It is an indisputable fact that every holiday aside from Christmas and Easter must be celebrated by the consumption of ground animal meat stuffed inside the intestines of that (or really any other) animal. Today, our household proudly upheld that tradition by eating our home-killed, home-ground, home-stuffed Italian sausage.
A couple of evenings ago James and I sat down with a large pile of pork and a few tools. The pork was from the pig we recently slaughtered and split with another family. The meat is quality meat that came from trimmings from the belly, back, shoulder, ham, etc. It's not a bunch of scraps. No pig nipples, lips, rat feces, or spider legs. Good meat makes good sausage.
the first step is to chop up the trimmings into pieces your grinder can handle. mine can take about 1/2 inch to 1 inch chunks. BE SURE TO REMOVE ANY LIGAMENTS, TENDONS, AND SILVER SKIN. Unless you have an industrial grinder it will just jam the thing up leading to repeated disassembly and cleaning of the machine. Ask me how I know. Also, use the coldest meat you can at all points in the process. partially frozen works well too.
Next step, find a toddler and make him do the hard work. He'll think it's fun so it's ok. You'll want to grind it with coarsely first, mix in the spices (I used Alton Brown's Italian Sausage recipe with delicious results) then again with the fine plate that came with your rig.
After that's done, attach the sausage stuffer tube and load your sausage casings. Yes, they are what you think they are. There are other options but why mess with success. My grinder does a really good job at grinding but as a stuffer you really need an extra set of hands. At this point my helper had lost interest so it was kind of difficult to get a consistent fill and size for the sausages. Maybe I'll be able to rig up a better stuffer in the future. But for now, we made do.
Fill the casings leaving as little air pockets as possible
twist into links and refrigerate for a couple hours before using. We waited a couple of days. To freeze for long term storage, lay on a baking sheet and freeze then vacuum seal and return to freezer.
To cook, poach/simmer in water, beer, or sauce until mostly cooked through. I cooked mine in water and (I think it took about 7 min.
Brown in a little olive oil
Add sauce and green peppers.
Serve with piled high with a side of garlic bread or on buns and you WILL have a great holiday.
Later I'll be trying my hand at NY style hot dogs, andouille sausage, and possibly brats. I'll be sure to post links to the recipies I like.
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