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Home made pork sausages by my Italian family


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12 minutes ago, 17hornet said:

Thank you thats quite a compliment, are you a publisher or have that experience ?

My own German background, my Grandmother used to do all this even during the War, she grew pigs on the soldiers food scraps from nearby barracks and produced small goods then selling it back to the soldiers, so my Mother told me. I have always been feeling linked to the land but did not grow up on it, and never learnt any of this from Mum, but when I showed a keen interest in home production of foods and wine to my 'girlfriends'... parents, well... I was in with the family, they loved to teach me and I could share with them. ( the wine is good too !) :drinks:

I enjoy sharing this stuff, hope you started from the beginning of the topic thread, I also hope it inspires others.

Nothing like a publisher or any experience in that field but I appreciate good well prepared food when I see it, my first job as a teenager was a commis chef in a good English restaurant in London called the Baron of Beef where everything was made from scratch we served a lot of game and preparation was a major part of the eating, I work on the Railways now so a big difference.

I make my own cider I have dabbled in Beers and wine but I always default back to cider.

I have read the lot it's great look forward to more thanks again for the post.

 

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Dan you are talking about sausage links I think like in the butcher or supermarket? Those links are sausages for immediate use, buy em fry em sausages, the meat is mushy and mosty fat and filler

Hanging the Pig back up ! So Dan has asked about the reason there are no 'twisted links' separating the sausages instead of tying knots and using string, I will go thru a more detailed explanat

Hi guys, I wonder if anyone is interested how we make our Italian pork sausages ? I will duplicate some posts here that I put together in an Australian forum of my family producing our once

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7 hours ago, 17hornet said:

Yep I reckon they are the same, but it goes by another name over here I think, my wife and I bought it for the Parents In-law.

I was getting a little annoyed by doing it all manually and having them complain that they should get an electric machine, but I did enjoy the manual mincer as to me it is part of the 'flavour' of the family task when sharing the job. LOL

I must admit that I still have a small manually operated fleischwolf meat mincer which is about 40 years old and I still use it regularly rather than set up the Reber for a small mincing job.

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A reply from a friend on the other forum at this point of the thread..  years ago things were much more cowboy in the Aus country towns. LOL

Krickey !!! 17 Hornet.

That brings back some memories if "Killing the Pig" and the work for kids.
Making Bratwurst /white pudding/ and home made bacon.
All hung in the Cellar to store with no refrigeration.
Smoke house bacon to.

And do NOT get fingers in the mincer :facepalm:.

Trivia : once I sold a pig to a D Don Giralamo.
He came to collect it and when shown where pig house was he said he would kill it on the spot and him and mates would load up pig and off they go.
Cash money too >>> Capiche.
Asked a bit more he pulled a Snub nose pistola out of his overalls and showed me :woohoo:.

A young bloke then I dam near shit me self :ohmy:.
Times were different then ;)

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Hanging the Pig back up !

So Dan has asked about the reason there are no 'twisted links' separating the sausages instead of tying knots and using string, I will go thru a more detailed explanation.

These traditions and methods come from places where there is little or no electricity or refrigeration for food storage in those times, well before Australia was settled.

So all food that was stored long term was Cured, Dried, Salted, Pickled, Smoked or just naturally stayed edible because of its nature.
Meats and fish are the most difficult things because of bacteria, they just love dead meat and hate salt and spices.
The sausage casings are made from gut or intestine, these seem to have the natural property to absorb moisture and keep bugs inside the poo like a natural one way valve, stomach does this too.

So... long long ago it was discovered gut and stomachs could be used as a containers for liquids or for food, drying meat could be preserved in it.
Salt and spices, smoke and animal fat too greatly helped to preserve meat.

Our modern commercialized lives need us to NEED things now for short term, refrigeration (an Aussie invention I think) made the concept work really well, so now we buy and consume essentially today and tomorrow, but lose everything in the fridge and freezer without electricity.

So sausage links were invented for short term consumption meat products, as far as I can understand, easy to display and carry, measure out at the butchers too.

If you are storing meats that are curing they can not contact surfaces or each other, this leaves a spot/place for moisture to collect, bacteria and mold to start to grow, bacteria to get a foothold because this is like a 'bug sanctuary zone', the salt and spices on the inside of the casing dont protect the outside so well.
To mitigate this we use 'pig fat', yep Porky has a lot of tricks for us yet! This is applied as the meat dries and the casing shrinks, it stops the drying too fast and keeps the casing supple while also keeping out the bacteria. Awesome.

Now for something I have not covered yet.
Q. what if the casing splits after it is filled and drying?

A1. If the casing splits or tears in a minor way as it is fresh made, you might be able to slap a patch of casing over the top, like repairing a tire inner tube,
sounds strange but the stuff sticks to itself quite well, and will seal as it dries.
If that doesnt work, or split is too big, just add the meat back to the tub for the next sausage.

