Thanks for the likes everyone. I'm the good looking one in the dark shirt. It has been over 2 years, so making stuff has been fun again.
The sausage recipe came over from Italy with my great grand parents over 100 years ago. I'm 71 and have been helping make or making the sausage myself since I was 2.
It was a family affair every fall at my grandparent's house. The whole family, aunt's, uncle's, cousins all gathered for a day of sausage making. Everyone helped, with the little kids poking the casings with a needle. The real honor was turning the crank on the grinder when you got big and old enough.
The mix is simple, just 4 ingredients.
18 pounds ground shoulder (50/50 pork venison works good too)
1 cup fennel séed
3/4 cup paprika
1/2 cup salt (or to taste)
1/3 cup crushed red pepper (or to taste)
1-2 pints ice water
I grind twice through a 3/8" plate, then stuff.
The breakfast sausage is Fassett's recipe, however I added 1 ounce each of onion and garlic powder to the bulk mix.
8 ounces salt
2 ounces sage
1 ounce coarse ground black pepper
1 ounce onion powder
1 ounce granulated garlic
Add 1/2 ounce of spices to 1 pound of meat.
The snack sticks are an experiment. I ground a single batch of the family sausage, then pulled 10 pounds aside. I did the second grind through a 3/16" plate and added 2 teaspoons of cure 1. I stuffed it into 18-20mm sheep casings.
Smoked/cooked at temps running from 130 to 170 over 4 hours till I got 152 degrees internal, then lowered the heat to 150 for 4 hours to dry them out some. The flavor of the sausage is incredible when dried some.
The sticks have been a hit with everyone so far.
