Homemade Toulouse-style beef sausage: the meat grinder recipe
A Toulouse-style sausage is recognizable by three things: a coarse grind, seasoning limited to salt and pepper, and a large-diameter casing. Our homemade version can be made with beef, using a lean cut for structure and a fattier cut for tenderness, or with poultry for a lighter sausage. You will need a grinder equipped with its largest plate and a sausage stuffer. In just one hour, you will have a sausage where you know every ingredient, with the meaty texture that makes all the difference when cooked. This guide covers the complete recipe, the cooking methods that respect it, and the accompaniments that go with it.
What makes a Toulouse-style sausage
Unlike flavored sausages, the Toulouse sausage is all about the meat. It requires coarsely ground meat with 20 to 25% fat: it is this coarse grind that gives it its characteristic bite, whereas finely ground meat would make a compact sausage.
Three principles to follow:
- seasoning is limited to salt and pepper: no herbs, no spices, no coloring, because good meat needs nothing else;
- the casing is large-diameter, wider than that of fine sausages;
- the sausage is presented rolled into a spiral or in straight portions, never twisted into a thin chain.
This simple set of requirements explains why the homemade version is worth the effort: with a manual meat grinder and quality meat, you choose the cut and the fat yourself.
Homemade Toulouse-style sausage recipe
The recipe consists of four steps, from grinding to resting. Here are the ingredients first, then each step.
For about 1 kg of sausage, or 5 to 6 servings:
- 700 g beef chuck, for the lean meat and structure;
- 300 g beef brisket (flank or top round), for the fat and tenderness;
- 16 to 18 g of salt, or one level tablespoon;
- 2 to 3 g of ground black pepper;
- 2 meters of large-diameter casing, natural beef or collagen, prepared according to the instructions on the packaging.
For a poultry version, replace the beef with 1 kg of boneless chicken thighs, keeping the skin on some of the pieces for fat.
- Grind: cut the meat into 3 cm cubes and place them in the freezer for 20 minutes, as chilled meat can be cut cleanly instead of being crushed. Pass everything through the grinder with the widest plate, 7 mm on our electric grinders. A single pass is enough; the texture must remain coarse.
- Season: distribute the salt and pepper over the ground meat and work it by hand for 2 to 3 minutes, until the meat becomes slightly sticky. Cook a small amount of the mixture in a pan and taste it before stuffing: this is the only time you can still adjust the seasoning.
- Stuff: fit the casing onto the stuffer nozzle, push the meat through evenly without overpacking, then roll the sausage into a spiral or cut it into 15 to 20 cm portions.
- Let it rest for 12 hours in the refrigerator: the flavors will distribute and the casing will tighten.
The step-by-step stuffing technique is detailed in our guide for making homemade sausages with a grinder.
Do you need a stuffer or is a grinder enough?
Stuffing is often the step that makes people hesitate before getting started.
For one kilogram of meat, a grinder's stuffer nozzle is more than enough. For more than five kilograms, a vertical stuffer gives a more even fill: our comparison of sausage machines details the three systems and the casing diameters associated with them.
How to cook a Toulouse sausage?
The rule applies to all cooking methods: never pierce the casing. The juices would end up in the pan instead of staying in the sausage.
| Cooking method | Time | The right technique |
|---|---|---|
| In a pan | 12 to 15 min over medium heat | Turn often, add a little water halfway through |
| In the oven | 20 to 25 min at 180 °C | Turn halfway through, baste with the rendered juices |
| On the barbecue | 10 to 12 min | Medium and indirect heat, never over the flames |
| Stewed | 25 to 30 min | Brown first, then cook in lentils or sauce |
Oven cooking is the most even for a whole spiral sausage: hold the spiral with two skewers through it so that it keeps its shape. For the poultry version, check that the meat is fully cooked through, with no pink traces. For other dishes with ground meat, our guide to ground meat cooking times provides guidelines for each cooking method.
How many Toulouse sausages per person?
When the sausage is the main course, allow about 150 g per adult, the standard for any meat served as a centerpiece, and a little less if it accompanies lentils or a hearty mash. Depending on the diameter and length you stuff, that makes one to two sausages per person. Our chart on the amount of meat per person provides guidelines for each dish.
What accompaniments go with a Toulouse-style sausage?
The classic duo remains sausage and lentils: green lentils simmered with carrot, onion, and a little of the sausage cooking fat, the sausage browned and then finished for 10 minutes in the lentils. It is a complete and economical dish, a good reason to prepare homemade sausages in large quantities.
Other reliable options:
- homemade mashed potatoes;
- aligot, if you like dishes from the Southwest;
- braised cabbage in winter;
- simple vegetables roasted in the oven in the same dish as the sausage.
How long does homemade Toulouse-style sausage keep?
Preparing one kilogram at a time means knowing how to store what you do not cook immediately.
Two to three days in the refrigerator, in a sealed container. Raw, it freezes very well for three months, flat first, then in a bag. It can then be cooked after slow thawing in the refrigerator, never at room temperature, and then cooked without delay.
What is the difference between a Toulouse-style sausage and a merguez?
Both are prepared with the same grinder, but they have almost nothing in common.
Seasoning, diameter, and grind. The merguez is spicy, stuffed into a thin sheep casing, with more finely ground meat. The Toulouse is wider, more coarsely ground, and seasoned only with salt and pepper, to let the meat speak for itself. Our recipe for homemade merguez details its preparation.
From meat to casing, it all comes down to the equipment
A successful Toulouse-style sausage depends on three things: well-chosen meat, a coarse grind, and even stuffing. The same machine does all three, and it will then be used for merguez, meatballs, and fillings all year round.
If you want to grind and stuff with a single machine, choose from our collection of meat grinders a model supplied with its plates and stuffer nozzle.
All our meat-grinding machines are gathered on Hachoir Cuisine.