as needed. It's delicious and even better then the one below, but the supermarket stuff is fine too and usually comes in a couple flavours (double smoked, pork & beef, mesquite etc).

We also enjoy Famer Sausage patties for burgers and Farmer Sausage dogs from time to time.

Here is where most of the supermaket stuff around here comes from: http://www.pioneermeat.ca/page.cfm?pgID=38


Ingredients

Farmers sausage is one of the most basic of all processed meats. Historically, it came about by the need to preserve food for a later date by using a combination of smoking and salt to cure or partially cure meat.

Our farmers sausage recipe follows the same traditions, using the freshest ingredients and the cleanest curing process. extending it's usefulness and shelf life. As our president Scott Penner says, "It's the simplicity of the recipe that suggests a mild flavor. It's also the infusion of hickory smoke along with our.meticulous.tendencies that help transform this modest meat into a memorable one."

We use exactly 6 ingredients in our farmers sausage. And they're ingredients whose names you can actually pronounce.

pork
salt
pepper
sodium nitrite (preservative)
sodium erythorbate (curing additive)
smoke

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Whole Farmer Sausage It is a regular camping meal for us. I'll have to try it in a few dishes that call for sausage, instead of using Italian or Breakfast variety .

Farmer Sausage is amazing on pizza with onions. It also goes well with perogies, instead of bacon.

Leftovers sausages are also very tasty cold to just munch on.

Farmer's sausage is quite common here in Canada - every grocery store has it. I believe it is a smoked pork sausage originally of Mennonite origin. A strong but very nice flavor. Not too dry.

The type I buy isn't Mennonite, I just try different brands from various grocers. The generic Superstore brand here is inexpensive but quite tasty.

We also cook them by themselves for supper but I have been enjoying adding some to soups, stews and casseroles.

CaptainTime said:

Farmer's sausage is quite common here in Canada - every grocery store has it. I believe it is a smoked port sausage originally of Mennonite origin. A strong but very nice flavor. Not too dry.

The type I buy isn't Mennonite, I just try different brands from various grocers. The generic Superstore brand here is inexpensive but quite tasty.

We also cook them by themselves for supper but I have been enjoying adding some to soups, stews and casseroles.

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I live in MB, so we have lots of Mennonites. The the ones we just bought, were from them. They know how to cook and they make great sausage!

As you said, they are moist but not greasy. I've started cooking mine to the doneness temp (I think they say 160*) and they are perfection.

It's funny how different markets have different meats available. I can't find a bone-in pork butt or brisket around here anywhere and have to special order it...but if you are in the USA, you can buy them at the gas station.

brucered said:

I live in MB, so we have lots of Mennonites. The the ones we just bought, were from them. They know how to cook and they make great sausage!

As you said, they are moist but not greasy. I've started cooking mine to the doneness temp (I think they say 160*) and they are perfection.

It's funny how different markets have different meats available. I can't find a bone-in pork butt or brisket around here anywhere and have to special order it...but if you are in the USA, you can buy them at the gas station.

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The advantage to gas station brisket is that you don't need lighter fluid for your grill or smoker.

The farmer's sausage looks interesting and delicious. I wish we had it down here.

There are a lot of sausages that have those ingredients but its funny we don't have anything called that. Franks, kielbasa,brats all contain the nitrates and adding smoke accentuates it.

From the photos it looks like a medium course grind to the meat?

Jim said:

There are a lot of sausages that have those ingredients but its funny we don't have anything called that. Franks, kielbasa,brats all contain the nitrates and adding smoke accentuates it.

From the photos it looks like a medium course grind to the meat?

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Yeah, it's probably a medium course grind. You guys probably have the same thing in a different name, as o said.

It appears the name Farmer Sausage is a predominantly Canadian (Mennonite) term.

In South Africa, traditional sausages are known as boerewors or.farmer's sausage.

Yes, it does seem to be a medium coarse grind.

Looks like kielbasa to me. If so, that is definitely a way to perk up any meal. Perhaps my favorite sausage is a good kielbasa.

The taste is quite different from kielbasa. Farmer's sausage is more smoky and coarse.

Funny. I was just reading a thread last night about farmer's sausage on the meat smoking forum I frequent.

For 25 lb of pork, you use about 1/2 c salt and 1/3 c pepper, and 5 tsp of cure #1.

I plan to try this in the next few weeks - although scaled down to 5 lbs of pork.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/153370/mennonite-farmers-sausage

Ok, enough is enough.

Two slabs of farmer sausage going on my grill tonight!

Sausage is awesome, agreed. There are some tastes that can improve any meal - fats, salt, and butter are the big three.

brucered said:

Ok, enough is enough.

Two slabs of farmer sausage going on my grill tonight!

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I know what you mean- I am wanting sausage now. I may be scorned, but I love Earl Campbell Hot Links.

Farmer Sausage made our perogies perfection.

oc_in_fw said:

I know what you mean- I am wanting sausage now. I may be scorned, but I love Earl Campbell Hot Links.

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I threw some Tony Chachere green onion sausage on the grill last night that I picked up in the Kroger butcher block. That was good stuff.

Every time I fire up the grill or smoker, I have to throw on some corn on the cob and some sort of sausage. I may have to pick up some Earl Campbell's. It's been a while. Although it might be too spicy for the kids.