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First attempt at reduced sodium Italian sausage

I did sample a small piece cooked up right after making it. I thought it was ok with a sprinkle of salt on it. Flavors need more time to meld for sure or i just need to increase the amount of the Tuscan seasoning blend.
 
2lbs of ground pork
3 TBS Tuscan spice from myspicesage https://www.myspicesage.com/tuscan-seasoning-p-255.html
2 TBS red wine vinegar
1 heaping TBS dehydrated onion flakes (ground)
1 TSP paprika
1 TSP Korean pepper flakes...could use more for sure
1 TSP salt
About 2 TSP of brown sugar
1/2 TSP fennel powder
 
Other thoughts, this ground pork is a tiny bit too lean for using in something like a starchy zuppa toscana but about perfect for a red sauce. My fennel tolerance has a very fine line between enough and too much.
 
No. Its going to sit in the fridge a couple days. I cooked up some fatty pork and saved the drippings. Im going to use it to make a sausage, potato and kale soup with a little bit of heavy cream and bacon crumbles. Im using some russet because they break down into the stock and then some yukons or reds that hold together. I may try it again later with some dried cannellini beans too.
 
The pork i will probably just cook in patties then cut them up for the soup.
 
Is there a specific reason behind the reduced sodium requirement?

I would suggest a decent gram scale to figure out ratios for your recipe for repeatability,or proper comparison between iterations.

Dropping down approximately into the .5% salt range might present textural issues as well. The meat could be looser and softer than a more standard ratio. Not that, that is necessarily a bad thing.
 
Sodium restricted diet as well as other restrictions. High protein, low phosphorus and calcium too. This makes it super hard to get some flavors to pop. Such as chili and curry. I have to sample a small amount with salt added when making chili for example. MSG actually helps and its sodium content is low (12%) compared to sea salt.
 
I will sample the sausage again today and probably either freeze it or fry up some patties and freeze them. Cooking the breakfast sausage after a short "meld" time and then into the fridge worked ok. He was happy with the results.
 
The body needs salt, its just the excess or what type that one has to watch out for. Sea salt taste saltier then other so that alone would reduce the amount.
 
Salt occurs naturally in all meats and he eats WAY more meat than the typical diet to get enough protein.  Bean/lentil based protein meals are not suitable due to the high phosphorus in legumes. He would take in way too much phosphorus and even potassium to get enough protein. Phosphorus blocking meds are insanely expensive too. Over $1000 a bottle for renvella.
 
His type of dialisys does not remove phosphorus or calcium.
 
Buckwheat is a great protein, does not take much in a smoothy to be very filling and long lasting. yup beans I can only handle a few times a month.
 
1 pound of beef or pork is about 117-123 grams of protein. He needs to be at 120 grams per day. A half pound of lentils for example is about 20 grams. 1 pound of buckwheat is 61 grams.
 
Buckwheat is a simple compound and easier to digest and requires less energy for the body. Im someone that needs lots of protein or my body is sluggish. Each persons system is different just have to know how it works. 1/2cup whole organic buckwheat will fill me for about 5 hours, no labor activity.
 
With sausage, upping garlic powder can offset lowering sodium. It's not a perfect science but it does work to satisfy the loss of salt, especially in breakfast links/patties.
 
One of my faves for adding salt to things like chicken soup is miso. Even though miso is high in sodium, lab tests show no increase in blood pressure. Miso also helps you digest food including breaking down proteins. Reducing salt for me is a blood pressure issue. Mine is not high but its close and heart problems are common in my dads side of the family.
 
One company in the USA makes a killer miso with half the sodium but none of my markets carry that brand anymore.
 
If you put a dab of garlic powder on your finger and taste it, some people swear it tastes a bit salty. But has 0 sodium. This has to do with the actual flavor of salt, and dried garlic, and also the fact that people often use "garlic salt" which is both combined, so when they taste garlic, they think salt. It's a bit of a flavor/mind trick combo, imo. I have found it works in some cases. Garlic is very healthy for you, vitamins, etc.
 
Some dried pepper flakes taste salty too. You would swear that theres salt in the Aleppo flakes from my grow last season but there isn't. There is a certain level of salt in veggies that I guess they get from the soil but you get what I'm saying.. Meat from free range animals i believe is higher in salt too. Lamb from france being a prime example. You would swear that it was brined.
 
Yeah, for heat lovers you can always up the heat! Covers most flavors anyway!!!! :D
 
Fried it all up in 3 large patties today. After they were all cooked i deglazed the pan with a couple TBS of water. Returned the patties to the pan just to get them wet then wrapped then up to cool. The "juice" was quite tasty.
 
Next attempt will need:
 
Another tsp of Korean pepper flakes or a hotter variety.
 
1-2 TSP of garlic powder or a TBS+ of fresh minced.
 
More fat but not as fatty as a breakfast sausage. The huge Asian market has a ground pork that should be about perfect and its cheaper.
 
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