Ever wondered what it would be like to make your own sausages?
Stop wondering and try it yourself, it is not that difficult to do. There is a growing number of ordinary every day people that make their own sausages. In fact it has become somewhat of a hobby to tell you the truth.
It really does not take much to make your own sausages and you do not need to invest in a lot of expensive machinery. Neither does it make much of a mess, in case you were wondering. Making your own sausages takes not much more time than baking your own bread. Besides having the satisfaction of making your own food, you do not have to wonder what's in it anymore- you know because you made it. Really, think about it, you have guests over for dinner and can tell them, "I made this sausages myself" - it doesn't get any better than that. As well, you do not have to compromise in flavour as there are so many recipes available you will be sure to find many that will more than suit your own particular, personal taste and cultural background. I call that, in the truest sense of the words, Custom Sausages.
Of course, if you are a novice to sausage making you will not want to start with Salami and Brochuto. You should start with simple sausages which also happen to be everyones favorite; the original fresh Bratwurst or the Breakfast Sausage.
In the following I will give you, the novice, some helpful hints on how to get started with this hobby and what you need to get started.

If you are an experienced hobby sausage maker skip the introduction below and go directly to the Vohringer Family Recipe for Schweins Bratwurst (Pork Bratwurst)


Meat
Of course you need meat to make sausages unless you want to make vegetarian sausages or "rabbit food" as I call it.
The meat you need can be found in the super-store or in the local butcher shop, which is better because you're promoting the local busines's and farmers. Plus the local butcher will very likely give you tips on making sausages when asked and share his knowledge with you. If you buy ground beef or pork, depending on the sausage recipes, you are already halfway done with sausage making.
If you own a meat grinder, a kitchen model electric or hand driven will do nicely. You can buy the "on sale" beef and/or pork and cut and grind it yourself.
To make sausages you do not need to buy Canadian Grade A, AA, AAA, or PRIME. The best cuts  sausage meat are from the shoulder, neck, ribs, shank and the like. Most of the pork needed to make sausage is medium lean to fat; that would be the neck, shoulders and side of pork. However, do not mistake lesser quality and cheap for secondary meat quality. A sausage is not the butchers garbage can, as some people mistakenly believe. Like with everything quality wise, you only get the quality out you put in to it.

Spices and Seasoning
Most spices you will need for sausage making you probably already have in your kitchen. But you can also buy ready made up sausage spice mixtures in most outdoor sport stores or from butcher supply companies. (see link from "Stuffers" on this page's left hand column or on the bottom of the page). The most important ingredient you need is sodium nitrite. This salt based ingredient will preserve the sausage and stop bad bacteria growth and the deadly micro organism Clostridium botulinum.
Sodium nitrite also will make sure that the sausage will stay in a nice natural reddish colour and not turn to a gray colour when cooked.
The important aspect of making sausages is to stick carefully to the recipe. Never use more or less spices and seasoning than the recipe askes for. You have to be exact or the sausage looses "balance" in the taste and quality. My twin brother, also a masterbutcher and top sausage maker, has won many medals and awards for his sausages and yes, he is a stickler to exact amounts and taste balance. Some spices compliment each other while others fight each other.

Equipment
I will now cover the machines needed for making sausages primarily from scratch. It should be noted that sausage mixture recipes are not just for sausages! These recipes can also be used as a basis for meat paddies and meat sauces. Bear this in mind when assesing what machines you want to purchase. For traditonal sausage making there are 3 basic machine requirements:

Meat Grinder
Obviously when buying pre-ground meat a grinder will not be necessary but if you plan on making sausages on a regular basis this is the most important machine to consider.  Grinders come as electric or hand driven units and most come with a sausages stuffing attachement. These units can cost as little as $ 100 for hand driven models or as expensive as $ 3000 for bigger electric ones. I do not recomend the small hand driven meat griders for around $40 to $50. First, this little gadgets can't handle more than a handful of meat and second most are of such bad quality that the knife disc does not cut the meat but rather mushes the meat up into a pulp. This is not desirable for sausage making, the ground meat has to be loose and light not a sticky pulp like mess.

Sausage Stuffer
Since many grinders come with a simple stuffing tube attachment independent sausage stuffers are not really necessary for the hobbyist sausage maker but if you do find you are making lots of sausages this machine will cost upwards of $200.  The independent stuffers advantage is that it allows for more control in the consistancy of the end product.

Sausage Casings
Of course if you have a stuffer you need something to stuff the sausage mixture into. It's called the casing and these come in three varieties. There are the natural hog intestines, the artificially created ones made from animal skins and finally a variety of plastic and plastic related materials. Personally I like to stick with natural  hog, cattle and sheep intestines.

