Penrose hot sausage recipe.

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.

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Formulated by Otis with sampling and input from Don.



The original;

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?)

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.

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

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

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"

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.

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.

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

It worked out great with the Ghost peppers I am going to make a gallon of these!

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!!

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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.

How long will these keep in the fridge? I want make a large batch, somewhere around a gallon at least. I KNOW I am not going to eat them particularly quickly unless I develop some sort of death wish between then and now. These look so delicious, though! Thanks for posting this!

unfairbeef said:

How long will these keep in the fridge? I want make a large batch, somewhere around a gallon at least. I KNOW I am not going to eat them particularly quickly unless I develop some sort of death wish between then and now. These look so delicious, though! Thanks for posting this!

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Forever? I know for a fact they will last as long as pickles, and pickles last a long time in the fridge.

Since there isn't a pic, I thought I would post one. The eggs are great also.

Quick update - I pickled a crap ton of stuff! I had lil' smokey's, red hot links, garlic, jalepenos, pearl onions, eggs, serano peppers, habanero hot sauce, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, black pepper cajun hot sauce and homemade jalepeno green sauce. I pretty much just cooked the wet ingredients all together in the same in proportions that I thought I would enjoy. Then poured them over the meat and vegetable items in the jars. Everything was/is absolutely awesome. I can say that you may want to go easy on the apple cider the first time around to find out how much you actually like it. Jalepenos add a really good flavor to sausage if they are mixed into the same jar. Don't for get to puncture all of the peppers when they got into the jar, as well. Next time, I will try a few other sausages and see what I like. I wish I could get ring balogna in the south...

Oh WOW....these are freaking awesome! I think I like this version ever better than the original. I used the Little Smokies uncut and it worked just fine. Completely delicious. I took them to work and now all my employees are hooked too! Thank you sooooo much!

I just did a gallon jar of these last night

Had all the ingredients in the pantry 1/2 recipe just to try. Now to wait and see.

Giant eagle has all the sausages you guys used...even trail balogna.I loved these so much with pickled eggs & a cold beer after work,I used to but the large jars of them! I gotta try this recipe...

Used smoked sausage like you buy at gas station. Can't tell a difference

Awesome! Only varied slightly from the original recipe. Added some peppers. And used a peppercorn medoly (pink, green, black, white) I love heat. Been 24 hour's, has a nice heat so far.

Ottis said:

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.

Click to expand...

Is this recipe similar (or perhaps a clone of):

Yes, very similar.

Awesome. Love those sausages, will have to make these. Maybe this weekend if I have time (judging on Saturday, hopefully brewing on Sunday).

I wanted to thank you for this recipe. It is the best and closest to the Penrose Sausage I've found. I did try regular hot dogs and they were not that good. I decided to try a smaller, All Beef hot dog and I have to say it was right on target. I do boil the hot dogs in a separate pot so when I place them in my jars they will be hot and all I have to do is pour the hot liquid mixture in. I make these in large batches and they go very quickly around here. Again, thanks for sharing this recipe. I'm very pleased!

Just wanted to say thanks so much for this recipe.Found this thread about 2 years ago and have made so many batches I lost count. I've made these with lil smokies ,smoked sausage,kielbasa and polish sausage. I tried cheap hot dogs and they really didn't work,but nathan's beef hot dogs are really good and have that same chew as the old Penrose. Once again thanks.these rock!

I used the hillshire lil smokies and I followed directions to the t, and after 6 days the meat still had not soaked up the brine,, what am I doing wrong?

I have had better luck with the Hillshire farms smoked sausages and kielbasa. I just cut them into 3rds. I think the casings of the smokies keeps the brine out of the meat and cutting them open allows the meat to absorb the brine. Just my 2 cents

I followed ottis's recipe. I diddnt have ground cayanne so i used ground red pepper, which ive read to be the same thing. I also used "ground allspice". I really like hot and spicy but couldnt find ghost peppers at walmart or giant eagle so i put some daves insanity sauce in the jar. been shaking it everytime i goto the fridge to grab a brew. well, tonight i couldnt resist, i had to try 1 after only 2 days. im noticing alot of similarities. not only in taste, but in habits, such as going back to grab another, and another. im going to stash em in the back of the fridge because i think they will be alot better in a few more days but i had to create an account to tell you how thankful i am to stumble upon this recipe. i used the hillshire farms smoked sausage that came with about 8 in the pack. cut em in half and threw em in a pizza sauce jar. im going to do 3 or 4 packs in a gallon jar soon as i finish these pickles so i can have the jar haha. thanks again!


edit: i made it a point to come back... after the first jar, i went out and got 3 packs of sausages and made 3 jars full.... they are gone already... this **** should be illegal. it has more addictive properties than crack! i love getting the garlic pepper and onion chunks on the stick, makes it that much better. everything, it comes down to the old school penrose sausages.. i cant get enough. thank you!!

