The Sausage Factory


This is an excellent example of the Student FAR surpassing the teacher.


Many years ago a Buddy, both an excellent fishing guide & deadly cook, asked me if I would show him the ropes for making sausage. At that time my partner & I were producing several hundred pounds a year, so I simply said Sure, Come On Down. He caught on very quickly, and asked the odd piece of advice over the next year or so...


Then after a few more years he went to work in a butcher shop specializing in sausages and more.
Leap forward another few years, and now with one hell of a lot of experience under his belt. he began to build and outfit his own custom butchering and sausage making shop. That was around 5 years ago, and he has been hounding me since to come down and have a boo. Unfortunately until now I was unable to do so. But this year he basically demanded I show up, bring down some meat and my Polish Hunter Sausage recipe, noting he was willing to make that plus whatever else I wanted. How could I say no?


So I saddled up and made the run down there with the meat in tow. Been a spell since we had seen each other, and it was really great to do so once again! After a little BS'ing, we got down to the task at hand.


Here is Roy running the first batch (Hunter Sausage) through his massive meat grinder. I swear you could drop a whole cow into that and see it done within minutes!





The Beast:





A better shot showing more of the shop:





From there the ground meat goes into the mixer (another Beast!) along with the spices, binder & ice water. That machine made extremely fast work of a job I always dreaded (doing it by freezing hands):





Once it reaches the right consistency, the product goes into the Hydraulic Stuffer (which can take up to 60 pounds!) and is shot into the casings. Smoothest way I have ever seen that done:




Continued...