by Tasso » Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:54 pm
Hello nmroute66. I'm not aware of any intensive multi-day classes on sausage making. Most of the ones I've seen are 2 to 4 hours long.
For the longest time, I was in the same boat as you. I wanted to make sausages, but I was reluctant to give it a go for a variety of reasons. Mainly, I was afraid I'd produce something terribly unpalatable, or unsafe to eat. But after buying and reading a bunch of books, watching a bunch of videos on youtube, buying a lot of fine equipment and supplies that sat around gathering dust, and putting off actually trying my hand at making sausages for years, I finally just did it. And it worked. I had a blast, and everything came out fine.
I very recently made fresh Italian sausage for the first time. I was surprised at how easy it was, and not only that, my sausages came out tasting great. They are better than any of the commercial ones I'd ever bought. Maybe I'm biased, but I prefer to think they are so good because they reflect my own personal tastes. They don't look as pretty as I'd like. I need to work on getting a consistent fill in the casings. But by just planning it and doing it, I've conquered whatever it was that was holding me back. Now I'm planning my next sausage, which will be chaurice. I'm going to stick with fresh sausages until I get the hang of it.
I'd encourage you to watch videos, read books, read online, ask questions on the forum, and then just do it. Go for something easy like Italian sausage or some other simple fresh sausage for your first few attempts. As long as you keep everything clean and cold, you aren't likely to encounter any safety issues. Just do it. You'll see how simple it is, and you'll wonder what was holding you back.