Sausage

“ The children sat up in bed, blinking at the sunlight, and stuffing themselves with sausages, still half in doubt whether it was real tangible sausage they were eating, or whether it was not one of those lovely dreams which sometimes visit the hungry. ”

“ Sausage has formed a highly prized article of food for a good many hundred years. Formed primarily as now, by chopping the raw meat very fine, and adding salt and other flavoring materials, and often meal or bread crumbs, the favorite varieties of to-day might not be considered any improvement over the recipes of the ancient Romans were they to pass judgment on the same. History tells us that these early Italian sausages were made of fresh pork and bacon, chopped fine, with the addition of nuts, and flavored with cumin seed, pepper, bay leaves and various pot herbs. ”

“ Delicately seasoned sausage, made of carefully selected Government-inspected meats, has a very definite place as a staple food. Sausage is all food, no waste, and most appetizing. The correctly blended seasonings of high-grade sausage, fresh, smoked or dry, start the gastric juices and act as an aid to digestion.
FRESH PORK SAUSAGE
Fresh pork sausage is very high in fuel value, the fat adding to the protein, heat and energy-producing material. This makes it essentially a cold-weather food. The drippings should always be saved to use as a sautéing medium or shortening. ”

“ If you have a large quantity, a sausage chopper is a great convenience. Liver Sausage Take four livers, with the lights and hearts, have two heads cleaned, and boil them with any scraps, or skinny pieces you have, skim the pot, take out the livers when they are done, and let the heads boil longer, when they are done, pick out the bones, and chop all together, season with sage, thyme, sweet marjoram, salt and pepper, put it in pans, and fry it as sausage. ”

“ Cheek meat, hearts and various trimmings are wholesome as a porterhouse, but not so delectable, at least, in their original condition; hence, the art of sausage making consists in taking these products and making from them a palatable, wholesome and less costly article.
Meats and Handling. —Sausage is made in such varieties that there are a multitude of ingredients in a multitude of forms. Primarily beef and pork trimmings are the broad classes, but of these there are many forms, each of different [373] physical properties. ”

“ If you do not want to bother with casings or bags put the sausage in stone crocks or tin pans with a layer of lard or paraffin on top.
The best sausage is made by using 3 parts of lean meat to one of fat. When using the grinder, distribute the lean and fat meat as uniformly as possible.
You are not necessarily limited to pork sausage, for there are many other delicious varieties you can make. They vary in the different kinds of meat used and in the different seasonings and spices. ”

“ Fill the breast with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.) , or with the finest sausage meat, highly seasoned with minced herbs, lemon-rind, mace, and cayenne. Truss the bird firmly, lay it to a clear sound fire, baste it constantly and bountifully with butter, and serve it when done with good brown gravy, and well-made bread sauce. An entire chain of delicate fried sausages is still often placed in the dish, round a turkey, as a garnish. ”

“ You can have one hundred pounds of sausage from twelve hundred weight of pork, and since the introduction of sausage choppers, a great deal more sausage is made, than formerly, by the old method. Clean a few of the maws, and soak them in salt and water, and fill them with sausage meat, sew them close, let them lay in pickle for two weeks then hang them up, and when your meat is smoked, let them have a few days smoke. ”

“ Like pure lard, sausage is too often a scarce article in the market. Most city butchers mix a good deal of beef with the pork, before it is ground, and so have a sausage composed of two sorts of meat, which does not possess that agreeable, sweet, savory taste peculiar [Pg 27] to nice fresh pork. The bits of lean, cut off when trimming the pieces of neat meat, the tenderloins, and slices of lean from the shoulders and hams, together with some fat, are first washed nicely, cleared of bone and scraps of skin, then put into the chopper, and ground fine. ”

“ A sausage room can be rigged up very cheap; all you need to start with is a small Enterprise grinder, so that you can grind up your trimmings and work them into sausage, and by working the meat trimmings up into the different formulas that we give in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” you will not have any loss, as all of your trimmings can be worked up to good advantage. You also should make a great display of your own cured corned beef and turn out fine corned beef, so that when your customers buy it, they are well pleased. ”

