It was time to pound out a batch of my signature Italian Sausage with Cabernet and Garlic, been making the same stuff for about 20 years now. I had four porkbutts thawing in the fridge for four days after a shopping spree at Freezermart, 35.2 pounds bone-in.
I cut the bags open in a plastic tub to save all the juices, then got to deboning, takes me about five minutes each. I like to get them out in such a way that the butt can be retied for smoking when wanted, experience helps.
After that was done I took some sharp blades and cut the butts up into grinder sized pieces
Then I fine chopped a knob and a half of fresh garlic, makes the house smell wonderful.
I use the 260-B Italian mix from PS Seasonings, far better results than when I mixed my own seasoning, and repeatable every time. Seasonings , garlic, and 3 cups of ice cold cabernet get whisked together in a bowl and into the fridge for later
Run the cut up butt meat thru my grinder, took less than five minutes
With that done I hook up the meat mixer to the grinder and dump in the meat, seasonings, wine , and garlic, everything goes for a ten minute ride while I drill a beer. The meat mixer is a godsend on a old mans arthritic shoulders, there'd be no more sausage making without it, and it even tilts to empty!
Time to put the lug of sausage meat into the fridge and clean up for stuffing in the morning, Rome wasn't built in a day. A few trips back and forth to the garage get the grinder and mixer put away, and the stuffer in position for tomorrow.
The stuffer tank spends the night in the freezer, everything always stays as cold as possible
Up early the next morning while it's nice and cool with all the windows open I get to stuffing, pricking, linking, and cutting
With all the sausage linked up and on trays I put it into the freezer for a few hours to stiffen up. I cut a ton of vac-seal bags on my commercial unit from Cabelas, never have to wait for anything to cool down, runs constantly without a glitch for years now.
So I get to vac-sealing the entire load later that afternoon, mostly two and three sausages to a pack, and when it was all done and ready for the final photo-op I find my camera battery is dead, it's always something. I will say it was quite a project for a 69 year-old, and took at least as twice as long as it did 20 years ago. Lumping the heavy gear back and forth along with all the clean-up always turns out to be worth the effort. You can't buy sausage like this in a market, you know exactly what's in it, and what it takes to make it. Thanks for lookin'! RAY
I cut the bags open in a plastic tub to save all the juices, then got to deboning, takes me about five minutes each. I like to get them out in such a way that the butt can be retied for smoking when wanted, experience helps.
After that was done I took some sharp blades and cut the butts up into grinder sized pieces
Then I fine chopped a knob and a half of fresh garlic, makes the house smell wonderful.
I use the 260-B Italian mix from PS Seasonings, far better results than when I mixed my own seasoning, and repeatable every time. Seasonings , garlic, and 3 cups of ice cold cabernet get whisked together in a bowl and into the fridge for later
Run the cut up butt meat thru my grinder, took less than five minutes
With that done I hook up the meat mixer to the grinder and dump in the meat, seasonings, wine , and garlic, everything goes for a ten minute ride while I drill a beer. The meat mixer is a godsend on a old mans arthritic shoulders, there'd be no more sausage making without it, and it even tilts to empty!
Time to put the lug of sausage meat into the fridge and clean up for stuffing in the morning, Rome wasn't built in a day. A few trips back and forth to the garage get the grinder and mixer put away, and the stuffer in position for tomorrow.
The stuffer tank spends the night in the freezer, everything always stays as cold as possible
Up early the next morning while it's nice and cool with all the windows open I get to stuffing, pricking, linking, and cutting
With all the sausage linked up and on trays I put it into the freezer for a few hours to stiffen up. I cut a ton of vac-seal bags on my commercial unit from Cabelas, never have to wait for anything to cool down, runs constantly without a glitch for years now.
So I get to vac-sealing the entire load later that afternoon, mostly two and three sausages to a pack, and when it was all done and ready for the final photo-op I find my camera battery is dead, it's always something. I will say it was quite a project for a 69 year-old, and took at least as twice as long as it did 20 years ago. Lumping the heavy gear back and forth along with all the clean-up always turns out to be worth the effort. You can't buy sausage like this in a market, you know exactly what's in it, and what it takes to make it. Thanks for lookin'! RAY
