Paired with Sons of Kent’s 8 Track XPA

There is a natural affinity between summer, sausages and craft beer. This recipe, from David Chang’s Momofuku Kōjin in Toronto, adds Asian flavours to the mix.

Working under executive chef Paula Navarette, commissary chef Cam Hardy has made these pork and shrimp sausages one of his passions. There is something about extending the traditional dumpling duo (plus the usual spices) into a Western-style sausage that flips the experience (pleasantly) upside-down.

But, if you don’t want to worry about stuffing casings, it also works well as meatballs or sausage patties. The meat grinder attachment for a KitchenAid stand mixer is an easy way to add “sausage maker” to your kitchen resume. And look for fatty pork belly if you can’t find back fat.

Sons of Kent’s 8 Track works very well as a pairing because the bright hops will complement the subtle spices in the sausage and the salt will help round out the flavours in the beer.

Ingredients

• 700g lean pork, such as boneless skinless fresh pork leg, sirloin, or picnic roast
• 300g pork back fat
• 1 Tbsp (15g) kosher salt
• 100g wild gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined, cut into small chunks
• 4 tsp (20g) shrimp paste
• 2 tsp (10g) soy sauce
• 2 tsp (10g) Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing)
• 4 cloves (20g) minced garlic
• 3-inch piece (20g) minced ginger
• 1 Tbsp (5g) coriander seed toasted and ground
• 1 Tbsp (5g) white pepper toasted and ground
• one bunch scallions, sliced
• hog casings

Directions

1. Trim the pork of any skin or gristle and cut the meat and back fat into 1-inch chunks for easy grinding. Set scallions and gulf shrimp aside and mix pork and back fat pieces with the rest of ingredients. Put in the refrigerator overnight to cure.
2. The next day, grind the seasoned mix through a large (ideally 10-mm or 6-mm) grinder die. Return the mix to the fridge and allow it to chill. Grind again on the 4.5-mm or 6-mm die and put it back in the fridge.
3. Mix the roughly chopped shrimp with the cooled meat mix, adding the sliced scallions during the process.
4. Pipe into hog casings.
5. Cook over low-medium heat on a gas grill, indirect heat over charcoal or in a pan over medium heat. Serve with mustard and plenty of the XPA.