“ Close, by drawing both sides together, forming a big sausage. Roll very tightly in a towel or napkin, and tie with a string on both ends and twice around the middle. Cook in bouillon, stock or salted water slowly for from one and one-half to two hours. When cooked, untie, remove the cloth, roll tight again and re-tie. Set in the ice box for at least eight hours. Serve sliced in the same manner as sausage, and about one-quarter inch thick. Garnish with meat jelly and parsley in branches. Galantine of chicken, squab, etc., may be prepared in the same manner. ”

“ If a great deal of sausage is wanted, the neat meat is trimmed very close, so as to take all the lean that can be spared from the pieces. Sometimes whole shoulders are cut up and ground. The heads, too, or the fleshy part, make good sausage. ”

“ Fifth:—When the meat is chopped, stuff it into Beef Bung Casings. After the Sausage is stuffed, it is well to wrap string around it tight, so the Sausage will be firm when cooked and will not drop in the smoke house.
Sixth:—Smoke this sausage carefully over a medium warm fire.
Seventh:—Cook the Sausage from 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours, in water 155 degrees hot. Vary the time according to the thickness of the Sausage. See directions on page 117 for coloring Bologna casings and color the casings of this Sausage the same way. ”

“ KENTISH SAUSAGE-MEAT. To three pounds of lean pork, add two of fat, and let both be taken clear of skin. As sausages are lighter, though not so delicate, when the meat is somewhat coarsely chopped, this difference should be attended to in making them. When the fat and lean are partially mixed, strew over them two ounces and a half of dry salt, beaten to powder, and mixed with one ounce of ground black pepper, and three large tablespoonsful of sage, very finely minced. ”

“ The artist rises, tightens his waist belt to another hole, and lights the stove. He goes to a tin bread box, half-hidden by a screen, takes out a solitary link of sausage, turns the box upside-down to show that there is no more, and chucks the sausage into a frying-pan, which he sets upon the stove. The flame of the stove goes out, showing that there is no more oil. The artist, in evident despair, seizes the sausage, in a sudden access of rage, and hurls it violently from him. At the same time a door opens, and a man who enters receives the sausage forcibly against his nose. ”

“ The Sausage will taste dry, although water will be in the crevices between the small pieces of meat. The Sausage will look rough on the outside and will also lose more weight than when boiled as above directed. Many of them will burst when the water is too hot. After Sausage of any kind has been cooked, it should be handled as follows: Pour boiling water over it to wash off all the surplus grease that adheres to the casing and then pour cold water over it to shrink and close the pores of the casing. ”

“ Season well with salt and pepper, spread on 1⁄2 the sausage meat in an even layer, distribute narrow strips of bacon and slices of egg over the surface, add mace, nutmeg, and cloves in very small quantities, and a liberal seasoning of salt and pepper, and cover with the remainder of the sausage meat. Roll the meat up tightly, wrap it in a pudding cloth, secure the ends with string, put the roll into boiling stock, or into boiling water, to which has been added the veal bones, 1 or 2 onions, 1 or 2 small carrots, 1 turnip, celery, salt and peppercorns, and cook gently for 3 or 31⁄2 hours. ”

“ This Sausage is a success, takes well with the trade when made up right and is very easy to make. It is a nice eating Sausage and customers are always pleased to get hold of something new for a change. ”

“ The celebrated sausage served out to the German troops during the war of 1870-71, was made of peas, bacon and onions. Each one weighed a pound, and could be made into soup or eaten in sausage form. They were easily carried and kept, and contained the requisite proportions of the various kinds of food, but we are told that the men tired of it in a few days. It appears to be the fact that the pulses cannot be used as the only flesh-forming food, and taken even in moderation they disagree with some persons. ”

“ Condimentine will keep pork sausage in condition, so that it may be shipped, if necessary, for a considerable distance and still retain its own natural color. Your sausage maker will find this method of keeping fresh pork sausage from souring for a reasonable length of time in warm weather of great advantage and save you from severe losses. ”

