How to make sausage.

There was an opportunity to learn a little about sausage making from a downtown Colville store, so I signed Donna and I up.

The class was held in Barmans Historic Country Store on Main Street...does every town in America have a Main St? The second floor where our class was held in this awesome building was built in 1892. Every squeaky step on this original wood floor was like a step back in time. I explored the third floor which was very much like the second...empty both with old single pane windows and high ceilings. Calling Barmans a country store might be a slight exaggeration but they do carry antiques, gifts, cards, a soda fountain that also served sandwiches and a jerky shop.

Class size was an acceptable 11 people which gave us plenty of time for questioning. Del talked at great length about smoker temperatures, styles and how never to let your hanging meats touch or they will leave unsightly white streaks. We also learned a great deal on how to position a thermometer both in the meat and where in the smoker to put a second one.

Del Harford, in the middle, has 35 years experience as a butcher/sausage maker who is now retired. A lot of the class was directed towards game sausage which really doesn't apply to Donna or I but it was still worth the $10...besides, we took home $7 or $8 worth of sausage to boot!

Del brought 20 pounds of pork for us to grind and cook.

The four different types of casings are hog, sheep, collagen and fibrous casings. Hog casing are easy to work with while sheep casings are great but you have a lot of experience to use it without problems. Collagen are the easiest of all but the most expensive. Fibrous casings are not edible and are the ones most used for the hard summer sausage you'll find at the local supermarket.

Del talked to us about seasoning, scales, grinders, mixing tubs, smokers and a stuffer. We learned quite a bit about how and what types of curing are needed to avoid medical problems. Curing is only going to be necessary if the meat will be between 40 degrees and 140 degrees for two hours or more. Higher temps will eliminate the need for curing if that's your choice. If you do have to cure, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are two common ingredients you'll find in many curing recipes.  Del loves converting refrigerators from 1950's or 60's into smokers, besides the large room inside...they are without a lot of the plastics that can foul the taste of the meat.

Since I was doing the photography, I got out of mixing the seasoning, water and meat before it goes to the stuffer...too much work for a retiree.

Here Del is showing us how to fit the collagen casing onto the stuffer neck and using your fingers as a guide to pack the correct amount into the casing.

I think this young lady has had some experience before...she was that good. Twisting the sausage towards you on one link and the opposite way the next link is the trick to keep the links from unraveling. 

Daili...the young lady flipping sausage, was Del assistant. Daili cooked the extra meat as paddy sausage for us and as Del was fond of saying, one was a sage sausage while the second one was "I"-talian style sausage. 

Donna gives her "good housekeeping approval" to the sausage and with the packs of uncooked link on the table in front of her that we get to take home.

Now as far as us doing a whole lot of sausage making...I don't see that happening. I enjoyed learning about sausage making but for the 3 or 4 times a year that Donna and I do eat sausage, it wouldn't justify the money to buy all the equipment...besides we are on a fixed income.