Homemade Sausage Making

It's been about 5 months since I've had time to make some sausages, life has been very busy with traveling and working.
This past weekend I paged through Marianski's Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages and decided to try 2 recipes; Kabanosy and Polish Hot Smoked.
Both were first time for me, ingredients were followed exactly but I used 28+ mm Sheep casings for the Polish because I prefer Lamb casings over Hog. Kabanosy was stuffed with 20 mm Sheep casing. And I smoked the Kabanosy per recipe but smoked the Polish in less time followed by a warm water bath, used a mix of Hickory and Beech wood for smoke so as not to get too dark a sausage yet a smoky flavor.

Oh yes, and I did not use separate grinding plate sizes for the meat, ground everything through the medium plate. Next time I'll separate the meat and fat to grind with different plates.

They both came out very good, awesome taste

The Kabanosy







The Polish

Bubba, those sausages look fantastic! Nice job! And when it comes to using sheep casing for kabanosy, you are as close to the authentic product as you can get. The sheep casing not only gives you that wonderful snap when you bite into one, but also imparts a subtle flavour that is so addictive. The Polish are also going to a delight to bite into. They look like the perfect size to throw into a bun after a few minutes on the grill.

And I can never understand the advice given by some to separate the fat from the meat and then grind separately. If you do that your fat will come out in one sticky mass and you will have a heck of a time mixing it with the ground meat, especially if you want to keep everything as cold as possible. The best way is to separate the lean meat and the fatty meat, then you can grind the the lean through a coarse plate and the fatty meat through a smaller plate. That way the fat won't be as visible. In Poland, Kabanosy have a high fat content, at least 30% and usually more. The ground meat is also not mixed up to the point of stickiness, so that the sausages have a crumbly texture.

Looking at your Kabanosy makes me want to make some. The last batch I made were confiscated by the US Border Patrol at Port Angeles.

Thank you Redzed, and the length of links was intended exactly for the Bun.

Ok I will grind the lean meat though the larger plate on the next batch, appreciate the advice.

Sorry you lost your last batch of Kabanosy to the Border Patrol, sometimes I wonder if they take the confiscated stuff home and eat it themselves?