making your own sausages

So I got it in my mind that I’d like to try making sausages.

First problem: I just assumed that in this day and age that noone actually used intestines to stuff sausages in anymore. And eating intestines isn’t something that really appeals to me. So after looking around a bit on the internet, it seems that everybody recommends you use “natural casings” (i.e. intestines). I don’t actually have any concerns about the cleanliness of the things; I’m confident the FDA wouldn’t let anybody sell anything that hadn’t been cleaned and prepared well. But frankly I have a culturally-created distaste for eating these things. So:

Question one: Is the advantage of natural casings over artificial ones really that substantial? I.e. should I get over my intestine-hangup, or will artificial casings work just fine?

Next set of issues, equipment. I already have a way to grind meat. But getting it in the casings requires special equipment. The cheapest machine I’ve seen to do it runs $200+ (and this is a low-end one; I’ve seen high-end home-use ones for $1,200). That’s more money then I want to spend for something that could be a one-shot adventure. Maybe I’ll like this and do it every couple months, and in that case, a few hundred bucks is fine, but maybe I’ll do it once for fun and that’s it, in which case that’s more than I want to spend.

Question two: Are there cheaper methods to get into this? Are there gadgets similar to a cake decorator or a calking gun, more in the $20 price range?

Finally:

Question three: Any advice from anyone who’s done this? Techniques? Recipes? Gotchas?

Thanks.

Oh, question One and a half: Are many (most?) commercial products made with intestines? I.e. am I just being silly, and it’s a given that a sausage comes in an intestine, so get over it already?

Are you set on putting your sausage in a casing? You don’t have to, you know. I make sausage quite a bit, and typically just use it free form.

If you have to have casings, I’m pretty sure there’s machines that stuff them for less money. If you have a KitchenAid mixer, you can get an attachment that grinds the meat for the sausage and a stuffer. The mixer itself is about $200 for the cheapest model, but the sausage maker is not too expensive.

Thanks, Athena.

I had no idea this could be done without casing. Do your sausages stay together very well? Could I for example, bring them to a friends house to barbeque, or do you pretty much shape them, then throw them in a pan?

Actually, the KitchenAid and grinder is what I have already. I’ve never actually used the grinder attachment; I’ve had it for years. I don’t believe it has a stuffer, but just knowing it exists is good news.

I don’t think there’s any particularly compelling reason to go with natural casings; you’ll get a much more uniform and attractive product with manufactured ones. I don’t think natural casings are used for very many commercial products now, if any at all.

I made sausages precisely once - actually that isn’t true - I made sausages in skins once - I bought the minced meat and casings from a local butcher shop, on the understanding that I would bring it back mixed and seasoned to my recipe and he would let me use his machine to stuff them - I was making twenty pounds of them for a party, so he was quite willing to help. The machine itself was remarkable - a sort of huge upright stainless steel syringe with the nozzle pointing to one side onto a big stainless tray; the assistant actually did the stuffing for me - the soaked casings went over the nozzle, the meat inside the machine, he pressed the foot pedal and ten linear feet of sausage was extruded in about three seconds - he then did this incredible hand jive thing and there was a neat chain of linked sausages on the table. it was a great arrangement.

It is actually quite possible to make skinless sausages though - I make mine with turkey or chicken, mixed with bacon, onion, herbs and just a relatively small amount of white bread, whizzed up to a smoothish paste in a food processor - form it into sausage shapes by hand and chill for an hour or two before cooking.

Thanks, Mangetout. There’s a local small very-up-scale grocery store with a butcher here that I bet would let me do that.

Actually, what you describe (making twenty pounds for a party) is exactly what I have in mind. On Sunday, we went to my brother-in-law’s house and barbequed. I was thinking that home-made sausages would be a cool thing to bring to that sort of thing.

Even if you’re not making that many to use all at once, it may still be worth making a large batch in cahoots with your butcher and freezing some in smaller quantities for later use.

Though we have never made sausages, here is a link that might be helpful:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,,FOOD_9956_23484,00.html

It is an episode of Good Eats wherein Alton explores several methods of sausage making. As always, it is very informative.

I used to make my own overseas with the Kitchenaid attachment. Works like a dream and you can have a shipload of sausage before you know it. I used the natural casings, which come packed in salt. You rinse them before using, slip one …er…end on the…er…tube…this is sounding a little erotic…then fire the baby up. Once you’ve got a manageable…um…length…you twist at regular intervals to create your brats.

Whew!

As someone else said, you can also make patties, which is somewhat easier. An excellent book on sausage-making is: “Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing”, by Rytek Kutas. The recipes are for large quantities, but it’s the techniques you need to learn.

Great book, interesting guy. I spent an evening in a kitchen with him (and a friend who was assigned to interview him), and we cooked up quite a mess of different things.

Yes, natural casing sausages still exist. They are the best. Get over it.

We still turn pigs into sausages with some regularity out on the farm. Always intestines for casing, though cleaning them (as in, those recently belonging to the pig in question) has become a thing of the past. We have an old sausage stuffer, much as Mangetout describes, except hand cranked, and it doesn’t push the meat out quite so quickly. You wouldn’t want to push it out that fast with natural casings anyways, since they’ll tear if you aren’t careful. One has to turn the crank at just the right speed - too fast, and the casings tear, too slow and the sausage isn’t stuffed full enough to hold its shape properly.

I’ve seen simple old sausage stuffers that were just a spout to hold the casing, with a bag behind them for the meat, which would be squeezed through by hand, much like a large-sized icing dispenser.

As for recipes…take one pig (or two or three, if you’re feeling ambitious). Slaughter. Chop into smallish chunks (if you like, set the hams, chops, bacon, etc, aside first) and run through the grinder. It’s important that you have the right balance between lean and fat in the ground mix. What’s the right balance? Enough fat that they don’t stick to the frying pan, not so much that they’re swimming. How can you tell? Just look at it. :slight_smile: If desired, run ground meat through the grinder a second time, which makes for a smoother textured sausage. Season to taste (don’t ask me, that’s Dad’s job, but it’s mostly salt, pepper, and garlic). Stuff into casings. Hang in the smokehouse, light a fire, and then shut the drafts right down so that it mostly just smokes. Leave till sausages are smoked. Enjoy for the next several months.

Oh, so big deal, you got to spend an evening with him. Like I care at all. Whatever…::sniff::