I've been wanting to do this for a while and had a little ground pork left over from another project, so the timing was perfect. If you've ever gotten the smoked sausage breakfast patties at Cracker Barrel you'll appreciate these.
I mixed the ground pork into 1 1/2 lbs of my breakfast sausage, which gives 10 patties about 2.4 - 2.5 oz each.
Note: Since these are being hot-smoked only (165° - 185° / no cold smoke), they never sit in the danger zone temperatures, so Cure #1 is totally optional. I added 1/4 tsp because I like the effect it has on the overall flavor and it ensures a uniform pink color.The patties were pressed, loaded onto a frog mat, and placed on the upper rack of the MAK for about a 2 1/2 hour ride on smoke mode with Cherry pellets, until they reached an I.T. of 150°.
They had a nice color and the cherry pellets gave a nice lighter smoke flavor that allowed the breakfast sausage flavors to still come through. And they smell incredible!
Packaged for the freezer.
Since they're fully cooked, they can be quickly reheated in a skillet for a minute or two per side. You can bet I'll be making these on a regular basis!
Thanks for looking.