“ When the goodman, therefore, comes in expecting the usual spicy sausage, kidney stew, or roast pig, do not set before him a dish of mushy barley or sodden beans as an introduction to your new 'reform bill' of fare, or there may be remarks, no more lacking in flavour than London eggs. Talking of sausage, reminds me that one of the favourite arguments against vegetarian foods is that people like to know what they are eating. ”

“ Put a stuffing of sausage-meat; or, if sausages are to be served in a dish a bread stuffing. As this makes a large addition to the size of the bird, observe that the heat of the fire is constantly to that part; for the breast is often not done enough. A little strip of paper should be put on the bone to hinder it from scorching while the other parts roast. Baste well and froth it up. Serve with gravy in the dish, and plenty of bread-sauce in a sauce-tureen. Add a few crumbs, and a beaten egg to the stuffing of sausage-meat. ”

“ Fill them with the above mixture, stuffing it in hard and evenly with a sausage-stuffer, sewing and tying both ends securely. Put the sausages into a brine or pickle, such as is made for ham, of salt, brown sugar, and molasses mixed with water, and strong enough to bear up an egg. Let the sausages remain a week in this pickle, turning them every day, and keeping it closely covered. ”

“ FORMULA.
Beef is ground through an Enterprise 7⁄64th-inch plate, rocked with the seasoning five to ten minutes, when the pork trimmings are added and the whole chopped fifteen to twenty minutes. This is a coarse sausage, about the same as “Farmers” sausage. It is well to mix the meat thoroughly by [414] hand after it has been rocked, or to mix it carefully with a mixer. A “Stallman” mixer is better than a “Zimmerman” for farmer sausage and coarse chopped summer sausage. However, the teeth in a “Zimmerman” mixer can be reversed so that it will not tear the meat, as it otherwise does. ”

“ Frequently when animals are butchered on the farm there are often wholesome portions of the carcass that are not used. All trimmings, cheeks, liver, tongue, breast and other pieces can be made into bologna, headcheese or some other form of sausage. Sausage making is an art worth acquiring. There is always a good demand for fresh and smoked country sausage, so if you wish to sell some you will have no trouble in finding a market for your product if it is a good one.
To make sausage you should have a meat grinder, which is an absolute essential on every farm. ”

“ There are many kinds of Flours and Binders on the market, but the Sausage Maker will find Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder to be thoroughly reliable, especially for Pork Sausage, as it does not so easily sour or ferment and it makes an emulsion of the fat and water, and when the Sausage is fried the grease and meat juices will not fry out of it readily, but will remain in the Sausage. ”

“ Fresh pork sausage is generally made by grinding and seasoning lean pork trimmings from bellies, hams, and shoulders. Fresh sausage should contain about 20 to 30 percent fat. If more fat is included, the sausage may be too greasy and shrink a lot in cooking. If entire shoulders or hams are used, it may be necessary to add some fat. ”

“ Arrange the skin on the filler, tie it at the end, put the meat, a little at a time, into the hopper, turn the handle of the machine briskly, and take care the skin is only lightly filled. When the sausages are made, tie the skin at the other end, pinch them into shape, and then loop them by passing one through another, giving a twist to each as you do them. Sausage-skins, especially if preserved, should be well soaked before using, or they may make the sausages too salt. ”

“ Mix the spices thoroughly through the meat, which may be put into skins or muslin bags and hung in a cold, dry place, or partly cooked and packed in jars with a [Pg 111] covering of lard. Every housekeeper uses fried and baked sausages, but sausage and dried beef is a more uncommon dish. Cut the sausage into small pieces, put it into a stewpan with water to cover, and put on to cook. Slice the dried beef and tear it into small pieces, removing fat and gristle, and put into the stew pan. When done, thicken slightly with flour, season and stir an egg quickly into it. ”

“ Stand the apples flesh side down. Seal and bake fifteen minutes.
Baked Sausage and Potato.—Get the best country sausage meat and mould into a little roll. Dust lightly with flour and put into a well-greased bag. Peel enough potatoes to make a wall about the meat and cut them in halves. They should stand with the cut side against the meat. Seal the bag and bake about thirty minutes until the potatoes are tender and brown and the sausage well done. If desired, use the drippings that come from the sausage as the foundation for a cream gravy to serve [73] with the sausage or serve without. ”