UBERLINK

Sausage happened today, and it was no accident. I've never made sausage before, so I recruited an extra set of hands for the project. If you plan on making some sausage of your own, I highly recommend getting a little help. With beginner's equipment, sausage making alone would be next to impossible.

I chose to make Roasted Poblano Sausage for my first attempt.... Here is how it went...

The day before, I diced four pounds of pork butt, and added the spices. We used oregano, cumin, fresh garlic, salt, paprika, new mexico, and chipotle chile powders....

Mix it all up real well...

This next part is critical... before grinding, the meat should be partially frozen. I put the chunks into the freezer for about an hour and a half, and it was just right. This will ensure that you are cutting your meat, rather than tearing it. It is important to cut the meat and to keep everything ice cold if you want a good texture... Grind the meat into a bowl set in ice..... and resist the temptation to eat it then and there.

Once the meat was ground, we added diced roasted poblano peppers, cilantro, and ice water. The whole mixture got mixed by the kitchenaid paddle attachment until it was sticky enough to bind together. This is where some fun came in... we fried a few bits of sausage to check for seasoning, and it was delicious! 

All this time, the hog casings were soaking in lukewarm water. We rinsed them very well, then slid one onto the kitchenaid stuffer attachment, tied a knot in the end and got stuffing. I have to note here that the kitchenaid sausage stuffer is a piece of garbage. The grinder is great, but for anything more than extremely occasional use, the stuffer is a real chore. This is where the help of my awesome assistant/photographer came in. With Mercurystate's help feeding the meat into the stuffer, and over an hour of back and forth tugging, we managed to create this beautiful work of porky art...

Which we then twisted into links....

smoked over indirect heat....

and crisped over hot coals...

CLICK ME, CLICK ME!!!!

Notes for next time? Buy a real sausage stuffer, make sure the sausages are extra spicy, and prick each link so that they don't explode on the grill. Other than that, these things were a huge success. The texture was excellent, the casings had a nice snap to them, and the flavor was just right.... even my wife, who has a long-standing feud with stuffed sausages, had to admit that these babies were "taaaastaay."

I definitely have a new favorite pasttime to add to my collection.