Smoked Swedish Potato Sausage [Minnesota Beef & Pork Spiced Links]

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Delicious Swedish potato sausage slowly smoked over a wood fire and hot coals. This classic holiday sausage recipe is made with freshly ground pork and beef and is packed with savory meat flavors and spices.

Smoked Swedish Potato Sausage [Minnesota Beef & Pork Spiced Left]

Swedish Potato Sausage is a unique twist on the pork and beef classic. While traditional recipes often call for the sausage to be boiled or baked, this grill recipe cooks slowly over the fire and coals in the smoker or charcoal grill.

The end result is a beautifully seasoned homemade sausage loaded with ground pork shoulder, beef, potatoes, onions, and delicious spices. It’s one of our favorite smoked sausage recipes and it’s easy to see why.

Find out how to make the best Swedish Potato Smoked Sausage from scratch, how to fill each link, what wood to use and how to get the best results. let’s fry

Smoked Swedish Potato Sausage from Minnesota

What is swedish potato sausage?

Swedish Potato Sausage is a traditional sausage made primarily from ground beef and pork, mixed with potatoes and onions and stuffed into casings. It can be boiled or baked or even smoked on the grill.

It is usually enjoyed around holidays like Christmas and is also enjoyed in North America in places with a heavy Swedish or Scandinavian population like Minnesota(hence the name “Minnesota Potato Sausage”).

Potato sausage varieties can differ within the Swedish community. While some traditional recipes call for allspice and nutmeg spices, the Swedish region of Värmland has sausages with more potatoes and fewer spices( Värmlandskorv or Potatiskorv in North America). Värmlandskorv relies on onions and simple salt and black pepper for seasoning, resulting in a hearty meat and potato flavor.

Main ingredients

Natural Pork Casings – While I prefer beef casings for grilling, hog casings are usually much easier to find in stores or online. YOU should take the time to remove the cases beforehand(more on this below).
Ground beef: Loin loin is preferred for its rich fat content and tender meat texture. However, if your local store or butcher doesn’t sell ground beef in specific cuts, good quality ground beef that mixes different cuts is fine too.
Ground pork: Pork loin or shoulder is ideal due to its high fat content, but as with ground beef, not all vendors sell it in a specific cut. Again, if the meat is from a good butcher, ground beef will work just fine.
Potatoes: Almost any type of cooked potato works here, especially Yukon Gold, Idaho, or Russet. They should be peeled and closed before removing.

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Minnesota Smoked Swedish Potato Sausage, Seasoned, Pork and Beef Slices

Soak sausage casings

Natural casings should be soaked for at least two hours(I prefer overnight) before use to make them more malleable and flexible for stuffing. Use only cold water and avoid hot water along the entire coast. Hot or lukewarm water can weaken the covers.

Once opened, whenever they are also rinsed and refrigerated to remove the brine and natural odor that comes with natural casings.

Beef casings are more reliable for grilling, although hog casings also work well and are easier to find. Chewy casings are not edible, so avoid using them.

To protect your cases, gently place them in a great pain. Gently run cold water over them, being careful not to tangle or tear them.
Soak the intestines in fresh water for at least two hours.
Rinse each carcass again, also rinse the inside of each carcass with water to remove any remaining brine.
In a container, place each casing with the new end moving away from the end of the container(this will help you quickly find the opening for each casing).

Quick tips

Potatoes can turn black if left open too long after stirring. To avoid this, avoid delays in filling the intestines. Also get to add ascorbic acid to the water when removing the potatoes.
When stuffing, avoid overstuffing the casings. Sausages swell up as they cook, so they can burst if overstuffed. Get to leave about 1 inch of unfilled casing on each end.
To give the potato sausage a nice brown finish, brown the cooked sausages on the grill over high heat or in a large skillet with butter.

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Smoked swedish potato sausage

Main course course

Swedish cuisine

Preparation time 30 minutes

Cooking time 30 minutes

Soak for 2 hours

Total time 2 hours 50 minutes

Serving sausages

Gear

Sausage stuffing
Food processor

Ingredients

1½ pounds of hog intestines
4 pounds ground beef see notes
4 pounds ground beef see notes
4 pounds of potatoes see notes
2 large yellow onions chopped
2 tablespoons ground allspice
3 ½ tablespoons of kosher salt
2 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Place pork intestines in a large wound and cover with cold water. Soak for 2 hours. Remove from water, rinse and store.
While the skins are soaking, peel the potatoes and soak in cold water.
Take the potatoes out of the water and rinse them. Cut into small cubes(small enough to fit through the feed tube of your food processor)
Place chopped potatoes and onions in a food processor. Pulse for one minute, scraping the inner walls of the processor as needed.
Drain the mixture into a colander to drain excess starch.
Add the potato and onion mixture to a great pain. Add ground beef and pork. Mix with hands for 5 minutes or until set. Add salt and black pepper and keep mixing.
Fill the pork casings with the sausage mixture using a sausage filler. Avoid overcrowding(meat will swell during cooking) by leaving 1 inch(2.5 cm) of space at each end. Cut each sleeve with scissors and tie the ends with string.

Roast meat

Turn on smoker to 107°C(225°F). If you are using a charcoal grill, set it to 2-zone indirect grilling.
Place sausages on smoker or grill grates. Close the lid and cook until the internal temperature reaches 70°C(160°F).
Sear the sausages over high heat on the grill or in a large skillet.

Cook

Heat water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Carefully place the sausages in water in a single layer(don’t let them bunch up). Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the sausage is 70°C.
In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat. Add boiled sausages and sauté for 2 minutes on each side.

Nut

Ground beef tenderloin and pork shoulder/shoulder are ideal, but if your butcher sells ground beef or whole-animal pork, you should be fine.
Any white potato that is fine for cooking will work. For example Yukon Gold, Idaho or Russet