Turkey Breakfast Sausage

I eat entirely too much processed meat, almost exclusively in the form of breakfast sausage and bacon.  It's kind of pointless to be semi-vegetarian, if the semi part is some of the worst stuff you can have.  I buy uncured when possible, but it's still a lot of salt and preservatives.

I finally hit on the idea of making my own breakfast sausage.  I decided on turkey because it was on special.  New version of ground turkey that's 15% fat instead of the regular 3-7%.  You need more fat for sausage of any kind, and even 15% is pretty low.  The recipes I found are basic and vary by personal preference.  Ground meat, spices, salt, pepper.  Knead until distributed, form into patties, and either pan-fry immediately or freeze in paper for another day.

I'm adding a KLP label to this one because there are no fillers, corn-based or otherwise.  I could have these with latkes or jam on matzoh for a Passover breakfast.  It's one of those accidentally kosher dishes that I live on for the one week a year I actually try to follow the rules.  Never mind that the holiday is weeks away.  As soon as I see the notice for the Purim carnival, I start planning Passover.

1 lb ground turkey, highest fat content you can find
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
*1/4 tsp each dried sage, dried thyme, fennel seed, paprika
1 Tb maple syrup (optional)
olive oil for frying

1.  In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, combine salt, pepper, and herbs.  I kept the paprika separate because it gets messy.

2.  In a bowl, knead together turkey and spice mix, plus paprika, until evenly distributed.  For maple sausage, knead in syrup after so it doesn't clump up the spices.

I scrubbed the counter afterwards

3.  Form meat into 1 oz patties, aka 16 of them.  Meat in general will seize up as it cooks, so make them pretty flat.  For future storage, place on parchment or wax paper, stack, and freeze.  These keep in a sealed container in the fridge up to 4 days before cooking, or 1 month in the freezer.

4.  To cook, lightly grease a skillet with oil and preheat over medium-low.  Place patties in skillet and cook to 165º, about 8-10 minutes on each side.  Serve hot, with two patties to a serving.

Serves 8

Difficulty rating  π