Daily Loaf

(Check out Brian Ries’ story of hunting wild pig in the Florida badlands.)

After reading through Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s Charcuterie a couple years back, I’ve ached to try the complicated task of stuffing meat, fat and seasonings into hog intestines. The book is not only a how-to guide, it’s a love poem to the simple and lost art of making sausage in the home. And Ruhlman’s text is so down-to-earth, it seemed like making my own would be a snap.

Maybe not. On one hand, it’s just a recipe that use meat and seasonings like anything else. But you also need tools, both soft and hard, and a sense of culinary exploration that goes way beyond preparing a typical Sunday night supper.

The Tools:

GRINDER If you have one of those old metal contraptions that clamps onto the counter, it’ll work. If not, you can buy one, but chances are if you’re the type of person who wants to dive into sausage making you likely have a standing mixer. Buy a grinding attachment for your mixer for about $60; it’ll make things a lot easier.

STUFFER Yet again, you can buy these separately, but they’re pricy for a simple press and tube ($100-300). Instead, the standing mixer comes to the rescue again with a simple attachment you can store next to the grinder ($10).

CASINGS The small intestinesof a hog is the classic sausage casing. For thinner sausages, you can also use sheep casings, or grab some beef casings if you plan on making big salumi or mortadella. They come either dry and packed in salt (which will keep for a year in the fridge) or packed in a brine (which will keep for a month or so). You can find casings at a friendly butcher shop (I picked some up at The Butcher’s Block) or order them online. If the casings skeeve you out, just make your sausage free-form.

The Basic Recipe (from Charcuterie):

3.5 pounds wild pig (preferably from the shoulder, diced)
1.5 pounds pork back fat (meat to fat ratio should be 7:3, adjust amounts as necessary to hit 5 pounds total)
1.5 ounces kosher salt
1 cup liquid (could be wine, water, cream, or other, depending on what you’re making)
Seasonings

1. Toss meat and fat with salt and seasonings until well mixed. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or as much as 24. Soak hog casings for at least 30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly.

2. Take everything but the casings, including the grinder and bowl you’ll be grinding into, and put it in the freezer 1 hour before you grind. You need to keep everything as cold as possible — short of freezing — throughout the entire process.

3. Grind the meat through the small cutting die into a bowl set in ice water. If the meat isn’t passing through the die easily, stop, clean off the die and start again. When done, mix (with paddle attachment if using a standing mixer) for about a minute, then add liquid and mix for another minute or so, until the meat is sticky.

4. Fry a small piece of the mixture to check and adjust seasonings, then refrigerate the meat while you prepare to stuff.

5. Use water to lubricate the stuffing spout and counter, then push the entire hog casing onto the spout, with an inch or two hanging off. Keep your hand on the casing, just past the spout, to support the extruded sausage and help coil it onto the counter. Twist off the first link, then twist off the third link (which will make a second link in the process. Repeat.

6. Refrigerate or freeze. When you cook the sausages, you want to gently reach 150 degrees internal temperature. This will ensure a moist, beautiful sausage. Whether it tastes good is up to you.

Seasoning ideas (from Charcuterie):

HOT ITALIAN 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons toasted fennel seeds, 3 tablespoons paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 4 tablespoons fresh oregano, 4 tablespoons fresh basil, 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons ground black pepper, 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE 5 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger, 5 tablespoons, finely chopped fresh sage, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 2 tablespoons ground black pepper, 1 cup ice water

MEXICAN CHORIZO 2 tablespoons ancho chile powder, 1 tablespoon hot paprika, 1 tablespoon chipotle powder, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 3 tablespoons tequila, 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

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