Making homemade sausage is not as daunting and difficult as it may sound. Sausage is really just a mixture of ground meat, fat, salt, pepper, other spices, herbs, onions, peppers or other diced foods. Have you ground your own hamburger meat? If so, making homemade sausage is just a few easy steps before grinding the meat.
The best sausage balances the ratio of meat, fat and spices. Store bought sausage can contain up to 50% fat, however, you can reduce the fat amount to 25% to 35%, if desired, and still produce great tasting sausage. Sausage fat below 20% is not recommended as a certain amount of fat is needed to impart good flavor and help bind the meat links together.
Equipment Needed
A meat grinder. If desired, a sausage stuffer and sausage casings. You do not have to use a sausage stuffer if making patties, however if making links, a sausage stuffer aids in producing well formed, tight links. Sharp knives Large bowls
Sausage Preparation
Put your meat in the freezer for up to 1-2 hours to get the meat very cold. Sausage is typically made with pork meat, but lamb, beef or wild game can also be used. Cut your meat and fat into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch slices. Put the slices into a bowl surrounded with ice to keep the meat cold. After cutting all the meat, mix the meat, fat and your desired spices together. Put the meat mixture back in the freezer for up to 30 minutes. Grind the meat mixture in your meat grinder. Use a medium to coarse grinding plate. If making sausage patties, form the ground meat into the patties and refrigerate before use. If making links, place a casing onto the sausage stuffer's tube. Leave a tail of at least 6 inches off the end of the tube for tieing off later. Let the sausage come out of the sausage stuffer in one long coil, you will make the actual links after you have extruded all of the meat. Make the links. With two hands, pinch off what will become two links and tightly spin the casing at both ends. Work the links until they are pretty tight. Tie off the excess 6 inches of casing that you previously allowed for. Refrigerate the links until you are ready to cook and eat.
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You don't have to be a business owner to own a commercial meat slicer for home use. Anyone these days can have top, industrial strength meat slicers for the average person. Whether it be you slicing a lot of meat for a big family household or that you demand higher slicing standards, you can own your own top commercial meat slicer for home use.
Before going out and just buy any big slicer, you need to do a little research. That means finding out the dimensions of the slicer, the specs, power, and so forth. The three categories of slicers are as follows: light duty for on occasion slicing, medium duty for intermediate slicing, and heavy duty for major, all day slicing.
The next thing to consider is pricing. By all means, commercial slicers are not cheap. They will normally run you around ,000 to ,000+ in most cases. This is one of the main hurdles towards owning a commercial slicer for home use. So if you don't have the funds, save up and wait a while. Stick with the consumer slicer until then.
The last thing to consider is where to put the slicer at home. The three best places to put a big slicer is near the sink for easy cleaning, on a kitchen island countertop, or on a heavy duty food cart or slicer cart. Anyone of these locations best suits for clearance, location, and accessibility in the kitchen.
Now that you have an idea on what to do to get a commercial meat slicer at home, you can go about and find one for your needs. Just remember to not rush into this as it takes a little time to find the right one.
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Swedish meatballs have long been a favorite appetizer served at parties, family reunions and holiday gatherings. This savory dish is simple to prepare and has an interesting history. Swedish meatballs are first mentioned in print in 1754 in a cookbook by Cajsa Warg. Meatballs were served to the wealthy, since beef was a luxury in Sweden and preparing the finely chopped meat was labor intensive until the meat grinder became available.
The traditional dish used meatballs made of pork or beef, cooked in a brown gravy, and served with lingonberry preserves. One look at the recipes online will tell you that there are many versions of this recipe, using anything from sour cream and cream soup to chili sauce and grape jelly. Nevertheless, historically, this dish was made to serve over buttered noodles. As time went on, it became a dish often served at smorgasbords and buffets. The recipe was brought to America by Swedish immigrants, who settled primarily in the Midwest.
Swedish meatballs became very popular in America at the beginning of the 20th century. It then declined a bit until it was once again revived in the 1950s through the early 1970s. Surely, many of us remember family gatherings with a big slow cooker full of meatballs and a pile of toothpicks nearby. Instead of being served over noodles, the meatballs became the quintessential appetizer to serve to a crowd.
Recipe for Swedish Meatballs
Serve this dish at your next potluck. It can be a main dish served over rice or noodles or a fantastic appetizer served with fancy toothpicks. This recipe is perfect to start before you go to work; it will be ready when you get home!
What You Will Need
1 pound frozen cooked meatballs 1 chopped onion 2 minced garlic cloves 2 cans of golden mushroom soup 1/2 cup water 1 cup sour cream 2 Tablespoons flour 1/4 teaspoon pepper
How to Make It
Place everything except your flour, sour cream, and pepper in a 3 or 4 quart slow cooker. Put on the lid and plug it in. Cook on the low setting for 6 to 8 hours.
Combine your pepper, flour, and sour cream in a small bowl. Mix until it is well blended. Add a spoonful of the hot liquid from the slow cooker. Use a whisk to blend it completely. This tempers the sour cream, raising its temperature slightly so it will not curdle when you add it to the slow cooker. Add the sour cream mixture to your slow cooker, stirring well the entire time until it is well mixed. Let the slow cooker continue to cook on low for another 30 to 40 minutes until the gravy is nice and thick.
Serve the meatballs over noodles, rice or mashed potatoes for a main meal. For an appetizer, serve right from the slow cooker or set them in a bowl. Guests can spear their own meatball with a toothpick. This is a great way to get your guests to interact with the food instead of just picking something off a tray. Leftover gravy can be sopped up with crusty bread.
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