A2. If it is while the sausage is hanging drying, you cover it heavily with black pepper, and that kills the bugs and seals it too.

Mold can and does appear on the meats, but it is washed off, peeled off with the casing or trimmed off at consumption,
as it is generally on a surface not in the meat.
Meat that has an odour or clearly off, is discarded.
Too dried out its too chewy, too soft has no texture or body.

So NOW to the hanging...

Poor Porky has had an accident and fallen into a blender.. oh well, waste not want not!

We have the sausages made, we have Lonza, Capicollo, Salami all ready to hang and 'skin over' before transferring to the cellar.
A reasonably cool place with plenty of moving air is best, this time of year it is enough to hang in a breezeway between door and window.
Usually as this day it is done after lunch, we hang them in the tin shed where we made them.

The sausages are hung from sticks that were specially chosen from any old wood pile, ours consist of a olive tree branch, garden stakes
from hardwood bearers for roof tiles. Its just a tube or stick to hang from.
We slide on as many as we can keeping like sausages grouped together, it is easier to monitor this way and treat as needed.
No casing is to touch another, or a surface - very important, at least 20mm separation between them, more the better.

They are let dry a little and within hours they are surface dry. This is the day they are made.
We check for air bubbles and hard spots of compacted meat, splits or damage and that they are drying evenly.
Air bubbles, get the sewing needle, hard lumps we massage out, splits we seal with casing or pepper.

VERY important that we check for any LOOSE knots or casings slipping out of them, loose knots mean the sausage may hit the floor,
so everything being good by day two or three the casings have set, the meat is drying and we are ready to apply some fat to slow the drying down.
Just grab a lump of fat that has been cooked down to lard and rub it in your hands, then rub your hands over the sausages applying just a thin smear of fat.
Too much and they dont dry fast enough and the fat and moisture keeps them too soft.

If all the conditions are right and its by personal judgment in every different environment, they get transferred down to the cellar,
particularly if they are drying too fast.
By this time we have already consumed four or five sausages anyway :whistle:
Just because they are made for long term storage, doesnt mean you cant eat them anytime.

Once in the cellar they are checked everyday for firmness because the middle takes longer to dry out, checked if the casing needs more fat, it does get absorbed by the meat, any damage or something going off.

When they have dried out to your approval they need to be stored.

They can be dried until rock hard, I have seen a Prosciutto (salt cured ham) that was like concrete, had mold and dust on it but probably was good to eat,
some have been 12yrs old before consumed.

Stored in the pigs fat.

This was done in the old days (and I have seen it done), by melting all the left over pig fat down into 'lardo' or lard.
This is poured cold into a bucket and a layer about 50mm in the bottom, sausage, 20mm of lard, sausage, lard, etc so the they dont contact each other
in layers right to the top 50mm where it just has lard to the brim.
As you want a sausage to eat, you pull it out of the lard and make sure the sausage below is well covered.
The lard prevents air to the meat, stops bacteria and keeps the meat from being too dry or spoiling. - NO fridge just a cool cellar.

Now they are putting the sausages into vac pack bags and sealing them, toss them into the fridge and use when wanted, the advantage is ease of access, dont get too soft from the lard, and easy to share with family :woohoo:

Our mighty important rare and hard to find hanging sticks

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Some people use sticks and screw small hooks along them, but the width of a stick holds the ends of the sausage from contacting each other,
the hooks are okay for salami as you hang them from one end.
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In this pic you can see that we use a lot of newspaper to cover the floor from dripping of the sausages
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Salami mmmmm.....
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Plain pork mmm....
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So now to the BBQ of very fresh porky bits...

As you have seen we prepare a BBQ lunch for all the family and friends, this has fresh steaks, liver and bayleaf, ribs, and pork sausage mince in patty's for the kids.
Bread, pizza, salads, wine, and cheeses, along with the meat treats, and THIS fresh it is a treat.

The BBQ was leveled and I fired up the burners after a small distraction of cutting the pigs trotters vertically in half with a hatchet and hammer
for the mother in-law. Seems like any bone is broken with a hatchet and hammer, ribs for the BBQ too.

BBQ warming set to as low as it can go, grab chunks of pig fat and push them around the plate to grease it well.

Out comes the tray of meats and I start salivating :blush: , the memories of past BBQ's like this reminding me of the flavours.
Spread the meat out in groups and let it cook while having a beer and getting some pizza which is a flat bread with salt and garlic basically.
(Of course the mother in-law came and rearranged half of it) :facepalm:
Everyone else is cleaning up or hanging sausages.


A heart attack ready hot plate
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Beer and BBQ what could be better
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Re-arranged a little by the mother in-law, looks great doesnt it?
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Rib and steak pieces
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The cooked liver and bayleaf treat
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Cook gets the first taste ! :woohoo:
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Of course being the cook I have to check if it is ready to eat, the best job, and I think I impressed everyone by NOT burning it all black.

