The main course at childhood birthday parties, the flavour enhancer in sophisticated entrées, the (pork) butt of so many naughty jokes, sausage is beloved by every country, and by me, especially.
As any sausage lover knows, the fresher the meat, the better the sausage. Given my commitment to quality links, I decided to source my own local ingredients and learn how to make sausage at home. First step: enrolling in Beginner Bacon and Sausage 101 at Save On Meats.
Save On Meats butcher shop offers three hours of hands-on, messy instruction with instructor Elliott Hashimoto for $85. Hashimoto, Mark Brand Inc.s corporate chef, teaches students to grind meat, fill casings and cure bacon. As an added bonus, you get to hang out with six to 12 friendly amateur chefs and snack on applewood sage sausage and European-style bacon while learning.
After handling thick slabs of Gelderman Farms pork and heavy duty machinery, you go home laden with five pounds of prepared sausage, bacon and pancetta.
Hashimoto sagely opens with the basics of meat curing safety. Once I learned to mix a dry cure, I skinned some pork belly and prepped bacon. Bacon really is that simple; Hashimoto is full of helpful tips to improve upon the classic recipe. He recommends adding a dash of peaty Scotch on the fourth day of curing to mimic the effects of a pricey cold smoker. This is also the time to add maple syrup, if youre so inclined.
Next, during sausage making, each of us ground pork shoulder and pork butt using Save Ons industrial meat grinder. After seasoning the 70/30 meat-to-fat grind to my taste (hot and heavy on the smoked paprika), I grappled with slippery hog casings, loading them onto a weapon-grade sausage filler known as Big Red a relic from the original butcher shop which opened in 1957.
Once Id stuffed the grind into the casing no easy feat I struggled to twist my wayward coil of meat into uniform links. Hashimoto was there throughout to lend a hand. I overheard a student ask: Are you massaging my sausage? The chef was stroking air bubbles out of the casing to form the best possible links. Yes, he replied, I am massaging your sausage.
Save On Meats Beginner Bacon and Sausage 101 runs April 3 and April 14 from 6:30 to 9:30pm at 43 West Hastings. Email [email protected] for availability.
