What Is Sausage Meat? | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

Our answer

Sausage meat, also written as sausagemeat and sometimes called forcemeat, is used most commonly in stuffings, such as the filling for Nigella's Turkey Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage And Marsala-Steeped Cranberries (from NIGELLISSIMA). It is also a key ingredient for Nigella's Mini Meatloaves (from NIGELLA EXPRESS).

Sausagemeat is usually made from minced (ground) pork, with some pork fat, and has seasoning, breadcrumbs, herbs and spices added. However it will often contain less breadcumbs than commercial sausages and the texture is usually coarser than the texture of a regular banger-style sausage. It usually binds well and adds moisture while cooking, hence it is used often for stuffings. Many butchers and supermarkets sell sausagement in packages, sometimes in plastic-wrapped cylindrical tubes. However if you cannot find this then you could use the equivalent weight of sausages and remove the filling from the skins. If you do do this then we suggest trying to buy a sausage with a coarser ground filling and less breadcrumbs (the ingredients list should indicate the proportion of breadcrumbs). Italian-style sausages are often a good substitute.