My Papa (my dad’s dad), passed away a few years ago and we all miss him every day. Like my dad, he was a character. He would always joke with us, had his "sayings" and was just a great person through and through. When he was in his prime, he owned a store and a butcher shop, my dad grew up there, working, slicing the meat and making homemade sausage. Both him and my Grandma are great cooks, they were a team in the kitchen, Grandma would be the one standing over the stove stirring the sauce or making sure the roast is cooked to a perfect medium rare and Papa’s job was slicing the meat, preparing the meat, the meat, the meat, the meat. He even had an apron that was clean, yet pretty meat stained (I know kinda gross..but I miss that apron).
A few weeks back while visiting with my Grandma we got to talking about my blog, cooking together, and preparing homemade sausage. Now in the past I have made my own sausage with my handy Kitchen Aid Electric Mixer and Sausage attachment but it’s a lot of work…to my extreme surprise Grandma then offered me Papa’s old sausage making machine and the stories start there…
Completely elated and honored that she let me take home this amazing tool, I immediately called my mom to be my sous chef for the next weekend. I then got online and ordered sausage casings (which surprisingly are available right on amazon.com) and made sure my freezer and pantry were stocked with all the ingredients needed for success.
Pieces and Prepping of the meat...
Red Wine Reducing and Lots of Spices...
The Sausage Machine...
First...we grind the meat.
Second...we flavored the meat. We made Wine and Cheese Sausage, with reduced red wine, chunks of Parmesan cheese and a hint of rosemary and we made Classic Italian Sausage, slight spicy with fennel seeds, red pepper flakes and fresh garlic.
Third...we stuffed the casing, soooo easy.
Vacuum sealed for future enjoyment...
What a great day, we shared lots of laughs and stories about the past..we'd like to think there was an angel cooking with us that day.
Love you Papa…see ya when I see ya J
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