How to make Sausages. Part 1

OK. So you want to make your own sausages - Easy Peasy.

First you need 'The Book', the best one I've found, or rather was given for Christmas is 'The Sausage Book' by Paul Peacock. It's published by 'Farming Books and Videos' and it's funny code is ISBN 978-1-904871-17-0. It's full of useful easy-to-understand tips as well as some demon recipies (more of that later) as well as some great contacts for supplies e.g. http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/ who I've used for bits and pieces. Another book, American, is 'The Sausage-Making Cookbook' by Jerry Predika, published by 'Stackpole Books', Ref: ISBN 0-8117-1693-7, it has loads of recipies as well as serious advice on curing and smoking.

You need a machine.

I bought the Anthony Wirrel Thompson Meat grinder and Sausage maker in Argos for about 100€. It's electric and does the business and can also provide you with great mince for meatloaf, burgers and so on, the BEAUTY being that you decide what to put in it. I regularly make 20K+ of sausage with this at one go and it's held up for a year. You can also get hand-crank mincers in any good hardware shop, make sure they provide the all-important nozzels for sausage stuffing