Ingredients
- 8 ounces butter
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup maple sugar
- 15 pounds heritage pork shoulder butt, ground using 1/8-inch grinding plate
- 1/4 cup coriander, toasted, ground
- 1/8 cup ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup kosher salt natural hog casings
Method
- In a large rondo or saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples and sauté until tender.
- Remove butter pan from the heat and stir in the cinnamon and maple sugar. Allow to cool completely.
- In a large bowl, combine ground pork, seasoning and sautéed apples.
- Prepare your sausage filler (either machine- or hand-operated).
- Fill the sausage casings so they do not burst and twist the finished sausage to the required size.
- Prior to cooking, pierce the skins to vent bursting.
Serve with shredded red cabbage.
Richard Parente of Clock Tower Grill in Brewster uses Northern Spy apples in his heritage pork-and-apple sausages. The tender-crisp flesh of the Northern Spy is tart, yet it offers some pear-like notes and sweetness and its overall mildness combines well with the coriander inside the sausage. Soft, cider-braised red cabbage provides a tender bed for the sausage—the dish’s hearty flavor compliments a classic side of pierogies topped with caramelized onions. For dessert, Parente creates a sophisticated interpretation of a classic apple crumble: caramelized apples, served in a mason jar, topped with Crown Maple streusel and caramel sea salt gelato.
