Sausage-Making 101
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photographs by David Sawyer ''Careful with the meat grinder,” warned Paul Bertolli, chef-owner of Oliveto in Oakland, California—and both a connoisseur and a skilled maker of fresh and cured sausages. “It can smear the meat and fat and sacrifice texture.” So to make the sausages for our venison story (see The Return of Venison), we used our grinder only for its sausage-stuffing nozzle—and on Bertolli’s advice, took our Chinese cleaver, whose blade is thinner and sharper than that of a normal one, to the meat instead. The meat grinder is fine for large batches. Just be sure “the meat is cold enough, and the blade is sharp enough,” to avoid the dreaded smear. Bertolli’s final counsel: Fat is flavor. We like a ratio of 25 percent fat to 75 percent lean meat. 1. SETTING UP For 6 lbs. of sausage, you’ll need (clockwise from top): cleaver; 5 lbs. venison stew meat, cleaned of silverskin; 1 1/4 lbs. chopped pork; 1 lb. fatback; meat grinder with sausage-stuffing nozzle attached; 1/4'' natural casings (in grocery meat departments) soaked in cold water for 1 hour; salt and pepper. 2. CHOPPING INGREDIENTS Working in small batches and using a very sharp cleaver, chop the venison, fatback, and pork (if not pre-ground) into 1/4'' chunks. Combine chopped venison, pork, and fatback. Season meat and fat mixture to taste with salt and pepper. 3. FILLING CASINGS Secure machine on counter. Cut casings into 3' pieces. Gather casing over nozzle, bunching it up on nozzle until only 3'' remain at the end. Crank mixture evenly through machine to fill casing, easing filled casing off nozzle as you go. (Filled casings should be as firm as medium-rare meat.) 4. TWISTING LINKS Pinch filled casing to make links 5'' long. Twist at pinch—right hand toward you, left hand away from you—to form links. Prick sausages several times with a pin to release pressure. Refrigerate 1 hour, uncovered, before cooking.
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