This past Fall, DH started talking, off and on, about getting some more pork and making more sausage. Lots more sausage. The Polish and Italian he had made before, plus he wanted to try a smoked kielbasa (with a recipe I found that includes beef as well as pork in the ingredients list) and chorizo too.
Then DS2 mentioned that he would like to
So DH and DS2 began to compare work schedules and they decided that since they were both off between Christmas and the weekend after New Year's Day, that was when the great sausage making would occur. A date was set, recipes chosen, and the required amount of pork (100 pounds!!) was purchased.
Word got around, and when Sausage Day arrived, there was not just DH, DS2, and Roommate in my kitchen ready to cut, season, grind, and stuff the meat, but also DS1, DD1 and Honorary Son (DD1's boyfriend of 4.5 years), plus two more friends (and fellow college alumni) of DS2. You could say it was a full house. I'm glad my kitchen is larger than average.
the book with the kielbasa recipe
(and many printed off recipes for other sausage flavors)
pork butts and beef knuckle
an entire case of pork butt (64.6 pounds)
scale and seasonings
cutting board and knives at the ready
many hands cutting pork butts into cubes
hand mixing the spices into the meat
grinding the seasoned meat
this batch will be chorizo;
note the bright orange color
the casings, soaking and waiting for use
(we used natural hog casings rather than collagen ones)
putting the casings on the stuffing tube
supporting the stuffed casing as the meat comes out of the stuffing tube
sometimes there's a blowout
lotta kielbasa
carefully hanging the kielbasa on a dowel for smoking
the smoker, full of kielbasa
(this was it's inaugural run; it was a bargain we found while Christmas shopping-- about 60% off!)
back in the kitchen, K3 and Toad wanted to watch
twisting the Polish sausage into links
lots of links
smoked kielbasa
packaged kielbasa and Italian sausage
50 pounds, give or take, of Polish sausage
chorizo, left as bulk sausage, all wrapped up
(it's awesome in omelets)
Phew! It was a long afternoon and evening of sausage making, but it was fun. The engineering jokes were flying (5 engineers and one engineering student present), hands got messy, the grandkids were in and out as their curiosity piqued and waned again and again, we shared a crock potted meal of pulled pork, and everyone took home packages of sausage for their freezer. Rough estimate of cost came to $2 per pound, which isn't bad at all if you compare it to the price of chorizo, smoked kielbasa, Polish sausage, and hot Italian sausage from the store. And this has no fillers; every ingredient was recognizable and pronounceable.
Our sausage making party was a huge success. Sounds like it might become an annual event.
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