The Recipe Thread [tm--CajunCook]
Sausage-Cheese Balls
1lb hot breakfast sausage
8oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cups biscuit mix
dry spices of your choice (Tony's, garlic powder, red pepper, etc.)
Thoroughly mix all ingredients in bowl, making sure the sausage and cheese are blended well. Roll into marble-sized (3/4 - 1 in. dia.) balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 400 degree oven until done (about 15-20 minutes). These freeze well.
I put that recipe on another thread, but I gotta tell ya...if you use 4oz of cheddar and 4oz of pepper jack, hold on to your hat.
I like to put different dry spices in there to experiment, but dry herbs are a must. A typical "Italian seasoning" herb blend is cheap but killer.
I cheat by using some wooster sauce in there. I know it says to not add liquid, but come on.
Curry powder, allspice, a dash of whatever...and yew betcha! :9:
Now as far as that oven temp and cooking time goes...
What I do is I use my big, round, pizza pan. I place the balls on it from the center, spiraling out, so that I've got a full, round, evenly-placed pan full of them. Then I'll pop it into the 400F oven and set the timer for five minutes. Then when that five minutes is up, I'll twirl that pan a half/turn and set the timer for another five minutes. Then check and twirl again, etc.
The trick is to get them to cook evenly, without over-cooking the outside ones. So I might fret over them, and twirl that pan every five minutes or so. But it's easy to over-cook them, so one thing to remember is that even after they're pulled from the oven, they'll still be cooking.
I try not to let mine go over 20 minutes in the oven. What I'm looking for is consistency and "color", but by "color", I don't mean brown, because if you let them get brown, then you've dried them out too much, and it's like eating sawdust. I'm sure that there's an French word for "color" that I'm talking about, but damned if I know what it is.
So anyway, I guess that the main point is; everybody's afraid of pork. Nobody wants it raw. I agree. But remember. Once you've mixed this stuff up thoroughly, the pork sausage is so thin in each ball that the melting cheese will cook it. The biscuit mix is there to hold it together while that magic happens. So err on the side of caution of "maybe it's underdone", and taste one, and then use your judgment. Just remember that they will continue to cook after you pull them out.
Another note is: Don't just grab the cheap-*** "Jimmy Dean". Get you some good sausage. Not necessarily more expensive, just an off-brand, or a local brand. Get the sharpest cheddar you can get, too, especially if you decide to mix it with pepper-jack, or any other kind of cheese.
Remember, this is an hors d'œuvre. It supposed to be some succulent stuff. I usually eat about half of the batch right then when I cook it, you know, "checking on it" :9: