NEVER freeze the sausage casings! This will have the effect of breaking them down when rehydrated and then they fall apart. Mine sit in a container with about half a cup of Kosher salt mixed in, and around them. They don't need a FS storeage. Its stored in the fridge at all times, when you're not using some. I pull out the tangled wad of casings from the container and seperate out what I need, the rest get put back in the container. Yes, a little bit of water can be added, but not to soak the casings, but to allow the salt to stick to everything, kind of like a slush. If I have too much casing that is soaking prior to stuffing, I just pass it through my fingers to remove the excess water and put the rest back into the container with a little added kosher salt. Some of my cases were as old as 6+ years before being used up, and I saw no difference in these compared to some I just bought. The FS isn't needed for the casings as the small amount of water and all that salt will help to preserve them. You can use the FS for both fresh or smoked sausages of all kinds. I made some pepperoni last year using the long dry process curing. It requires the other type of nitrate, and the sausages were just stuffed and dried in air for about a month. I prefer to buy whole spices and grind them when needed. That means whole peppercorns, coriander, mustard seed, etc. The reason I use dried onions and garlic along with fresh is because the dried don't add any water to the meats. I also use dried green and red pepper flakes as they are quite cheap and work just as good as fresh, again without added water. When storing the whole spices, pour them in pint or quart Ball jars and use a lid, along with the adaptor that comes with teh FS. This adaptor can allow you to pull a vacuum on the jar and seal it under vacuum all in one step. Avoid light when storing herbs and spices. Even for that, if its an herb (leaf based), most will lose flavor very fast, so buy fresh dried herbs when making the sausages. One kind I plan to make is a beef, with dried tomato powder and lots of basil. I might add garlic too. Some spices and herbs can keep a little longer well if stored in FS bags and frozen or refrigerated. Here, I don't bother, as I make so much, I usually run out of the spices before I run out of sausage that I make.

The sausage supply places I do business with have many books on sausage making and recipes. My favorites are- Alliid Kenco, Butcher Packer, and The Sausage Maker. These companies are great to do most business with. Its where I found the high melting point cheddar cheese in a fine diced cut, as well as the dried beer flavor. I use dried sweet green and red peppers in some of my Italian types. I NEVER try to get my sausages to look as white as store bought, thats just WAY TOO MUCH FAT!!! Instead, I use a litte water based fat replacer, as well as soy flour for 'fillers', but these are maybe a cup or two for 15 pounds of meat. I do not use pork FAT BACK or SALT PORK as these are both cured and salty. If gound and added to sausages, the melt and run out very fast, and leave a mealy, dry, wet sawdust consistancy to the sausgae meat. My sausages usually have about 25% prok fat ONLY. Also, for the chinese type, grind some fresh ginger and garlic, then add some of the Ah So Red BBW sauce for ribs. Its a really good sausage combination! Recently, I made about 300 Peking Ravioli (AKA Pot Stickers), and even used finely diced water chestnuts and water chestnut powder (instead of cornstarch) to firm up the filling once they were cooked in the pasta shells. I used to go to a site with about 500 recipes submitted by people all over. Many recipes were very similar except for the herbs amounts used. The site has since gone down. Wish there was another like it, but have not found any yet. Most of my various sausages are made from many different recipes, as I like to experiment with herbs and their combinations. Most of my batches of breakfast sausages are the same, however, with pepper, coriander, and sage as the basics. Polish Kielbasa are usually made with Marjorum, and garlic. The companies listed also have seasoning kits for most common sausage types. Butcher Packer has the dried beer and cheddar cheese.

Marg, The meat spread we make is made by taking a combination of cubed beef and cubed pork (anywhere from 50-50, to 2/3 - 1/3 beef to pork). I usually use stew beef and cut up a couple pork steaks. Put the meat in a stock pot with a couple medium sized quartered onions, salt and pepper. Just cover the meat with water, bring to a simmer, covered and let simmer until meat is fork tender. We then take the meat (and some onion if you like) and run it through a meat grinder. Lately I have been using a food processor, works just as well and allot quicker. After the meat is ground/processed, I put it in a container, and pour the strained stock over the meat, stirring and letting it settle until the meat is saturated with the stock. When it's done right, you should be able to push the back of a spoon into the top of the mixture, and see a little of the stock form a pool. We then put it in the refrigerator for the stock to congeal. It becomes a great meat spread for sandwiches. We also have a condiment spread that tastes great with it. Meat Spread Sauce Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1/2 Cup Cider vinegar 4 tablespoons Sugar 1 tablespoon Mustard 1 teaspoon Cornstarch 1 tablespoon Flour 1 teaspoon Salt 1 Egg 1. Add Vinager, Cornstarch, Salt, Sugar And Mustard To Small Sauce Pan. Heat To Low Boil And Stir Until Smooth. 2. Beat Egg In Cup, And Stir Into Vinager Mixture Slowly As It Boils To Thicken.

Funny, Ginger, your name popped right into my head when I read the cream in this recipe. It is similar to the Vodka Sauce that I make but no sausage......sounds like it would be a great addition.