I figure anyone interested in old time pickled sausages will make it to this page sooner or later. I'm almost seventy and can remember me and my dad going back and forth to the fridge fighting over these things. I've made em and love em...so I thought I would add my two cents! Use quality kielbasa or smoked sausage, 4/5 inch length with casing on (want enough to keep me out of fridge for a few hours), fork a couple row's of holes lengthwise. Forget the lil smokies, and wieners, Morrell smoked sausage will work OK if your on a budget. The recipe is good, adjust the heat with peppers, and maybe add a little sugar to get the sweet/sour/salt combination to your liking. Use real onion sliced and quartered (Vidalia best). Pickling mix/spice is a good addition. My big trick is to use my vacuum marinator to get the pickle flavor into the sausage fast. The recipe say's you can eat in two days, but I always waited at least a week for full flavor. Using vacuum marinator you can check in a few hours and diddle mix if you want, leave overnite and they have full flavor. Supersize has it right... these things should be on the schedule II controlled substances list.

Ottis! Words cannot express how happy this makes me! I used to eat the Hormel version of these with my Dad as a child. Also, in college, when I was broke, I'd basically live on these (and Tabasco of course). I used your recipe and they're just like I remember! Thank you sir!!!!!

Yum!

^Those look delicious!

I made some last week while I was making Fridge pickles. I used Johnsonville Beef Brats cut in half, as my local grocer only had lil smokies. I'll let you know how they are this evening.

Follow up on the Johnsonville Beef Brats:

They worked just fine. Been quite a few years since I had the real thing but the taste was damn close, texture was a tad courser, but I'd use them again.

Been subscribed to this thread for many years; it's time I put in. You mentioned sweet pickles so I'll post my variation of them with a spicy kick.

Ingredients
3 english seedless cucumbers, sliced
½ onion, thinly sliced
3 jalapenos, thinly-ish sliced
4-5 very hot peppers like habaneros, sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 cups of white sugar
2 cups of distilled white vinegar
¼ cup water
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tsp to 1 tbsp dried dill
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 4ish oz can chipotle in adobo sauce, pureed
1 tsp smoked hot paprika
1 tsp turmeric

Instructions
Combine veg/peppers, salt well (really well), refrigerate overnight stirring once or twice.
Rinse the **** out of the veg/peppers. Seriously.
Fill jars with rinsed veg/pepper mix.
Combine vinegar, sugar, water, seasonings and pureed chipotle/adobo; bring to boil.
Pour seasoned brine over veg/peppers in jars, seal. Refrigerate.

^ Sounds spicy! I don't usually do sweet pickles(I prefer garlic/dill), but there is something special about "Sweet Heat". For store bought pickles I enjoy Vlasic Bold & Spicy, Sweet Chipotle.

I grab singles of Hannahs Red Hot all the time. Love them.

Wondering if this Penrose Clone recipe would work well with Vienna Sausages.

Ima hafta try this.

Made some today

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1468626227.275129.jpg

GilaMinumBeer said:

I grab singles of Hannahs Red Hot all the time. Love them.

Wondering if this Penrose Clone recipe would work well with Vienna Sausages.

Ima hafta try this.

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In my experience you need to cut the sausage to let the vinegar and spices penetrate. When I used lil smokies whole they never absorbed the flavor enough. That is why I like to use hillshire farms or johnsonvile sausages that are pre cooked and cut them in halves or thirds.

Oldskewl said:

^ Sounds spicy! I don't usually do sweet pickles(I prefer garlic/dill), but there is something special about "Sweet Heat". For store bought pickles I enjoy Vlasic Bold & Spicy, Sweet Chipotle.

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Famous Dave's are a good spicy pickle also.

passedpawn said:

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?)

Click to expand...

Nearly 5 years ago I found this thread in the "unanswered posts" list. I replied because it looked interesting and Ottis seemed to have poured his heart into it and it looked lonely there.

Well, I'm slow, but I finally gave this a shot. I used fresh cayenne peppers because I grow them and have a ton.

I considered halving the lil smokies to get more flavor into them, but ultimately didn't since I wanted to follow the recipe as closely as possible.