Breakfast sausage patties

I was just about out of Tangletown Farm sausage for my sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches .

I had a couple packages of their ground pork, however, so I decided to make my own breakfast sausage:

• 1.0 lbs. ground pork. I try to get 90/10, 10 % fat.

• 3/4 tsp. whole black peppercorns

• 1 tsp. sage

• 1 tsp. thyme

• 1/4 tsp. rosemary

• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar

• 1 tsp. salt

Combine the first group of spices in a spice grinder and grind. Add the remaining powdered spices in the second group. I use whole sage; if using rubbed sage you can add it with the second group, instead.

Put the pork in a bowl, add salt, the spices, and brown sugar. Portion into 2.0 oz. portions and flatten into a 3 1/2" cutter.

Cook on a 375°F grilled, 6 minutes per side.

The spices are a slightly spicier (and scaled) version of Alton Brown's recipe . I like it - the sage and thyme (I think) give it as "this is breakfast sausage" taste but the extra cayenne and red pepper give it a bite. But it's definitely not, "There's hot Italian sausage on my breakfast sandwich."

I think this might be a winner, possibly with a little more tweaking.

Update July 23, 2015: Minor edits.