Sausage Making (7 page)

STEP 11:
Moisten your work surface with water, which will prevent the sausages from sticking. With one hand, start cranking the sausage stuffer slowly and steadily. Once the farce starts to fill the casing, remove the air by pinching and tying a knot.

Your free hand should be on the casing as the sausage is being extruded, helping guide it along.

As the sausage is extruded, arrange it on your work surface in a pinwheel.

The casings should be full enough so when you twist the sausage into links the farce will be tight in the casing, but not so full that they will burst when twisted.

If you see an air pocket, prick the casing with the sausage pricker.

If the casing splits, simply cut out the damaged bit of casing and discard. Reserve the farce that burst through the casing and add it back into the stuffer.

STEP 12:
Gently knot at the end of the sausage rope. Beginning at one end of the sausage rope, measure off a length of sausage.

Pinch the sausage gently to form your first link, and twist forward for about seven rotations.

Form the second link, and this time, pinch firmly and twist backward.

Repeat this process, alternating forward and backward, until you reach the open end of the casing.

Twist the open end right at the last bit of sausage to seal off the whole coil, and then tie a knot. For larger, heavier sausages that are cased in beef middles or bungs, twist the links as directed, then tie off each link at both ends with a length of kitchen twine.

STEP 13:
It's best to let fresh sausage sit or hang overnight, refrigerated, so that the meat adheres to the casing, making for an especially snappy sausage. A sausage that dries overnight will also smoke more evenly and the smoked sausage will have a better color. You can place the sausage on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet or, if possible, hang your fresh sausage in the refrigerator so that it is exposed to air on all sides.

This master technique is utilized, in part or in full, in every recipe in this book.

You can make the greatest sausage in the world, but if you don't cook it correctly or store it properly you can easily ruin all of your hard work. In essence, sausage cookery should be approached just like you approach all meat cookery: with care.

Regardless of which method you're using, raw sausages should be cooked until they reach the correct internal temperature. Too high a temperature and you risk splitting the casing and drying out the interior; too low and you risk a sausage that has, at best, an unpleasant texture and, at worst, is a health risk. Cooking a sausage is no different than cooking a steak: No matter how you choose to do it—and we give suggestions for the best approach for each of the recipes in the book—you want to cook it to the perfect point of doneness. The following methods will ensure success.

A caramelized sausage hot off the grill is one of life's simple, great pleasures. I prefer using a charcoal grill and hardwood charcoal, which burns hot and clean, without the addition of the chemicals that are used to treat most briquettes.

I use a chimney to start my charcoal.