I cook as a hobby. The kitchen is where I enjoy spending a good majority of my time when home. My forte' is Italian, but I'll try anything. Asian, Mexican, Regional American, French, etc. I'm adventurous and every new recipe is something of a challenge. I also love making bread. There's something satisfying about seeing dough rise and knowing there's Brioche, a batard, baguette or loaf of Tuscan peasant bread waiting at the far end of the effort.
While at Olde Towne Butcher in downtown a couple weeks ago, there posted on the door was a sign "Sausage Making Class, Tuesday March 9th." I've always loved sausage and had this idea in my head that there was some type of mystique that went along with making it. After all, there are all types of sausages in the world and one has to have some special talent in order to make it...right? Here was an open invitation to enter the renowned world of Bratmeisters. Heck, if they were going to give away the secrets for a mere $40, I was in!
The group of would be sausage makers totaled approximately twenty. Lee and his team went through the cuts of meat used for making various types of sausage, the types of spices, acceptable fat content of the meat and of course the casings. He also addressed hygiene and the importance of keeping the meat cold while creating. We broke into three groups. One group cutting up the dead pig, one group mixing spices and my group, already taking the end product and making links. This was pretty cool.
After learning how to twist, cut and stack links, I moved over to the machine used for filling the casings. The "sausage tube" looks like a small funnel, is attached to the machine and the casing slides on. Casings come in 27ft lengths, but can be cut down to almost any size. Put the ground meat mixture into the machine, apply a bit of pressure to the underside of the casing and step on the pedal. Holy crap! I'm caught somewhat off guard. This is an industrial machine and the sausage comes flying out of the tube, into the casing and before I realize it, I've filled 10ft with a red wine and sage mixture. I pick up the filled casing, take it over to the table and promptly drop it in front of the new crew learning to make links.
Turn around and I'm now watching another group mix up the "Fred Red" concoction. Pork, spices and a large bottle of the local brew. That done, they move on to create a spicy Italian mixture, changing out the blades to produce a coarser grind.
In what seems like the blink of an eye, 90 minutes has gone by. We've turned out 40-50lbs of three different sausages. We all walk away with about 5lbs total of the three (Fred Red, Italian & Red wine/sage), a book on sausage making and a catalog of equipment. Fortunately, I already have a heavy duty Kitchen Aid with the food grinder attachment. I simply need to buy the sausage stuffing attachment in order to begin practicing. This of course doesn't stop me from paging through the catalog and dreaming of new toys for the kitchen.
As soon as we go through the sausage we have, I'll be buying a couple of pork butts (which I learned comes from the shoulder of the pig...not his hind parts) and trying my hand at sausage making. Sandy says we can buy it, which of course we can, but what fun is there in that? Now that I have an idea how to make it...I certainly shall do so. New adventures in the kitchen await.
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