Toulouse sausages are the classic ingredient in cassoulet, that hearty bean, confit and pork extravaganza that is a hallmark of any self-respecting French cook’s repertoire. Traditional Toulouse sausages are all pork, and are minced by hand rather than ground — a fine option I do myself from time to time.
But the sausage is also wonderful made with duck mixed with fatty pork, then run through your coarsest die on your food grinder. (Incidentally, this is a great recipe for snows or Canada geese.)
What makes a Toulouse sausage unique? First the coarseness of it, but also its simplicity: It requires black pepper and garlic, that’s all. Many versions, such as the one Paula Wolfert describes in her masterful The Cooking of Southwest France, include nutmeg.
Mine does, too, and if you can manage to grind your own nutmeg on the spot, you will notice a difference. Don’t be tempted to add other flavors here. These need to be simple. 
Toulouse sausage is excellent grilled slowly over hardwoods, roasted gently in a 350°F oven, and, of course, as an element in cassoulet or other winter stews.
NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with making sausages at home, I wrote a good step-by-step on the technique over at my friend Elise’s site Simply Recipes. You can read it here.
Toulouse Sausage
Ingredients
- 3 pounds duck or goose meat (a little skin and fat is OK)
- 2 pounds fatty pork shoulder or pork belly
- 1/2 cup white wine, chilled
- 35 grams (about 2 tablespoons plus a teaspoon) Kosher salt
- 5 grams (about 1/2 teaspoon) Instacure No. 1 (optional)
- 25 grams (about 2 tablespoons) chopped fresh garlic
- 10 grams (about 2 tablespoons) ground black pepper
- 1/2 (about 1 teaspoon) nutmeg, freshly grated
- hog casings
Instructions
- Chop the meat and fat into chunks of about 1-inch across, mince any skin you are using, then mix the garlic and all the spices together and toss with the meat and fat.
- Chill the meat and fat until it is almost frozen by putting it in the freezer for an hour or so.
- Take out some hog casings and set in a bowl of very warm water.
- Grind through your meat grinder (you can use a food processor in a pinch, but you will not get a fine texture) using the coarse die. If your room is warmer than 69 degrees, set the bowl for the ground meat into another bowl of ice to keep it cold.
- Add the wine and mix thoroughly either using a Kitchenaid on low for 60-90 seconds or with your (very clean) hands. This is important to get the sausage to bind properly. Once it is mixed well, put it back in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
- Stuff the sausage into the casings all at once. Twist off links by pinching the sausage down and twisting it, first in one direction, and then with the next link, the other direction. Or you could tie them off with butcher's string.
- Hang the sausages in a cool place for 4-8 hours (the colder it is, the longer you can hang them). If it is warm out, hang for one hour. Once they have dried a bit, put in the fridge until needed. They will keep for at least a week in the fridge.
- If you are freezing the sausages, wait a day before doing so. This will tighten up the sausages and help them keep their shape in the deep-freeze.
I made a version of this recently that turned out great! I called it the ‘Duck, Duck, Goose, Toulouse’ and used a Chardonnay from Devona Winery. I parted out two ducks, one goose and pork from Pure Country Farms in Euphrata, WA.. Excellent recipe…thanks for sharing!
I’ll be making these with venison next week! I’ve got quite a bit of veni (very lean) and quite a bit of fatback (I assume fattier than pork shoulder or belly). Any recommendations on how to adjust the ratio? I was thinking maybe 4lb venison & 1 lb fatback….
Laura: Do a short 4 pounds venison, and a long 1 pound fatback. Maybe 3 3/4 to 1 1/4?
I’ve noticed that a few of your sausage recipes call for the instacure, others dont and some have it as optional. Is this used as a safeguard? I’m not opposed to it by any means. I’d just like a better understanding is all.
Joel: In some cases, it is for the flavor you’d traditionally get from that recipe. In some cases, I use it for smoked sausages, as it’s a safety thing.
I made this yesterday after finding my custom made cassole in storage. Since I had the grinder and stuffer out for a large batch of Italian, it seemed that the timing was serendipitous. I made it with 3 lbs. of domestic duck breast, fat and skin all included, that I had bought on sale and 5 lbs. of pork shoulder, scaling up the other ingredients.
Wow. Just wow. Can’t wait until this fall to make a cassoulet. That is, if there is any sausage left over. The unctuousness of the fats with the purity of the flavors from the few seasonings is mind blowing. Totally unexpected. I’d even pay full price for duck breast for the next batch. Might replace some of the pork with axis meat, but not until I follow this recipe exactly at least once more.
Thank you!!
This batch was with a limit of mallard, gadwall and a teal. It was exactly 3 lbs of breast meat. I’ve made a handful of your sausage recipes and I think this is at the top of the list. It was simple and the flavor was great. I might add a bit more black pepper and certainly the fresh nutmeg next time. I just needed to get it done and didn’t have it easily accessible locally so I used shelf purchased ground nutmeg. Thanks again, Hank for extending the menu at our home. Everyone that tried it didn’t believe it was duck. I received several positive comments from about 6 different people! woohoo!!
