Ukrainian sausage with garlic

Ukrainian sausage with garlic is homemade pork sausage in natural casing. The meat and fat are chopped with a knife rather than minced, resulting in a sausage with a pronounced meat texture.

Soak the natural casing (5 g) in room temperature water for 20-30 minutes until it becomes soft and easy to stuff.

Chill or slightly freeze the pork (1000 g) and fat (250 g). Cut the meat and fat into cubes larger than 1 cm. It’s important to keep the mixture cold: the temperature of the meat and fat should not rise above 10 °C, preferably around 7-8 °C.

Crush the garlic (50 g), black pepper (1 g), table salt (6 g), curing salt (6 g), and bay leaf (1 g) in a mortar. If the bay leaf is large, remove any overly tough pieces.

Combine the pork, fat, and spice mixture. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes or with a mixer using a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, until the meat becomes sticky and cohesive. If the room is warm, place the mixture in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

Slide the softened casing onto the sausage stuffer attachment. Fill the casing with the meat mixture tightly, but without excessive tension. If air pockets form, gently distribute the mixture with your hands.

Shape the sausage into a ring the size of the frying pan and tie it with a string or sturdy kitchen twine to maintain its shape while frying.

Heat vegetable oil (10 g) in a frying pan. Fry the sausage until browned on one side, piercing any air pockets with a needle or skewer if necessary, then carefully turn it over and brown the other side.

Transfer the sausage to a baking sheet or dish. Bake in the oven at 140 °C for about 20 minutes.

The finished Ukrainian sausage can be served hot or cooled and sliced after cooling.