SC - Sausage Making

[Mordonna22 at aol.com]

Please forgive the length of my post on butchering.  About half way through I
realized I
should break it into smaller lessons.  Thus, we shall begin with making
sausage.

First, allow me to make a correction.  I called pigs feet “hooves”.  My in-
laws called them
:”trotters.”

For traditional sausage, we used the meat from one or both shoulders and the
head, plus
any scrap meat trimmed from any of the other cuts.  We also added fat equal to
1/3 to 1/2
the mass of the lean meat.  The lean meat and fat were cut into pieces of
roughly one cubic
inch.  This was then put through a coarse grind, then a medium grind.

Seasonings were then added.  I have often been up to my elbows and beyond
mixing
seasoning into sausage.  Be sure the seasonings are well mixed.  We generally
reserved the
pork chitterlings either for a dish unto themselves, or to stuff the head
pudding.  For
sausage we usually used commercially processed “casings”:  salted sheep
intestines.  These
had to be soaked 30 min. or so in warm water, then rinsed two or three times
in cold water,
then kept in ice water until stuffed.

The meat mixture was fed into a sausage stuffer, and the casings threaded unto
the feed
pipe, and the mixture forced into the casings.  Once stuffed, there were a
variety of ways to
store the meat:

	First, if it was to be eaten within a week, you simply kept it in a covered
container
	in the refrigerator until cooked.

	Second, if it was to be frozen, it was cut into suitable lengths and placed
in freezer
	bags.  It would keep about 2 to 3 months like this.

	Third, you might can the sausage.  Using a waterbath with salt added, you
boiled
	whole lengths of sausage until done, then canned in glass fruit jars.  This
process
	preserved for a year or so.

	Fourth we might dry it.  Hang in a cool, dry, dark place. It will keep like
this 
	without refrigeration for a week to ten days.

	Fifth we might smoke it.  I recommend hanging over a low fire of well dried 
	hickory for three to four days.  It should keep a month or so without
refrigeration 
	if kept in a cool, dry, dark place.

If you make blood sausage or onion sausage,  you should not freeze, under any
circumstances.  Freezing drastically alters the flavor.  Best to use within a
week to ten days
of butchering.  Canning is feasable, but diminishes the flavors.

I’ll send a couple of recipes in my next post.

Mordonna (now I’ll have nightmares about being up to my elbows)

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