Extremely low-sodium sausage

YIELD: 256 (2.5 oz.) sausage patties

20 lbs. ground pork
20 lbs. ground turkey
6 ¼ tsps. coriander
5 tsps. black pepper
12 ½ tsps. parsley
6 ¼ tsps. thyme
5 tsps. crushed red pepper flakes
6 ¼ tsps. sage
1 cup water
liquid smoke or maple flavoring, optional, to taste

1. Mix pork and turkey together in a mixer. 
2. Add remaining ingredients to large bowl and combine. Add water and mix. Add this mixture to the turkey and pork, slowly adding to avoid clumps of spices and allowing fat to blend throughout the sausage.
3. To make patties, roll the mixture as you would a cinnamon roll and chill for an hour or two until it can be sliced or use a slider press to make patties. Place patties on wax paper on sheet pan and freeze. The following day, transfer patties to plastic bags and use as needed.
4. Special trick from Steve Lancaster, food manager at USA Medical Center: If you add up all of the spices you will see that it equals 41.25 tsp of total volume of spices or .86 of a cup or as I do it a heaping ¾ of a cup or about 9 liquid ounces by volume. This way I can mix very large batches of the spice blend I like and knowing that .86 of a cup will be enough for 40 lbs. of sausage, I only have to carefully measure out the ingredients every couple of months into a large sausage spice container. In the beginning stick with small batches until you have your personal blend you and your guests enjoy. Since the recipe is all in teaspoons you could mix it in cups/ pints/ quarts since all the units of measure would be the same.  I mix up enough for 4 months of sausage or enough to season 200 lb.

Photo and recipe: Steve Lancaster, food manager at USA Medical Center