Sausage Making 101

Each month a member of our Italian/American club gets to host a cooking class of their choice, its called Cucina Italiano. I did one here. This past week I attended a sausage making demo at a members home. Homemade Italian sausage made "old school way" with a hand cranked meat grinder.

She was very prepared and had her pork shoulder all trimmed and ready to go, leaving it about 80% lean to about 20% fat. The meat was then cut into chunks and passed through the meat grinder. Seasonings such as salt, pepper, fennel and red pepper flakes were then added to the ground sausage. At this point I would cook up a tiny bit to see if your seasonings are to your liking, if not, you could always add more before you start stuffing.

Next the sausage stuffing attachment was put on and the casings were placed over the stuffing tube. It worked great with 2 people as one was cranking and feeding the sausage meat into the hopper, and the other was guiding it in the casings.

Grills and ovens were going as everything got cooked up and taste tested! Its nice to know what's actually in your sausage. Quality meat with no fillers! Years ago I use to make my own sausage, it inspired me to try it again. I'd like to try making some of those gourmet sausages that cost a fortune, maybe a chicken sausage with sun dried tomatoes and artichokes. Yumm!

The possibilities are endless!

FINAL GARDEN UPDATE

Well I have to give a big shout out to the hubby he has proved he has a green thumb!

Our tomatoes are coming in like gang busters. Vine ripened juicy tomatoes of several different varieties, a joy to eat with our dinners. Eggplants are almost ready to be picked and the zucchini has all been perfect, we make sure to pick them before they get to big.

I'm sure gonna miss this when the cold weather comes around!


These are little Japanese beetles going to town on our grape leaves. We have a small vine on our fence and they've been destoying all our leaves. They feast on the tissue between the veins and leave it looking all skeletal, nasty little creatures!

Enjoy your weekend, and Buon Appetito!