Making Fresh Sausage
Using clean utensils and work surfaces
There is no substitute for keeping the tables, utensils and ingredients clean and free from dirt and contamination. Use plenty of hot water and anti-bacterial soap before and after processing sausages. Always keep your hands clean. These measures prevent spoilage and food borne illness.
Keep the meat cold.
If after cutting up the meat into chunks for grinding, it has warmed up a bit, put it in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and allow it to firm up. It will grind much easier. That goes for every step along the way. After it has been ground and it's a little warm, give it some time in the freezer. After it has been seasoned, give it some more time in the freezer. You don't want to spoil all that hard work by letting germs grow in warm meat. Better safe than sorry!
Storing leftovers
If you have leftover casings, thoroughly drain the casings and repack in a layer of salt in the smallest airtight container that it will fit in. Make sure to fully cover the casings in salt. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months or in the freezer for up to a year.
Taste Test
After you've seasoned the meat, fry up a little for a test. Now is the time to adjust the seasoning if you think it needs it.
Wash the casings
Before stuffing, insert two fingers into one end of the casing to open and separate and then hold under the faucet and let water run the entire length. This will wash away some of the packing salt. If you don't clean them well, you're sausage will turn out a lot saltier than when you tested the seasoning.
1. Remove the natural hog casing or sheep casing from the package and rinse two or three times in cold water to remove salt. | |
2. Slide the casing onto the sausage tube. Dab a bit of vegetable shortening on the end of the tube as you slide on the casing. | |
3. Hold the sausage casing firmly onto the sausage tube and begin filling it with the ground sausage meat. | |
4. Continue to fill the casing until there's about an inch or so of the sausage casing remaining on the end of the sausage tube. | |
5. To begin forming the casing into sausage links gently squeeze the filled casing together with your forefinger and thumb. | |
6. Cradle the filled hog casing with your other hand, twisting gently to form your first fresh sausage links. | |
7. Repeat the above sausage linking process with the rest of the sausage casing only twist the next sausage links in the opposite direction and so on and so forth. | |
8. There is nothing better than homemade sausage. You control the entire sausage making process including the quality of the meat you use and the amount of beef or pork fat that is mixed with the quality meat. |
When you make your own sausage, whether with Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey or Wild Game you can control every aspect of the process which means you can get a leaner, healthier, and tastier sausage than anything you could by at the grocery store.
Note: Try forming your sausage blends into patties as an alternative to sausage casing. This can be a great option for breakfast!
A tip from a customer: It is easier to slide the sausage casing onto
the sausage tube (some people refer to the sausage tube as the sausage
spout) if there is a bit of the sausage meat mixture sticking out of the
end of the sausage tube.