Sausage Making Trial and Error, Part Three

Italian Sausage (Pork) Links

Sausage Making Trial and Error, Part One
Sausage Making Trial and Error, Part Two


I'm starting to get the hang of making sausage links. Still, they would be more uniform if I had another pair of hands to guide the stuffed casings off the nozzle. You can see in the photo above that some are fatter than others. I tried rolling them out and moving the sausage more evenly in the casing, but the casing split in a couple of places. (Could that be because the casings had been refrigerated 2 days in water, rather than one as suggested?) There's about 2 pounds of sausage in the photo.

Sweet Spanish Sausage

This next batch came off somewhat better. I pulled the stuffed casings with my right hand while I pushed the mix into the chute with my left hand. Not easy, nor consistent! 

This 2nd batch shown above is a recipe I found for Sweet Spanish (pork) Sausage, more of a breakfast sausage. I followed the recipe fairly close since it was my first time, but I thought the sultanas (white seedless raisins) it called for might be too dry. I soaked them in a dry white wine overnight, and then coarsely chopped them. The mix still went through the grinder again after mixing in the spices, so the raisin bits weren't all lumped together.


I fried the sausage left in the stuffer as a patty with my dinner. Interesting sausage, and it leaves a hint of several flavors on the tongue. I will make this recipe again!


Sweet Spanish Sausage with Sultanas (golden raisins)
adapted from sausagemania.com


1 pound ground somewhat-fatty pork
½ Tbs coarse salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. ground ginger
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ cup sultanas, soaked overnight in enough dry white wine to cover
(note: you can use regular raisins, taste just won't be as delicate. Original recipe called for sugar which I omitted, and it did not call for soaking the raisins like I did.)


I made this recipe below into patties, for Christmas breakfast. Tasted kinda like sausage mixed with hints of pumpkin pie!


Alsatian Christmas Sausage
adapted from sausagemania.com

1 pound ground pork

½ Tbs coarse salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp sugar

At least for the next month or two, I am through making fresh sausage (I think). I have about 30 pounds vacuum-packed in my freezer now, but some will be gifted to two of my neighbors, including the one who gave me all the venison. I have about a dozen more sausage recipes I want to adapt to my taste (plus a few recipe ideas in my head), and I'll probably make those in small batches to try first.


All in all, I'm feeling pretty confident about making fresh sausages, whether in casings or patties. I certainly understand more about making sausages and various  recipe mixes than I did with my first sausage 2 years ago, or even the first batch in this series.

Next will be sausage that has to be cured and/or smoked and aged, such as Kielbasa, Polish Sausage, Chorizo... and maybe I'll feel gutsy enough for something a bit more challenging, like salame, pancetta and prosciutto. Who knows, by next year I'll probably tackle a ham!