Home Sausage Making

Stuffing sausage casings for the first time can be intimidating. But fear not. Here are the basics.

If you don’t have sausage casings you can purchase them here..

Preparing the Casing

After your casing has soaked for one hour to overnight, find the end, and dry it with a paper towel for easier handling. Then, slip the end over your kitchen faucet and turn on the cold water. Allow the water to run through the casing.

If it will not fit over the end of the faucet, use your (hopefully dexterous) fingers to hold the casing open while the water runs through. Either method will make the casing easy to slip over the end of the sausage stuffer.

Setting Up

Make sure there is plenty of room in front of your work station so that the filled sausage has somewhere to go.

Place the open end of the casing over the stuffer attachment on your grinder (it may be helpful to lubricate the tube with a little vegetable oil first). Gather most of the casing up onto the nozzle leaving the last inch or so un-bunched. Begin feeding sausage through the machine until it comes out in a steady stream. This prevents the machine from spitting air bubbles into your casing. Once the sausage has reached a consistent flow, stop it. Pull a two inch tail of casing off the sausage stuffer and carefully double-knot it (try not to introduce too much air). This knot will form one end of your first link.

Filling the Casing

Make sure the knot is right at the end of the tube, and hold the casing loosely at the end of the stuffing tube with one hand and resume the flow of sausage, allowing the sausage to fill the casing as you turn the grinder’s crank with your other hand (if you’re using a manual).

You will need to control the speed of the process as the force of the sausage will cause the casing to pull off of the tube. Keep one hand on and/or near the end of the tube at all times to prevent it from slipping off, and to make sure it fills evenly. Do not over or under fill. It sounds tricky, but you should get a feel for it within a few minutes; just be patient. It also helps to have a partner.

Tieing Off

Add another length of casing if you should run out. Don’t forget to re-lube.If you run out of meat, let the casing rest undisturbed on the tubing while you add more. Then resume stuffing.

If your sausage has air pockets remove by gently working them towards the open end of the sausage. As a last resort, you can prick them out with a toothpick.

Once you are satisfied, it’s time to turn the sausage roll into sausage links. Simply determine the length you want your first sausage and gently depress the sausage at the end of that length using your thumb and forefinger. Then, simply hold the sausage on either side of the depression and gently twist until a link forms. Don’t get overzealous; it’s not as easy as it sounds. Go slowly until you get the hang of it. Repeat until the sausage is all linked. You may snip them apart or leave them attached.