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1.10.2008

Sausage Making...WhenThe Going Gets Tough, The Tough Make Sausage




Lets just say I had a crap day at work. One that makes me shake my head in wonder at people,their schemes, and motives.Enough said about that. To relieve my stress in a healthy way I decided to get out my new Baby Kitchen Aid,and tackle making sausages. I had ordered some collagen casings a while back and had boneless chicken thighs defrosting. I was nervous using the food grinder attachment , stuffer tube , and casings. I took out some onion, sun dried tomato, herbs, and spices to add to my dark chicken meat. I figured the thigh would be a little fatty and juicy to make a good sausage without adding anything.I tossed everything into the grinder tray and let it rip.Pretty fun! The casings gave me a bit of a problem, but I figured it out. Air pockets were another problem. No amount of smoothing helped. I read afterwards to poke a hole in the casings afterwards. I tried to twist my links and they wouldn't stay. This part I have to finesse. I should have tested a piece of the force meat in a skillet to test the flavors, but I didn't. The meat started expanding out of the non tied off casings as I cooked it.I ended up with a highly spiced sausage , that may have been to strong for some tastes( hello garlic and onion!). I found the casings a little chewy, and perhaps would like to try natural casings next time.However I can throw my always throw it a batch of sauce.All in all I'm pretty pleased with my overly ambitious self, and I had a few stress relieving moments.Now I'm just waiting for Certain Someone to fly home and give his critique. This will not be the last of my sausage making.




Note: I used perhaps a quarter of my collagen casings for a 3 large ground chicken thighs.I made about 7 generous links. I ordered my 34mm collagen casings from here. They have all sorts of sausage making supplies.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha! I love the title of your post, I feel like it would make an excellent bumper sticker. :)

I have never made sausage and think it's so cool that you've done it!

Ari (Baking and Books)

Anonymous said...

It's neat that you tried your hand at sausage making.The ingredients sound great :)

Deborah said...

You amaze me!! Maybe one day I will be adventurous enough to make my own sausage!

Cynthia said...

I am jealous and need to get one of those machines! Congrats on your sausage making. I'm excited to see what other kinds of sausages you make. Isn't it great? You know exactly what's in your sausage.

glamah16 said...

Thanks everyone. Yes it is nice to know what is in your sausage and have the control.

Mary said...

I'm so impressed that you made your own sausage! I'd love to poke around and give it a try.

Proud Italian Cook said...

Wow, you have been very adventuous lately!! Cooking and creating in the kitchen is a great stress reliever isn't it?? Hope your day went better, cause your sausage looks great!

Peabody said...

Wow, making your own sausage. Nice.