On Halloween I felt compelled to create a spooktacular sausage, so I started pondering how I could incorporate some sort of candy/halloween theme. I decided to create the Marshmallow Pumpkin Mole Sausage! I have never added marshmallow or fresh pumpkin to a sausage, so I was excited for the challenge.
The trick to making the sausage not overly sweet is to use unsweetened dark cocoa powder. It makes the sausage bitter, so adding the marshmallow (and a little sugar) helps to balance it out. I was nervous that marshmallows would dissolve within the sausage, but it wasn’t too much of a problem. I would recommend cooking these at a slow-low heat though to avoid them melting into the meat, leaving you with a delicious sausage with swiss cheese-like holes.
To be complete honest, whenever I have made pumpkin sausage in the past I have always used canned pumpkin. I am pleased with the fresh pumpkin texture, but I was surprised that it didn’t taste sweet. I decided to add a little extra sugar to the spice blend so that the sausage would be sweet enough.
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs Pork Shoulder
- 2.5 lbs Beef Chuck
- 5.75 teaspoon of Coarse Kosher Salt
- 8 teaspoon Bolsa Chile Powder
- 2 TBSP Ground Cumin
- 3 TBSP Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 3 TBSP Valhrona Dark Cocoa Powder
- 1 TBSP Sugar
- 4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Cup of Diced Pumpkin
- 10 Large Marshmallows
- 2 oz Bundle of Oregano
- 2 oz Pepitas
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- 1/2 Red Onion
- 3 Roasted Habaneros (deseeded)
Step 1 – Chopping
Chop up your pork shoulder and beef chuck into pieces small enough to fit through your meat grinder. Discard pieces of bone, extra tough fat, and pieces of fat that are extra stringy. Too much of this type of fat can clog the meat grinder.
Step 2 – Preparing the Ingredients
Sautée red onion in olive oil until they soften, which should take around ten minutes. Set aside to cool down.
Drizzle habanero in olive oil and roast in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the skins start to blacken. Once they are cooled down enough to handle, PUT ON GLOVES, and remove the skins and seeds.
Roast the pumpkin until it is about 70 % cooked so that it still has some firmness.
Cut the marshmallows into 1 cm cubes and set aside.
Combine garlic, roasted habanero, sauteed onion, pepitas, and oregano in a food processor and puree. Mix the spice blend into your meat. Then, mix the puree into the meat. Let the meat marinate overnight (or at least a few hours). So you have essentially added everything except the marshmallow and pumpkin.
Step 3 – Grinding
Put the meat in the freezer until it is almost starting to freeze and run it through the meat grinder. Put the meat back in the freezer until almost frozen again.
Step 4 – Mixing
Since this meat has roasted habanero, make sure to wear disposable gloves! Pound and knead the meat thoroughly so that you can push the oxygen out of it, which will create a smoother texture. Then, add in the diced pumpkin and mix. Then, add the marshmallows (put the marshmallows in the freezer for 20 minutes to stiffen them up before mixing into the meat.
Step 5 – Stuffing
Make sure that the sausage meat is icy cold and add it to the stuffer and start stuffing!
Step 6 – Cooking
I usually recommend waiting at least 24 hours, but preferably 48 hours, to let the flavors meld together.
I recommend smoking or baking until they reach around 160 degrees and then throwing them on a pan for a final sear.
Step 7 – Plating
Going with spooktacular theme, I decided to cook purple potatoes and make a blood-red spicy cranberry sauce.
Goldis Sausage 