Ossenworst Cured Beef Sausage

This is my cousin and partner, Joris. Together we own the restaurant Aan de Amstel, but that’s not important now because Joris and two of his friends also own De Eerste Hollandsche Worst Maatschappij, the First Dutch Sausage Company. They fry sausages at the swellest barbecues you’ve ever seen and at every location you could imagine. I couldn’t find a better person to show you how ridiculously easy it is to make ossenworst yourself. Get to work!

1. place 2¼ lb (1 kg) lean and 2¼ lb (1 kg) marbled chuck beef in the freezer 2 hours in advance, so that it’s very cold. Ideally it’s 34°F (1°C). But you don’t need to be that precise. Further you’ll need: 1 tsp (5 g) curing salt with 6.25% sodium nitrite (a.k.a. pink salt; you can get this from your local butcher or online), juice of ½ lemon, 1½ tbsp ground white pepper, and 2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg.

   

2. cut the fatty parts from the beef—the firm white parts.

   

3. grind all the beef as coarsely as possible in a meat grinder or food processor.

   

4. add the curing salt, lemon juice, pepper, and nutmeg.

   

5. use your hands to swiftly combine the ingredients: The meat shouldn’t become warm. Tip from Joris: If your phone rings, put the meat back in the freezer.

   

6. grind everything again, but now more finely. If you have a meat grinder, it should be 3 to 5 mm. You’ll see the meat turn darker, which is normal: The nitrite does that. Tomorrow it will be red again.

   

7. push an artificial casing (you can buy these from your local butcher) around the nozzle of the meat grinder. Let the meat slide into the casing, but hold it tight and make sure no air gets in. Do it with a partner: One person firmly holds the casing, the other pushes the meat through.

   

8. bind the sausages tightly. Let them rest for 24 hours in the fridge to solidify. (They’ll keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.) Yes, you eat this sausage raw—it has been salted well enough to keep for 2 weeks. It’s a bit like steak tartare.