Making Sausage

FIRST... you grind the meat. We used pork for all but one flavor of sausage. "Hot Beer" flavor called for 2/3 beef to 1/3 pork. No, it doesn't taste like beer that's been warmed up. The guys tell me it makes them *want* a beer because it's kinda spicy.

THEN...you mix the seasoning in with the pork, adding a bit of water to moisten the meat so it can go through the stuffer.

AND THEN...You fill the hopper with the seasoned meat, forcing it down the tube where the machine shoots it into casings or bags. Most of the sausage we processed was in link form. The guys rolled the links, making sure to turn every other one the opposite way, to form the links. There is a bit of art required in making each link fairly uniform. As the day wore on the link legnth got a bit...random.

AND FINALLY... taste every variety in both patty form (to test the flavor) and link form (to test the tastyness??) I had my fill, for certain! YUM!

Some special side notes-
It's wise to have a pot of warm water for cleaning hands and tools, and access to running water for rinsing pans, etc. Even wiser- Clorox wipes.
Sausage making is best on a cool day so the meat stays at a refrigerated temp.
There is a bit of table mess, hence doing this process in the shop. NOT the house.
Sausage testing is an EXCELLENT way to season cast iron skillets on the BBQ.
Enjoy the sausage you made on sausage day, you won't want to eat it for a few days/weeks after!