As I've mentioned in the past, many of the old time skills are not Rocket Science or even Brain Surgery!  They are simply a process of getting a task done in the most efficient way possible.  Sausage making is no different.

 It is like any other project you might want to do.  First decide what you want to do, 2nd gather your materials and last, but not least, just DO it!

In our case you need to know what kind of sausage you want to prepare - Dry, Summer, Patties, links or Rings.  This will determine what sort of casings (if any) that you use.

Once you have decided your form, and type, of sause you will have to decide on what flavor it is to be. 

At this point remember RULE #1:  Cleanliness is next to Godliness! 

Keep everything clean - you don't want to have your foods spoiling!

The next step is to prepare your meats/stuffing for the sausage.  This can range from Pork, Beef, Venison, Chicken or any other wild game.  How finely you grind the meats is up to you...  Grind it fine enough and you can make something resembling an Oscar Meyer hot dog!    Or, you can coarsely grind the meats and make something similar to an old style Country Sausage. 

For most sausages you will need to add some fats - this helps with both the flavor and the end-result texture... Too little fats and you end up with a dry link...  too much and you will burst the link when smoking or cooking them.  A good rule of thumb is to keep it in the 20-30% fat by weight. 

Once your Meats are ground mix your spices/flavoring and a small amount of water in with them.  Allow the mix to set up to 24 hours for the spices/flavors to 'meld'.  Before you stuff the sausage, mix coarsely grind the 'Back Fat' with the cooled meat mixture. 

At this point you can stuff or otherwise process your home produced sausage.

Dry, Smoke and Chill your sausage.  Either refrigerate of Freeze for storage.

A couple links to suppliers:  LEM and 'The SausageMakers'.

Link to a YouTube video about Sausage Making. 

A Photo-tutorial from SausageMania.

If you are using Natural Casings you need to rinse the salt off and soak them in warm water for about 1 hour. 

Collagen casings should NOT be presoaked.

Slide prepared casings on to the {wetted} stuffing horn.

 Do this Gently!

 - You do not want to cut or tear them. 

Fill your hopper and down tube.

Keep excess air out! 

Meat in hopper...

Begin stuffing sausage. 

Don't forget to use your 'push-stick' !

 Remember there are moving parts below - and the auger can't tell the difference between ground meat and your fingers!

Let the casing slip off the horn slowly    

 Don't over pack.

- If you over pack they can (and will) burst. 

Continue stuffing... 

It is getting longer...

Remember to keep excess air out.

Stuff until desired length is reached.

This is about 18" long.

My recommendation is not to go to this length...

- its better to keep them to a maximum of 12"

(unless you are making rings)

Twist the sausage at this point and tie it off - twice!

Leave about 1 to 2 inches between the knots.

This allows you to cut them apart. 

A finished Sausage ready for smoking! 

Smoke 'em if you got one!

For smoking you want to use either a Hardwood (Maple, Oak, Mesquite, etc.)

OR

 a Fruitwood (Apple or Cherry for example)

Most sausages can be smoked for 2-3 hours.

 Temperature gauge.

If you get this up into the High range you are cooking your sausage.

Its better to keep it down in the low 'Ideal' range.

Simmering in a pan.

Can you imagine how good this is as part of a whole meal?

Sausage on Sourdough bread with Sauerkraut and Horseradish along with pan fried Potatoes and Onions...

All home made or grown...

Of Course! 

Ukrainian Sausage

 Ukrainian sausage is a heavily smoked sausage that is cooked in water.

 Meats                           Metric                 US

beef                        700 g                 1.54 lb.

pork jowls OR

hard fat trimmings      300 g                0.66 lb.

 OR bacon                             

Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat

salt                        18 g                      3 tsp.

Cure #1                 2.5 g                    ½ tsp.

pepper                    2.0 g                   1 tsp.

paprika                    2.0 g                   1 tsp.

allspice                     2.0 g                    1 tsp.

marjoram                  2.0 g                   1½ tsp.

garlic                        3.5 g                    1 clove

cold water                150 ml                  ⅝ cup

Instructions

 1.       Grind fat pork (jowl or equivalent) with 3/8” (13 mm) plate. Grind beef with 1/4” (5 mm) plate. Grind lower class beef (sinews, gristle) twice through 1/8” (2-3 mm) plate. You may emulsify it in a food processor.

2.       Add 20 - 25 % of cold water in relation to the weight of the beef (about 150 ml) into the emulsified beef, add all spices and mix well together. Then mix the mass together with ground pork fat until the mass feels sticky.

3.       Stuff mixture into 36 mm hog casings or beef rounds and form rings about 12” long.

4.       Hang at room temperature for two hours to dry.

5.       Smoke with hot smoke 90-110 minutes until the color of the casing is light brown with a red tint (paprika makes it red).

6.       Cook in water at 160º-167º F (72º-75º C) until internal temperature of 154º- 158º F (68º-70º C) is obtained.

7.       Shower with water.

8.       Store in refrigerator or Freeze till you decide to cook.

Download:  Ukrainian Sausage.rtf  Kielbasa.rtf  Polish Hunters Sausage