Sausages Everywhere!

I recently spent a fun afternoon in the kitchen, watching college football and making sausage. I had invited several friends to join me for the sausage making experience, then to make pasta and an Italian dinner. Unfortunately for both the invitees (because they missed a fun afternoon and good sausage) and me (because I ended up solo – which is not exactly recommended when you set out to make twelve pounds of sausage!), the Covid-19 social distancing situation continues to thwart get togethers, and I don’t like it!

Despite having to proceed on my own, I mixed up a tub of medium-grind beef chuck, then blended in a mixture of spices and herbs I’d prepared ahead of time. Ground beef, garlic, pepper, black and yellow mustard seeds, chopped cilantro, salt and red wine.

Once the beef mixture was thoroughly blended and covered, I turned to the pork portion of the program: a 7 pound, bone-in shoulder. I carefully de-boned it, then cut it into one inch cubes – more or less. Pork fat doesn’t like to be formed into cubes, after all! When the meat was cut, I put the tub in the freezer to set up a little before grinding then set about preparing the herb and spice mixture. Ground fennel and fennel seeds always smell so good and promise a sweet finish in whatever they are used, but I fought off an urge to add just a little more than the recipe required because too much can be overwhelming. I also love smoked paprika, and even in the relatively small quantity for which the recipe called, my mouth was watering as I stirred the mixture. The usual compliments – salt, pepper, oregano and parsley – rounded out a delicious blend.

As I waited for the pork to firm up for the grind, I pulled the beef mixture from the refrigerator, let it warm to room temperature, mixed it a few times, then loaded it into the stuffer. I should have mentioned earlier that because I’ve struggled mightily over the past ten or more years with an old pot metal, cornucopia-style stuffer that weighs more than the sausage I was making, and requires at least two people – one to hold it in place and the other to muscle the lever plunger to force the sausage into the casing – I finally broke down and bought a vertical tube apparatus with a simple crank-driven plunger. What a wonderful difference! After about six or eight inches of the first casing for practice, and I had no problem cranking out the remaining links.

I had also pulled four hog intestine casings from their salty storage package and placed them to soak in warm water while I filled the stuffer. Once they were soft, I had to run cold water through each casing three or four times to make sure that all of the salt was rinsed out. Sausage can be salty enough without forgetting to thoroughly rinse the inside of the casings!

Once the casings were rinsed, I slipped one onto the stuffing tube and began to turn the handle – very slowly to begin with, so that I could tie a knot in the end of the casing without there being an air bubble.

That done, the new stuffer made the process go very evenly and smoothly, with the only interruption being when I had to refill the stuffer or slip on a new casing. In all, five pounds of beef sausage was done in about 30 minutes, including tying off the first casing and slipping on the second casing!

After twisting the sausages into links and wrapping them to put in the refrigerator, I washed all of the equipment in preparation for the pork. And, while I enjoy writing about it almost as much as I like making sausage, I won’t bore you with the account of stuffing the pork sausage. Suffice it to say that I stuffed and twisted seven pounds of pork sausage into links in about 30 minutes. Cleanup took considerably longer, but the results were wonderful!

The next afternoon, I barbeque-smoked the beef links while the pork links ‘proofed’ – allowing the flavors to meld together. Some people probably wouldn’t agree, but the rich aromas from the sausage made my refrigerator smell great! (The smell of the beef sausage smoking on the BBQ wasn’t bad either!)

Beef Sausage Recipe

• 5 lbs medium grind chuck –83%/17% fat

• 8 cloves finely minced garlic

• 3 tsp baking soda

• 1 Tbsp mesquite smoked salt

• 1Tbsp black pepper

• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika • 1 tsp black mustard seed

• 1 tsp yellow mustard seed

• 1 cup finely chopped cilantro

• 2/3 cup olive oil

• 1 cup warm red wine

Mix the garlic and the remaining ingredients into the ground chuck thoroughly. Cover and let the mixture ‘proof’ for at least 4 hours, then stuff into rinsed hog casings.

Sweet Italian Pork Sausage Recipe

• 5 lbs coarse ground pork –75%/25% fat

• 1½ Tbsp sea salt

• 1½ Tbsp black pepper

• 1½ Tbsp ground coriander

• 5 cloves finely minced garlic • 1½ tsp fennel seeds

• 2 Tbsp paprika

• 1 Tbsp ground sumac

• 1 cup cold water

Mix the sea salt and the remaining ingredients into the ground pork thoroughly. Cover and let the mixture ‘proof’ for at least 4 hours, then stuff into rinsed hog casings or make into patties.