SAUSAGE 101

Everything has an end except a sausage, which has two.

— Danish proverb

Sausage was born of necessity, a way of preserving meat in times of plenty to eat when life turned lean. The fact that it tasted good, made efficient use of a slaughtered animal, and could be seasoned and shaped according to the sausage maker's taste meant sausage was a real keeper in the larder, right next to cheese, wine, beer, dried lentils, and other staples.

The word sausage comes to us by way of the Middle English sausage and the Old French saussiche, all from the Latin word salsus, meaning "salted." The ancient Romans served highly seasoned sausages at every festive occasion. Not only did the salt, pepper, spices, and fat enhance the flavor, but they also helped to preserve the sausages, while the intestines into which the ingredients were stuffed helped to keep out microbes. Sausages that weren't consumed immediately were smoked or left hanging in the hot, dry Mediterranean winds.

Homer mentioned the Greeks' love for grilled sausage in the Odyssey. The legionnaires of Imperial Rome wouldn't march without their little bottles of garum (a fermented fish sauce) and long strings of dried or smoked sausages.

Sausage making really took off in Europe during the medieval period, when an energetic spice trade and returning Crusaders brought exotic seasonings and new cooking techniques to sleepy farms and villages. Medieval towns all across Europe — Bologna, Frankfurt, Vienna, and many others — gave their names to distinctive sausages that are still enjoyed today.

In North America, Native Americans dried and smoked venison and buffalo meat to make jerky, and they stuffed meat, suet, and berries into skins to make pemmican (see Pemmican).

Part of the original portable feast, sausage still delights our palates. It is a sturdy, nourishing comfort food, a link, so to speak, to the past. Today, homemade sausages are still popular among hunters, who like to make good use of the wild game they bring home. People who raise livestock also turn to sausage as a delicious way to make economical use of their animals at slaughtering time. But as our recipes will demonstrate, you can live in a tiny city apartment and shop in a supermarket and still make your own tasty, distinctive sausage. It's true: Sausage making is for everyone.

Types of Sausages

There are literally thousands of varieties of sausage in the world, but in the inimitable words of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): "Sausages are either ready to eat or not." Indeed, the USDA groups sausages into two types: uncooked, including fresh bulk sausage, patties, links, and some smoked sausages; and ready to eat, including dry, semidry, and/or cooked sausages.

Classifying sausages into categories is difficult because sausages are produced by so many different methods. Following is a simple classification of various types and how they should be stored and cooked.

Fresh sausages, such as breakfast and Italian sausages, must be kept refrigerated and used within a few days, or frozen for up to three months (they won't spoil after this time but their flavor will begin to wane). Fresh sausages must always be cooked before serving.

Cooked sausages are just that — fully cooked, as by poaching or smoking, during processing. Examples include frankfurters and bologna. Similar to fresh sausages, cooked sausages must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer; however, these may be eaten without any further heating or cooking, though many are intended to be heated again before serving.

Other ready-to-eat sausages, also called preserved or cured sausages, are treated with salt and other additives to impart different flavors and extend storage time. Some sausages, including pepperoni, are cured, or preserved, by drying, and some are smoked as well during processing. These sausages need no further cooking and are considered shelf stable, meaning they can be kept at a cool room temperature, such as hanging in your cold cellar, until slicing. After that, they will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator or months in the freezer.

It would be futile to try to catalog all of the varieties of sausage in the world. Some kinds are made only in a small region or even a single household. As you learn to make all manner of sausages, you'll no doubt be inspired to personalize the recipes to create your own unique variety. After all, sausage is a state of mind — and a delightful matter of taste.

PEMMICAN

The Cree tribes of the North American woodlands called animal fat pimyi, from which we get the word pemmican. The Cree and other tribes dried strips of meat from buffalo, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and antelope, creating a product like jerky. This dried meat was nourishing and easy to carry, but it became moldy in wet weather. To solve the mold problem, the Cree made rawhide bags about the size of a pillowcase, filled them with pulverized bits of dried meat, dried berries, herbs, and nuts, and poured in hot melted bone marrow and fat. Then they sewed the bags shut and walked on them to compress the mixture and drive out air. The bone marrow and fat cooled and congealed around the meat, effectively sealing it. The Cree had, in effect, created a very large sausage.

A Few Ground Rules

Keep in mind that the texture of sausage is first determined by the amount of meat (or other base ingredients), fat, and liquid. What every maker strives for is an ideal meat-to-fat ratio that will produce the desired taste and, more important, mouthfeel. Too little fat and you'll end up with a tough product. Plus, fat carries flavor. But use too much fat and the result is, not surprisingly, a greasy link. What experienced sausage makers know is how to achieve that ratio no matter which part of the animal they are using — leaner pork tenderloins require more pork fat, while pork shoulder may not need any additional fat at all (that's why pork shoulder is a sausage maker's best friend).

The other factor that determines texture is how those elements are combined. Starting with clean equipment in good working order, with sharp blades (called "plates" or "disks") and dies, is a must; a dull blade will not only cause the meat to heat up during a slow grind but also turn the meat into mush.

The practice of stuffing may seem like much ado (especially for fresh sausage), but it is beyond doubt worth every...