Not having a stuffer (yet 🙂 ), would it be good for a patty sausage?
Kim: Yep.
I would like to try this, but alas I cannot eat pork anything. I was wondering if there is another fat that would just as well for making sausage of any kind that needs fat added?
Shawn: Use beef fat.
My hubby isn’t supposed to have salt but he absolutely loves goose and any kind of sausage. Can I omit salt entirely or at least cut down the amount?
Thanks!
Cathy: You can’t eliminate it, but you can cut it down. Maybe try cutting out 50%? I wouldn’t like it very much, but if he can’t eat salt, it’s better than no salt at all. You can serve the links with something acidic to boost the flavor a bit.
The duck version is fantastic! Although it dried out too much in chacroutte, it was excellent in cassoulet. I think my favorite is as a breakfast sausage.
Erick, I came to the same conclusion today. The Smokehouse Chef SS grinder for the KA is a great addition but a stand alone stuffer would make life a lot easier.
I just did a batch with pork loin to check the flavors before I committed to making a batch with duck. What a great, simple sausage! The nutmeg gives it a bratwurst note which means the duck version will make an appearance in my next dish of chacroutte garni’.
Hank,
Thanks so much for a great recipe. My wife and I made these this evening. She rarely eats any of the waterfowl that I bring home. Had a bit of the sausage mix left over so we sampled it as patties. It was extremely good. We made the recipe with 4lbs of goose breast. We were using out KA grinder and stuffer. The grinder was great, however the stuffer gave us a bit of a hard time. We will be getting a stand alone sausage stuffer for future sausage making endeavours.
Hello Hank. Chef Matthew from Grange here. I’ve been researching this duck boudin idea I have and I came across this Tolouse recipe here. I may use some of your calculator here! All I can find out there for a duck Boudin do not use duck meat only duck livers. I have a good stash of foie scraps and a lot of duck gelee from confits.I may add my rice and foie chunks to your Toulouse recipe and wet it down with some gelee to keep the rice from drying them out. Then I want to smoke them and pan sear in duck fat. And ideas or input Hank? Hope to see you in Grange again soon!
Also one more question, I have prague powder #1. Can I use that instead of the instacure?
Yep. It’s the same stuff.
do you use 20 grams of fine ground black pepper?
I’m weighing out a tablespoon and its around 5 grams
Honestly, I use 2 tablespoons freshly ground rather than weighing it. Good catch – I will change it to 10 grams. Thanks!
A Tolouse pork sausage has become our “house” sausage. Always ready in quantity in the freezer for any invading army. Similar recipe to yours, but with more nutmeg and less pepper. I’ve been playing with the liquid in the recipe. We live in Upstate NY and make a lot of hard cider (from foraged fruit). So I tried hard cider in place of the usual white wine and the result was good. Then my wife started making kefir from local cows milk. Straight kefir also makes a good sausage (with a firmer texture from the milk protein) than wine or cider. It also contributes a “buttery” flavor to the sausage. The sweet spot seems to be a blend of kefir and cider, as the kefir improves the snap and the cider contributes vinous flavor which is lacking in the straight kefir.
Julle: Mostly I put the curing salt in when I smoke the sausages. But it does add color and it does change the flavor a bit.
Why would you put in a curing salt if you are pan roasting these sausages? is it to improve the consistency?
Sarah: You can use lamb or beef fat.
Could I use 4 pounds of meat and another type of animal fat instead of pork fat? I do not eat any part of swine but I would love to make homemade sausages using sheep casings for my family to enjoy.
Matt: Absolutely. Use pork fat and venison for the best combination…
Can these be made with venison instead of duck?
Jon: Nope. Won’t work. Chicken and duck fat is too soft for making sausages. Sorry!
Hank,
My wife does not eat beef or pork. Do you think it will taste OK if I substitute chicken fat or duck fat for the pork fat?
This is almost the same as the way I’ve made it. Your’s is a mild version! I double the garlic, use half of the black pepper and add a tablespoon of dried chopped habenero. I also use pink salt instead of Instacure. I think it’s the same.
They were amazing!!! We had them on toasted baguette with roasted mushrooms and over-easy eggs. Yum! I love your site- Thank You and good luck in the cook-off!
Alisha: I generally will brown both sides in an ovenproof pan over medium heat; put a spot of oil in the pan to keep them from sticking.
After that, I put the sausages in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. You could also go at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
How long do you roast these in the oven for?
I’ll be putting in an order with my hunting friends for goose and duck. so I can try this recipe. Regarding the recipe, you mention the instacure is optional; will the flavor of the sausage be affected if left out?