Homemade McMuffins

You've basically reverse-engineered a Sausage McMuffin. Sage-forward pork seasoning, controlled portioning, thin fast-food-style patties, and a freezer full of grab-and-reheat breakfasts. Make a 1 kg batch, press and freeze the patties, then assemble the full muffins - sausage, egg, American cheese, bacon - wrap them individually and freeze. A proper breakfast in two minutes from frozen.

Sausage patties - ingredients

• 1 kg pork mince — not too lean; some fat keeps them juicy and stops them drying out
• 1½ tsp onion salt
• 2 tsp ground sage — this is what makes them taste like a McMuffin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp garlic paste
• ¼ tsp sugar — optional, rounds off the seasoning

McMuffin build - ingredients

• English muffins — 1 per muffin, toasted
• Eggs — 1 per muffin, fried in an egg ring
• American cheese slices — 1 per muffin; melts better than cheddar here
• Bacon — 1–2 rashers per muffin, cooked until just done (it'll finish in the reheat)

Method

1. Make the patties

1. Put the pork mince in a large bowl. Add all the seasoning and garlic paste. Mix lightly with your hands until just evenly combined - stop as soon as it comes together. Overworking makes the patties dense and dry.

2. Weigh into 70g balls - you'll get about 12 from 1 kg. Keep one slightly larger (~90g) if you want a chef's one for quality control.

3. Press each ball between two sheets of baking paper and flatten to about 1 cm thick, roughly 9–10 cm across - a McMuffin-sized disc. A mug or egg ring pressed around the edge helps if you want them neat.

2. Freeze the patties

1. Lay the patties on a flat surface. Fold a sheet of foil between each one so they don't freeze together. Stack and freeze. This gives you individually grabbable patties without them welding into a block.

3. Cook the patties

1. Fry pan or cast iron, medium heat. Skip the George Foreman - it squeezes the fat and juice out and leaves them dry. A flat pan keeps everything in.

2. From frozen: 4–5 minutes per side. From thawed: 3–4 minutes per side. Press once lightly to keep them flat but don't lean on them - you're not trying to smash these.

4. Assemble & freeze the muffins

1. Toast the English muffins. Fry the eggs in an egg ring so they come out the right shape - crack the egg into the ring in a buttered pan, cook until just set on top. Cook the bacon until just done.

2. Build each muffin: bottom half, sausage patty, American cheese (the residual heat will start melting it), egg, bacon, top half.

3. Let them cool completely, then wrap each one tightly in foil or cling film. Freeze. They keep for up to 2 months.

5. Reheat from frozen

1. Microwave: Unwrap, wrap loosely in a sheet of kitchen paper. 90 seconds on high, flip, another 30–60 seconds. The paper stops it going soggy. Check it's hot through.

2. Oven: Still wrapped in foil at 180°C for 20–25 minutes. Slower but better texture - the muffin stays slightly crisp rather than steaming soft.