Sausage is much better than politics...

Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.

Otto von Bismarck
German Prussian politician (1815 - 1898)

Not many people know this, but if I could be anything in the world I'd probably be a butcher. No, not some Fast Food Nation-type meat packer, but an old-school turn-of-the-century butcher of the Texas hill country variety. If you've seen my series of posts on my trip to Lockhart, TX, you'll totally understand. If you've actually eaten at one of Lockhart's famous BBQ temples, you'll probably want to join me.

Back in the day butchers used to prep and sell meat to the surrounding community (what a concept). As part of this service the German-descended butchers near Austin also prepared sausage and barbecue to sell alongside cuts of beef, pork and other meat products. This is where Lockhart's current crop of BBQ joints came from.

Somewhere in my dreams is "William's Specialty Meats", where I spend my days making sausage and barbecue and selling it to people like me who will give it a good home, cook it like it should be cooked, and eat it like it should be eaten.

Until that day comes, I'll have to make do with a little brown egg and a few attachments to my stand mixer. I've been meaning to make sausage for years (I actually bought the mixer because Kitchen Aid was running a "free food grinder" promotion). Heck, I've probably seen the sausage episode of Good Eats a dozen times.

For my first whack at sausage making, I decided to aim high and reproduce the best damn sausage I've ever had in my short but tasty life. I still remember biting into my hot link at Smitty's. It was just the right texture, with just the right seasoning. Delicious, but the recipe isn't exactly public knowledge.

A major breakthrough came when I found this article detailing some of the methods Smitty's uses to make their sausage. I found that they ground their meat very coarse, and used a 85% beef / 15% pork mixture. Sounded good to me.

So I chunked up 1 lb. of pork shoulder...

...and 5 lbs. of beef chuck. I also took Alton's advice and froze the critical bits of my food grinder to keep the meat cool during grinding.

As for seasoning, I developed a secret mixture of 7 aromatics, herbs and spices to flavor my creation. Ok, so it's not secret and I didn't create it. I happened to find a recipe for "Texas Hill Country" sausage in Smoke and Spice, the indispensable bible for the amateur barbecuer.

I didn't get any good shots of the grind process as I had my hands full and covered in meat goo. Perhaps this is the part Bismarck was talking about. In any case, the meat was ground and put back in the fridge to cool.

When stuffing time came, I readied my collagen casings and did the deed. Purists scoff at synthetic casings, but I decided to go ahead and use them. I figured it'd make my first time easier, and I could throw natural casings into the fray after I got my feet wet.

I'd love to say the stuffing process was uneventful, but stuffing the casing without getting too much air into the link is a bit of a challenge. I'd read that collagen casings are especially tough, but I burst 3 feet of unlinked sausage because I overfilled the tube. The collagen casings are durable, but not indestructible.

Here's the end result. Aren't they beautiful? The collagen casings are nearly transparent so you can get a full view of the sausagey goodness. Now I just need a good way to cook them.

I think I have a pretty good idea...

Stay tuned for cooking and the post-game show.

Texas Hill Country Sausage
Based on this recipe from Smoke and Spice

5 lbs. Beef Chuck
1 lb. Pork Shoulder (Boston Butt)
1 lg. Onion, grated and drained of excess liquid
6 cloves Garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon Dried Sage
1 tablespoon Salt
1 tablespoon Pepper
1 tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Sausage Casings

Cube beef and pork into 1 inch cubes. Mix thoroughly with seasonings and allow to chill in a refrigerator for several hours. Run mixture through a meat grinder on the coarsest setting (approx. 1/4" holes) and return to the refrigerator to chill.

Stuff the sausage into 1.25" diameter casings. Allow to sit overnight before cooking or freezing.

Makes approx. 24 sausages, approx. 8 points per sausage.

Note: 6 lbs. is a lot of sausage. You may want to half the recipe.

Update 4/23/07 - Oops, forgot the recipe!