But then a few weeks back, I heard about a free Sausage-Making workshop at Williams Sonoma on Granville. Every Sunday they put on a different cooking demo twice a day (11am & 2pm) - Jason and I opted for the later slot since it seemed like attendance would be much lower, and we were right. It was AWESOME and Dana, the instructor, was chock full of tips that I now use in my everyday cooking. While Carmen was glued to the counter as Dana chopped, fried, ground and seasoned, Keira was not-so-entranced and completely surrounded by expensive, breakable things... So while I wouldn't recommend bringing a feisty 3yr-old, an older kid or a babe in arms would be fine. And did I mention that you get 10% off everything in the store following the free workshop? Fun!
Later that week, Jason arrived at home with a 12lb frozen turkey to turn into sausage - he was so excited! After leaving it to thaw, it dawned on me that we would not be able to refreeze the sausage, and that 12lbs of turkey would make a heck-of-a-lot of sausage! So we decided to turn our normal Friday date night into a sausage-making extravaganza, and use the sausage for our daughters' birthday party the following day. No pressure, right?
I walked to Windsor Meats on Main Street to pick up some sausage casings, bought presoaked for 25 cents a foot - my disclaimer is that sausage-making is not for the faint of heart! If you want to make breakfast-size sausages, you opt for sheep intestines, but we opted for pig intestines for the bratwurst-size sausages. I bought 30 feet. This is what it looks like, washed and soaking - appetizing, no?
Armed with my Kitchenaid and the new grinder & sausage stuffing attachments that I bought for 10% off, we set off to work Friday afternoon. Jason's mad hunting skillz were quickly appreciated when faced with carving a raw and partially-frozen turkey. We opted to put the kidney & heart into the mix, and used both breasts (skin on) but only one leg. The other leg and wings were for dinner on Sunday night! Because we used a high-quality bird, we used the skin to add some fat to the mix (Dana tip), while some people might opt to add pork fat. I know, it sounds gross, but like I said - not for the faint of heart.
The meat grinder worked like a dream, and of course the beer-drinking that accompanied the grinding helped keep a festive date-night atmosphere! Add to that a healthy dose of sausage innuendo...
I opted to fry my mustard seeds and fennel seeds in a bit of butter, before adding some onion to the saute pan. I chopped some fresh thyme and rosemary from the garden, and then finished the seasonings off with dijon mustard and salt & pepper. This needed to cool before we added it to the meat.
One of the invaluable tips we learned in the demo was to mix everything together and then fry up a bit of the sausage mix to make sure it tasted good BEFORE stuffing 30 feet of casings. Makes sense, hey? But I've never thought about applying this to hamburgers, cabbage rolls, etc. Smart cookie, that Dana.
The next tip we learned was to make sure the meat was allowed to rest for 2-3hrs refrigerated before stuffing the casings. This allows the fat to congeal (gross) so everything sticks together, removing the need for any binding ingredients. The same principle can be applied to burgers, etc. Another great tip.
While the meat rested, our awesome teenaged twin babysitters arrived for their usual 2hr date-night stint. We headed out for a workout. Some people might think that is a lame date, but we really like it!
Upon our return, I pulled the Kitchenaid out and fitted the stuffing attachment on, then started setting up the casings after putting a bit of olive oil over the stuffing attachment to make it slippery (another great Dana tip). And yes, I know what it looks like - get your mind out of the gutter!
By about 10:30pm, we had 37 sausages. So not only was this a pretty fun experiment, it was also totally cost-effective! Because we used the whole bird for the stuffing, I think the sausages were also much healthier and better quality than what you would normally buy in the store. I'll admit that it's a two-person job, and still pretty time-consuming... but we still had fun!
And we have it on good word that the sausages were pretty darned tasty. Every single one of them was eaten the next afternoon!
