Potato Sausage

Potato Sausage

This is my second time making sausage.  The first time it was a Lithuanian meat sausage which I made for a potluck picnic with the Portland Lithuanian Group.  Making Sausage is very fun or maybe I'm just weird. The only part of sausage making which I'm not a huge fan of is any time I accidentally smell the casings. They just smell preserved and they smell like organic tissue. I discovered after much struggle with the mechanical sausage stuffer, that it only assists you properly when you're making a sausage with a fairly high meat content. What you don't see in these pictures is my kitchen covered in potato & me covered in potato- That is the mess you run into when you try to use the machine.  I cleaned up to take the pictures below. I felt somewhat silly when I discovered how easy it was to stuff the casings without the machine.  I got my casings from Cabelas. It is the cheapest/only distributor I could find.

This recipe makes the sausage filling and the gravy-- I highly suggest you make the gravy to go along with it.

Sausage 

12 Russet Potatoes (Riced or Food Milled)

1 Large finely chopped onion

3 strips chopped bacon (or 3 Tbsp butter)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp marjoram

Salt & Pepper

Hog casings- rinsed 3 times (check the instructions on the bag containing the casings- it will likely tell you about rinsing and letting them rest in water for a while {a couple hours} to aid in their regaining elasticity & rinsing clean)

Bacon/Sour Cream Gravy

1/2 lb Bacon, diced

1 large chopped onion

1 cup sour cream

black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Make the sausage: cook the bacon & Saute onion with it in it's fat.  (if using butter- just saute onion in the butter).  In a large bowl, combine riced/milled potatoes, onion, bacon, eggs, marjoram, salt and pepper. Once Mixed, I found my potatoes to be very liquidy, so I used a piece of cheese cloth and squeezed out the moisture.  You may also add flour if you still feel it is too loose.

2. Stuff the mixture into the cleaned Hog casings. (be sure to salt and reseal leftover casings- they will be good for about 2 years preserved like that).  

Stuff the casings in this manner: 

     1. Grab a funnel with a wide opening (2 cm- 4 cm), slide the casing onto the thin funnel end.  This might be difficult at first- I used bacon grease to make it easier- but I'm not sure that was necessary. Be careful not to rip the casing as you put it on- they are pretty sturdy/elastic, but they will rip if you stress them out too much.  

    2. Once the casing is all on the funnel, slide some off and knot it.  Then take some filling and push it through the funnel.  You will be able to stuff it pretty tight- but don't use all the elasticity here; it will need some elasticity to hold it together when things expand as it is cooking.  If you stuff it too tight, the casing will break off when it's cooking.

    3. You can twist portions to make links or make a long sausage (as is traditional).  Make sure to leave enough casing on the end to knot it off.

    4. Gently prick the casing in a couple areas so it can let steam escape.

3. Bring a pot of Salted water to a boil.  Boil the sausages for 45 minutes, then drain & bake on a greased cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes to brown the casing.

4. Make the Gravy: Pan fry the bacon & onion until tender.  Add sour cream and black pepper & heat thoroughly.  You may thin the gravy with a bit of milk.

~Enjoy!~

Struggling with the machine- it wouldn't push the filling through & when I used the plunger, potato splatted up and almost nothing came through the other end- this amount of sausages took about 20 minutes to produce.

Two minutes after deciding to do it manually, I was finished!

Because of all the spillage this is how much I was able to make- you will likely have more than this.  Also, my biggest sausage was stuffed too tight and I did not prick it well & it fell apart in the boiling pot.