Brinner for the Winners - Breakfast Sausage

I love brinner. Brinner is a term coined on the sitcom "Scrub" a few years back when Turk is obsessed with breakfast for dinner, hence the term brinner. We don't usually have a big breakfast, not even on weekends as we try to eat as healthy as possible. Breakfast usually consisted PB&J or cereals with skim milk. Go figure!

Every now and then, I like to surprise my family with brinner. Just when they do not expect to get breakfast at dinner time, in come brinner. Brinner is always considered a welcome meal from the usual dinner fare. I will not say it is easy, as everyone in the family has their favorite breakfast items.

Mom with her poached egg on toasted english muffins

Dad and I with our biscuit and sausage gravy. And Jamie with his pancakes and bacon. In fact, the last thing that is easy about the whole brinner concept is that everyone gets what they want and it keeps everyone happy.

I will gladly assume that everyone knows how to make poached eggs, so I will not post a recipe here. If you need one, post it in the comment box and I will put up a post for it.

The highlight of today's post is breakfast sausage for the sausage gravy. Biscuit with sausage gravy is a southern thing. Why or how it finds its way on our breakfast table is thanks to all the southern cooks on Food Network. They made it looks so yummylicious that I have no choice but to try it. When we first started making sausage gravy, we took the easy way out and bought Jones Breakfast Sausage. It was good until we read the label and got a good shock of our life. The amount of salt used was way over the recommended daily intake allowance.

In an attempt to make it somewhat healthier, we have decided to make our own breakfast sausage. It came out so good that we have not look back since.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Taste as good as Jones, minus the salt.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients

1 lb of ground pork

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 teaspoon of chopped dried sage leaves

3/4 teaspoon of Bell's seasoning

1 teaspoon of thyme

1 teaspoon of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

3-6 tablespoon of ice cold water, more if needed

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combined all ingredients except for water.  Mix till well combined.

2. Add in 3 tablespoon of water and stir to combine. Mix till meat feels sticky. Add more water if needed. Adjust water depending on the fat content of the ground pork. If ground pork is lean, more water will be needed to get the right texture. 

3.  Divide pork mixture into two portions. Roll into a log on plastic wrap. Wrap tight and cover with foil. Keep in freezer.

Note: You can shape it into patties and fry in a pan for breakfast. Alternately, use it in sausage gravy. The flavor will meld as you let it sit longer in the freezer. We usually keep ours in the freezer for at least 2 weeks before consuming.