I will grab some pics of the stuff hanging in the cellar, and we will see the Capicollo and Lonza.
 
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The last pics of the meats, everything we have been working towards.

These are about 7 days from being put into the cellar for further curing, and checked everyday before being Vac Packed for storage once reaching the 'ideal' dryness. The older way of placing them in lard retains moisture and the fat is good for energy in a cold country winter.

You will see some mould on the cured meat "Capocollo" in the netting, LOL that is washed off and does not effect the meat.

The meat is sealed inside a gut (large intestine) skin to cure.

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The mould is washed off with wine and the meat allowed to dry again.

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Salami is fatter, these have had a rub of pigs fat to slow drying out.

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Feghetto is the darker sausage, also had a rub of fat to slow drying.

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Codichino made from skins and bits as the filler, fat applied.

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4 hours ago, 17hornet said:

I hope the Topic was interesting and gave an insight to our family food works.

I wonder if anyone would be interested in other subjects like Tomato Sauce, Pasta etc

On 11/27/2017 at 03:32, 17hornet said:

 

 

Porky is transformed from Nose to Tail, even the squeal is used.

The " MAN TABLE " - YEAH !! :facepalm::lol:


So now we are getting closer to the nitty gritty of this day, hands onto the big bits.

My Father Inlaw (FIL) Nonno, was working away removing the long back muscle, ribs were out and front shoulder off.

Again told him off, then grabbed the fat to assist him cutting out the long muscle down the top of the spine, from neck to rump.
I dont know the butchers terms for all the parts.

He uses this part for making Lonza and Capicollo (pics lower down), getting a longer 'cut of meat' he learned to do from me.
Years ago, he would break the animal into smaller bits and save the rear leg to make Prosciutto, a salt cured ham which is then 'pressed'
under one wheel of a car parked on top of a timber plank after soaking the leg ham in rocksalt, then it is hung to air dry.
He lost the whole rump and leg for a number of years straight, as it had fluid in the joints and the meat went off.
Talk about pissed off !

So I convinced him to use the meat and extend his Lonza and Capicollo cuts, a great success,
and we have more lean meat for sausages.

That Lonza bit done, I went about removing the fat from back, ribs area and belly, taking ANY meat off to go in the mincer.

Then remove the front leg trotter, remove the skin and seperate the muscle groups from the bone as much as possible by hand.
Cut out and sinu and tendons, seperate white meat and dark meat into different piles.
Same thing happens to the rear leg too.
All along we are cutting pieces for chops and steaks as well as preparing ribs for the lunch BBQ.

These two piles become the base of the sausage types, a salami, "feghetto" liver, plain white pork.

Salami - dark meat, plenty fat, salt, pepper. Short and fat. 50-75mm
Feghetto - dark meat, some fat, liver, orange skin, garlic, chili, salt, pepper. Long and thin 30-40mm
Plain pork - light meat, plenty fat, salt, pepper. Long and thin 30-40mm

The Lonza is salt brined first, has orange peel, salt and pepper inside and it is rolled up, placed in a elastic cotton mesh bag and dried.

Capicollo is salt brined then placed in a elastic cotton mesh bag and dried.

AND Codichino, which is literally the 'nose to tail' and anything in between!

Of course, ALL of this sausage meat is minced first and how 'fine the mince' depends on what it is being used for.

Some Italian regions dont mince but cut into larger chunks and then put it into a sausage casing.


Capicollo meat and Lonza meat removed, ribs separated to the womens table.

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Back leg and rump ready to break up and bone out.

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Front leg ready to break up, also fat cut into pieces ready for adding to mincer if needed.

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Capicollo going into the salt, later it is put into a string netting wrap and hung to dry

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Very good post mate , a pleasure to read, my wife and me are very interested in your other recipes and look forward to seeing them. 

We have gotten two pigs heads and we intend to roast them as all the family enjoy the crackling , how would you prepare the heads?

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Copied from Sauce thread....

Hi Micky, I did respond to you back at the Pig thread I did. :thumbs:

Oh poo, just checked it and I cant find the reply to you, dont know where it went as I did do it infront of my wife. :icon_redface:

 

My in-laws have never roasted the pigs heads, nor have I. Generally it is broken up for the skin, meat, tongue, snout and fat and then processed into types of sausages.

I would imagine that if the skin was slit about 10 or 15 mm apart, course salt rubbed into it with a little cannola oil, rosemary sprigs pushed into the flesh and roast it like a thick leg roast, it would likely come up well, remember the bone is heavy and needs to heat to about 75C or 80C through the entire head, check with meat a thermometer.

The cheeks, meat at the back of the neck/head is very nice, crackle too.

Sorry I cant help anymore, best of luck Micky.

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