Smoker
You can buy smokers that are made for indoor use, the so called "smokeless" ones or the outdoor smokers which use wood chippings to smoke. The prices vary from  $200 to $ 3000 and more. But you can make a smoker very easily with an old oil drum or even use your BBQ grill. I happen to like the real smoky taste of naturally smoked sausages and therefore use natural smoke. I often add herbs, dies berries, oak nuts and different pine needles and cones to the sawdust or wood chippings to add that special flavour I desire for a particular sausage. At home in Switzerland we smoked some choice bacon and ham with shredded up old red wine oak barrels. The taste and smell of these bacons and hams was unsurpassed in all of Switzerland and won us many medals and prices.

Assorted Materials

You need a medium to large mixing bowl; stainless steel, plastic, or what ever you have will do fine.

Sharp knives of course.

Spatula for scraping bowls out.

Twine for tying off sausages.

Measuring Cup preferably made of glass for good visibility and a set of measuring spoons.

A kitchen scale for weighing the meat, spices and seasoning you will need once you get "hooked" on making sausages in larger quantities,as most professional sausage recipes are made out in weight, rather than in cup and spoon measurements.

As you get better and gain experience you will probably begin to make larger quantities of sausages you will find that there other items you may want to purchase as you go along.

Procedure
Making sausages is not very difficult or even hard work but it is exact work. It is a work process in several stages and I could not say that one step needs more attention than another one. Each step has to be exact in order to achieve a quality product. Or, as my brother would put it, "Be careless about one little thing and you end up with dog food."
The normal sausage making process has five basic steps, these are:
-Selecting and preparing the meat.
-Selecting and preparing the spices and seasoning.
-Mixing the meat and spices in the right order and amounts.
-Choosing the appropriate casing and stuffing them.
-Smoking and/or cooking.(This is not valued for fresh sausages, the ones you will make at the beginning)
As I just said each of these steps need special attention.
The meat should always be "worked" very cool. An old butcher saying goes that the meat has the right working temperature when your fingers feel like falling off from the cold. Professional sausage makers like the meat just slightly frozen to work with  but they also use high speed machines that tend to warm up the meat quickly. For this same reason they add ice instead of water to keep the meat mixture cold. The hobby sausage maker should work with meat that is "fridge cold". Should the meat get warmer then put it back in the fridge, because if the meat gets too warm it will begin to smear and not bind properly.

Hygiene
Hygiene is the beginning and end-all when you work with meat or food in general. Before you start, wash your hands with soap and hot water. When you finish the job wash your hands again and everything else that you used with soap and hot water. This will take care of everything germ and bacteria related- you don't have to get paranoid and run around with antiseptic sprays, just use good old hygienic common sense, hot water and soap.
If you have a cut or broken skin on your hands wear rubber gloves. Not only will you avoid contamination of the meat or the meat giving you an infection but it will protect you from getting a really painful sore caused by  the salt and spices in the sausage meat mixture. Ever heard of or experienced what salt in an open wound can do?  Let me tell you, it hurts like hell for hours an can get really swollen. So it is better to wear rubber gloves when mixing meat and spices.

Conclusion
That's it.
That is basically all there is to it. Of course this is only basic information to make your mouth water. If you are really interested in making your own sausages you will find lots of good information on the Web. Visit your local book store as well- the cook book section will most likely have books on the subject. The World Wide Web is full of sausage recipes. Here I give you one of my simple bratwurst family recipes that you can try at home to get you started.  Let me know how it turned out.
I have put a link (below) from "Stuffers" a sausage supply company in Langley, B.C., Canada that has everything you need to make sausages. This is the company where I get my butcher and sausage supplies so you know they are good. Go give it a try and you will see it is fun to make your own sausages and they taste better too. Making your own sausages is not only fun but something the whole family, even children, can be involved. How better to spend quality time with the children and family than with preparing and making your own food. For them it is fun and education at the same time plus gives them a sense of appreciation for food and nature in general.


Good luck and have fun!

Bratwurst Recipe
(Swiss style)

Bratwurst is made from pork and veal. You can substitute beef for the veal. The recipe is based on a total of one pound of meat. You can work out the ratio for larger quantities.

60% (9.6 oz) Pork, 40% (6.4 oz) Veal The Pork is medium lean from the shoulder or neck. Veal can be substituted with beef.	1 lb
Salt	1 tsp
Onion Salt	1/2 tsp
Ground White Pepper	1/2 tsp
Marjoram	1/2 tsp
Parsley	1/2 tsp
Nutmeg	1/4 tsp
Celery Seed	1/4 tsp
Ginger	1/8 tsp
Mace	1/8 tsp
Cardamon	1/8 tsp
Red Wine	2 oz

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