Thread: Home made sausage

I am getting into making home made sausages anyone else into this and have any pointers or recipes they want to share?

If using Cellulose casings buy online. If using guts, find a nearby butcher (may be available online too, but weight of wet-shipping and lesser quality would probably decrease the value aspect of online purchase).


As for recipes... I like a lot of pepper and if it's heavy on the piggy, a lot of sage. I never really wrote down any recipe's though. Trust the Bavarians here. Avoid poultry like the plague unless you're supplementing it with straight up pork fat. Waaaaaaaay too lean to make good sausage. Though I hear with the proper mix duck can be used to make pretty decent (albeit expensive) sausages.

Take up deer hunting? I can't imagine of a better way to be able to use an entire carcass than grinding everything but your favorite cuts up, adding some fat and seasonings and making pounds and pounds of sausage.

How are you planning to smoke them?

Not tried sausages but I recently started curing my own bacon. Tasty!

building a small smokehouse out back this summer. for hot and cold smoking. Also in the culinary program so have smokers at school.

are you using pink salt on your bacon?

No, just a basic mix of salt and sugar with some pepper for interest. Don't really need the saltpetre as I don't care if the bacon isn't pink! Only made one batch so far but it's delicious without all the added water and polyphosphates in commercial bacon.

Proper dry cure and so easy. A few minutes work a day for a few days and it's done!

Using this recipe and method from one of our TV chefs:

Home cured bacon

Sounds like a complete no-brainer, but when you think you have your filling mix done, take about a dessert spoon of it and fry it up and then taste it - this will give you an idea of what the finished product will taste like.

You might be surprised just how much fat you need in them so that they dont go rock hard. Cooking a bit first, will also tell you if there is enough fat in them.

We make italian pork sausages with fennel seeds and chilli etc. My mum keeps the recipie - was a hand-me-down from an old italian guy that is a friend of the family. They are fantastic. We usually buy a whole pig from the abbatoir and make procciutto, salami, and sausages at the same time.

Chicken sausages can be made by adding duck or pork fat and some stale bread soaked in milk so that they dont go too hard.

Spread your meat out on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 20-30 min before grinding not frozen but close makes your fat distribution and grinding so much better.Good sausage needs 20-30% fat content so much for health food!

Doc, I'm sorry about the delay in the pics.
1.) stuffer(with newly installed foot pedal and motor),grinder, and slicer.
2.) Hot/smoker cave
3.) temp control(hot refrig and cold in following has similar control)
4.) cold cave
We always called our smokers and cold fermenters: caves. Hope this helps and feel free pm any questions.

Here's some our finished product that I just picked up today. We call it cafone(which means country), but it's like canadian bacon.