Sausage!

This is Shanna and Shawn's fault.

They told us Jamie Oliver's story about 

pink slime. 

I now need to grind my own meats.

But the up side to this is that I can control the 

fat, filler and salt in my ground meats.

That's good, right?

So here you have my first foray into

Ground Meat Land:

Italian Sausage

It smells amazing!

It is going to fulfill it's destiny in a Timbale tonight.

I cruised the internet, 

picked Maggie's brain and 

consulted with Chef Brian at Relish 

for sausage making tips.

Here is what I have deduced:

Fennel seeds, classic, toast them first.

There is a long list of herbs and spices to choose from;

parsley

basil

garlic

paprika

red pepper flakes

Anise

red wine

salt pepper

And that's just the assortment I wrote down.

I went with fennel,

garlic, fresh basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

You cut all the meat very small and mix it with 

your seasonings and refrigerate overnight before grinding.

I don't know why but that seemed to be a consistent instruction.

I cut most of the outer layer of fat away and then 

threw a little bit back in. 

The meat should be VERY cold before you grind it so I gave it 20 

minutes in the freezer beforehand.

Pork butt and pork shoulder are the same difference?

Not on me but I guess on a pig?

You grind twice, once coarse and then fine.

Oh, and one of these, 

HUGE!

Thanks to my sister who likes to get the biggest,

bestest of everything.

She and Dave will be our dinner guinea pigs, 

er, no, 

GUESTS tonight.