My three Gloucester Old Spots are off to slaughter on 10th April, so I'm in the process
of planning what to do with three 90kg-ish carcasses, making sure I have all the
ingredients required etc.
On the sausage front I'm after something fairly simple and unchallenging for the taste
buds of my kids (both under 3 years old), a more interesting selection of fresh sausages
for us -- perhaps a variety of "traditional" English styles and some more continental ones
too, and a variety of salamis and chorizo. I'd like to make black puddings, but only if I
can get some of the blood from the abbatoir. Next year I hope to have a smoker
fuelled from my own apple, cherry and oak prunings, so smoked sausages can wait
until then.
I've had a practice run making about 6lbs of sausages to a couple of fairly simple recipes,
but this time around I'll have a separate stuffer rather than using the mincer filling
attachment (which I found a little awkward because there's no way to effectively control
the speed the mix comes out at). I'm keen to avoid using pre-mixed seasonings and
ingredients because we'd like to source as much as possible from our own garden
(not entirely easy at this time of year, but we'll use what we have where it's possible).
Anyone care to recommend recipes for any of the above? Are there things I really
should try/avoid first time around? Are there any other "styles" of sausage I should
consider?
James