I now have two large fat lamb sausages made from scratch! An adventurous morning to say the least.
I've never worked with hog casings before. When I opened the package to find a jumble of string, I thought, What the hell? They expand a bit after soaking in warm water for an hour or more but even then it's tricky to find an opening on one to slip over the funnel-stuffing gadget I add to the grinder. Took me a few tries but I got one on! And although I bought the smallest package of casings I could find, I have 10x more than I'd need in the near future. So I have lots of room for mistakes.
The funnel loaded with a casing and attached, I began the final small grind of the lamb mixture -- marinated in red wine, spices, two cuts of lamb -- and though it took four hands I managed to do it alone, stuffing the long casing, ended using only about half of it, tied the ends, success! I'm letting them rest before cooking them. I think I'll braise them first, make them like cooked sausage you buy in the store, Have enough for 4 to 6 sausages, though I "shaped them" into two large fat ones.
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| My first sausage |
Ah, before stuffing I did a taste test, frying a small piece. Was ok, not great, but it should improve with continued age. I used a Greek recipe depending on cumin, oregano and paprika, with allspice and mint added. I can see where you can spend a lifetime toying around with the spices. I need to find a reliable "standard" one and then experiment, as I do with scrapple and pate.
All in all, I think maybe it was a little bit easier than I expected. Took about 4 hours, half of it waiting for something to happen. Later the bottom line ... tasting it!
Since this is a relatively free weekend before the grading crunch begins, Sunday I should make sausage again, maybe try buffalo or veal sausage.
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