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Ottis · 12-24-2011, 08:12 PM

Penrose Hot Sausage Recipe.
Vs 3.0

This recipe is about as close as I've come so far.
Penrose (later bought by ConAgra Foods) mixed the spices into the sausage before cooking and pickling. So, in order to achieve the desired level of spicy goodness the brine needs to be VERY spicy!

This recipe makes a one quart jar of pickled sausage. Scale up or down as desired.

__- 1/2 cup water
__- 2 cups white vinegar
__- 1/2 tbs Ground Cayenne Pepper
__- 1 tbs red pepper flakes
__- 1 tsp minced Garlic.
__- 1 tbs dried minced onion
__- 1 tsp Paprika
__- 1/2 tsp white pepper
__- 1 tbs salt
__- Lg pinch all spice
__- 28 oz pkg Hillshire Farms 'lil Smokies, or other precooked link sausage, cut in two. (MUST be precooked!) Kielbasa sliced about 1/2 inch thick works also. Hot dogs just don't work.
__- Or, use to pickle Boiled Eggs!

Directions

1* On medium-high heat, combine the water, salt, vinegar, and spices.
2* Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes in a well ventilated area.
NOTE: when you're simmering the brine, make sure you have a ventilator fan running or a window and door open, the vinegar and Cayenne pepper boiling is kinda' hard on a the eyes! Almost like mace...
3* Place precooked sausage into a 1 qt sterile jar. Fill jar but don't pack tightly.
4* Pour the hot vinegar mixture in with the sausage, If there isn't enough, add some vinegar. Secure the lid.
5* Let cool, then place in the 'frige. keep Refrigerated after opening.
6* Ready to eat in 5 to 7 days.

When opened for the first time, there will be a layer of fat on top and the underside of the lid, remove if you want too.

-------------------------------

Formulated by Otis with sampling and input from Don.

The original;

**passedpawn** · 12-27-2011, 02:22 AM

Nice. I just might give this a try with the Lil smokies. Thanks!

(btw, looks like it's time to clean that keyboard! Hah! OTOH, how do you clean a keyboard?)

Ottis · 01-13-2012, 09:29 PM

I just made another batch a few days ago, the local WallyWorld had Hillshire Farm Beef Smoked Sausage on sale. Long story short, it works even better as a Penrose clone! The meat in the sausages are coarser ground like the original Penrose was, and it seems to absorb the brine a bit better then the lil smokies. After three days they were ready to eat.
I cut the links into four pieces each and used 14oz pizza sauce jars.

Wankel · 03-18-2012, 06:08 PM

Ottis, you da man... Thanks for your diligent research!

Just wanted to double check one thing...is that allspice or pickling spice?

Wankel · 04-10-2012, 12:40 PM

Ottis, these are fantastic. Thanks again for posting that recipe...

I added a few other things - a bay leaf because I remember a bay leaf always being in the jars. A first tasting indicated an imbalance of sorts so I added a bit of sugar and some whole mustard seed. If any of you are going to try this, don't be put off by the amount of cayenne and salt required... you'll need it.

My wife is ticked off because she always thought the original penroses were gross... LOL, to paraphrase Zino Davidoff said "If your wife hates Penroses, change your wife"

signals · 04-24-2012, 08:04 PM

I stumbled on this post and printed out the recipe for my grandma since she always says that she misses them. Upon trying them they are really close to Penrose although to me it does seem like maybe something is missing. I told my grandma that you (Wankel) said you remember seeing a Bay leaf in the jar. She looked at me oddly and said I've never seen it in one. She did buy a huge jar about every month since she liked to use the juice to make eggs as well.. Anyways just wanted to give my thoughts.

I may post a picture of it since it seems OP's home-made picture is down.

**jeepinjeepin** · 04-26-2012, 12:25 AM

I screwed up. I bought uncooked sausages. Decided to cook them in the brine. Oh well, it shouldn't take long for them to pick up the flavor.

Tommy1858 · 05-07-2012, 01:09 AM

ok i used the hilshire farms Hot sausages and i also grow the Ghost peppers so i added a TBS of ground Ghost to the recipe. The brine was awesome and very hot! I think it will be the ultimate snack with a good cold home brew! i will let ya know in about 7 days

Tommy1858 · 06-01-2012, 01:36 PM

It worked out great with the Ghost peppers

I am going to make a gallon of these!

Ottis · 08-04-2012, 10:36 PM

I'v made this a few times since I originally posted this recipe. I have only made a few minor changes, namely putting the dried spices in the jar with the sausage and then pouring the hot brine into the jar. This helps by not having to keep siring the brine to keep the spices suspended while pouring in multiple jars.
Other then that I found that mincing garlic cloves and using chopped white onions gives a better (IMHO) flavor. And I don't think the white pepper was needed, and have substituted coarse ground black pepper.

Normal mortals like myself find this hot enough, however, HOT food aficionados will find this kinda' mild, substitute Ghost or other hot peppers/ chilies for the all-spice and adjusting the other ingredients to taste will make things more interesting!!

-------------------------//-----------------------

Penrose Hot Sausage Recipe.
Vs 3.5

This recipe makes a one quart jar of pickled sausage. Scale up or down as desired.

Brine:
__- 1/2 cup water
__- 2 cups white vinegar, For milder flavor use Apple Cider Vinegar.
__- 1 tbsp salt (Pickling or Non iodine if available)

In each 1 qt jar:
__- 1/2 tbsp Ground Cayenne Pepper.
__- 1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper or a few black peppercorns.
__- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes.
__- 1 tsp minced Garlic, or, 1 or 2 garlic cloves minced with a ball-peen hammer.
__- 1 tbsp dried minced onion, or a small diced white onion.
__- 1 tsp Paprika.
__- Lg pinch all spice for mildly hot recipe, or for HOT recipe, add Ghost or your favorite HOT chili/pepper.

Sausage:
__- 28 oz pkg Hillshire Farms 'lil Smokies, or other precooked link sausage, cut in two. (MUST be precooked!) Kielbasa sliced about 1/2 inch thick works also. Hot dogs just don't work.
__- Or, use to pickle Boiled Eggs, just add a little sugar to the brine or they're SOUR!!

Directions

1* On medium-high heat, combine the water, salt, and vinegar.
2* Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes in a well ventilated area.
NOTE: when you're simmering the brine, make sure you have a ventilator fan running or a window and door open, the vinegar and Cayenne pepper boiling is kinda' hard on a the eyes! Almost like mace...
3* Place precooked sausage into a 1 qt sterile jar. Fill jar but don't pack tightly.
4* Place spices, onion, garlic etc., on top of the sausage in the jars.
5* Pour the hot vinegar mixture in with the sausage, If there isn't enough, mix a bit more brine. Secure the lid while brine is still HOT!!
6* Let cool, then place in the 'frige. keep Refrigerated after opening.
7* Ready to eat in 5 to 7 days.

When opened for the first time, there will be a layer of fat on top and the underside of the lid, remove if you want too.