I just tried the Hop sausage recipe from this month's issue of "Beer" magazine. Among the list of ingredients the recipe calls for Chinese 5 spice. I followed the recipe exactly, using a local Amber Ale for the beer addition and Tettnanger hops for the hop addition. All I can taste in the final cooked sausage is the Chinese 5 spice though. I was planning on trying the recipe again, leaving out the 5 spice this time. Thought before I do I'd check here to see if anyone else has experience making hop sausages or if someone maybe has a better recipe.

Thanks for letting us know. I was contemplating that recipe, too. I wasn't at all sure about the five spice.

No worries. I figured there'd be others who might want to try the recipe. Thought maybe I could save some disappointment and get some advice/input at the same time.

After making my original post I decide to email Sean Paxton to see if he had any input. He's a great guy and emailed me back almost immediately. He suggested leaving out the 5 spice altogether, using a hoppy IPA or DIPA as the beer and then to use the same hops that the beer was made with for the hops. He also suggested upping the hop quantity to ~1 TBLS for every 3 pounds of meat. Lastly he suggested adding something with a sweet flavour to balance out the hops. He suggested the following: carmelized onions, fennel, shallots, garlic or sugar.

I'm almost out of room in my freezer so attempt #2 will have to wait a while. I am definitely going to try this again using Sean's suggestions. I will post back with results when I do. If anyone else tries before then please let me know how you make out.

Copied. Pasted to my recipe file. Thank you.

Guys,

After reading this post it put some ideas in my head for a dinner I am doing for Brooklyn Brewery next week. I have not seen the original recipe but I went ahead and developed my own. I was concerned about the hops and the bitterness but I took seans advice about sweetness balancing the hops in the sausage. Let me just say this came out friggin great. Here is my recipe...

Hop and Malt Sausage with Bavarian Mountain Cheese

Ingredients:
4.5# pork Butt
0.5# Smoked Slab Bacon
0.5 Cups Brooklyn Brown Ale
1 Tbsp Powdered Saphir Hop Pellets 3.7 Alpha( been in freezer for a year )
8 Cloves Garlic
Carmelized Onions (1 qt sliced raw, cooked down and carmelized as far as you can)
5 oz Muntons Crystal 60( steeped in .75qt water, then cooked down like decoction until thick)
5 tbsp Brown Sugar
5.5 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper

Bergenkase cheese as needed(or gruyere, or other nutty alpine cheese)

Method:
1. Carmelize the onions and steep and boil the crystal malt. Chill.
2. Dice and Chill the pork and bacon.
3. Combine all ingredients once cold in a bowl and mix.
4. Run through grinder medium die.
5. Mix well with spatula or mixer paddle until well mixed.
6. Form into little patty shaped meat balls and sear.
7. Top with Bergenkase and cook until meat is cooked through.
8. Serve on a toothpick and enjoy witha good beer.

Im going to be serving these as a passed horsdeouvre before the dinner. (Local #1 and Brooklyn Pilsner to be had as apertif with passing)

Just thought I would share as it came out great. Just a touch of bitterness at the end of the palate that would go great with almost any beer. I chose the saphir because of their low alpha, I dont know if that made a difference.

Cheers!

Edisonst,

Did you make the hop powder? If so, how? Did you just grind them up?

I think I will be trying this recipe as I have been wanting to cook something with hops.

I just ground the hops up with a coffee mill. Im sure if you crushed them with the side of a knife and then chopped them up it would be fine.

Seems like hops would work well in addition to the sage in a breakfast sausage, serve with a bit of maple syrup or belgian candi syrup...