Ye Olde Sausage recipes

[Parson Snows]

For those of you interested these recipes came from a 1750 publication
entiltled THE COUNTRY HOUSEWIFE'S Family Companion by WILLIAM ELLIS


Kind regards

Parson Snows

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Of making Sausages.

HOW to prepare Guts or Skins for filling them to make Sausages.--Sausages
are generally made with sheeps guts, and to prepare them right is the
chiefest part of the business: Many authors have wrote on making sausages,
but not one of them has told his readers how to prepare skins for them;
which deficiency I here undertake to supply, by giving a plain account of
it, as it is now in practice.--Take the fresh guts of a sheep, and cut them
into fathom or six foot long pieces; one parcel of guts will cut into six or
eight such pieces; stroke the dung out, and put them into water just to wet
them, then turn them inside-out, by the help of a stick, wash them, and
scrape a piece at a time as it lies on a table, with the back of a knife
drawn along the inside skin thus turned outwards, and it will come off in
two or three times scraping, and without breaking the gut, if it be rightly
done; and in the same manner, the outward skin with scraping will come off
at the end of the gut; then there will only remain the middle skin, that
will appear about the bigness of a wheat straw. And when all the pieces of
the guts are thus scraped, cleaned, and prepared, put them into water made
just lukewarm, for if it is too hot, they are all spoiled. Now in this
lukewarm water the guts must be washed clean; then put them into a glazed
earthen pot, with salt enough strewed over them, and they will keep sweet as
long as you please. And that the skins may appear truly fine and clear, put
one end to your mouth and blow it, and then you may easily perceive whether
the gut is entirely free of all outward skin or fur; for if it is nor, it
must be presently taken off.

How to prepare Pork Meat for making it into Sausages.-- The next thing is
to prepare the meat for filling the skins with it: For this purpose, a fine
hind loin of pork is the best part of a hog, though some make use of a fore
loin, but the former exceeds; yet there is a profit to be made sometimes of
a fore loin, which cannot be done with the hind loin, and that is, when
sausages are made in a town where gentry live, they sometimes bespeak and
buy the bones of a fore loin to broil, and then there is the more meat left
on them, because for these they generally give an extraordinary price, as
the sweetest meat lies next to the bones, and eat somewhat like that of a
spare-rib; otherwise the flesh is cut quite off from the bones, as clean as
can be well done. The meat, thus taken off the bones, must be cut into
little bits, and chopt as small as possible, till a whole bit cannot be
found in it bigger than a pea free of its skin, for the skin must be first
taken off the loin; and while it is chopping, four or five spoonfuls of
water must be now and then mix'd among the meat, for this will cause it to
chop the better, increase its gravey, make the sausages eat the more
pleasant, and if they are to be sold, will add to their weight. A secret
never yet imparted by any author whatsoever, in the exact method this is
done; and is of such importance, as occasioned a person to give out selling
sausages, merely for want of knowing this piece of good management.

How a Person set up to sell Sausages in a Market Town in Bedfordshire, and
broke for want of knowing how to make them in a right Manner.--One, that was
a thorough master of this business in this town, made great quantities of
sausages, which he not only sold in the market town he lived in, but carry'd
many to other places for publick sale; and as he sold these, with pyes, and
tarts, and other pastry ware, he got money apace, and lived in such a
manner, as tempted one of his neighbours to endeavour the same. Accordingly
this person began to make sausages, but not knowing how to mix water with
the meat in chopping, soon gave over his new employ, because his sausages
eat dryer, harsher, and were not near so good as the old Sandard's were.
There are indeed many receits how to make sausages: One in particular
says--The fillet part of a young hog chopt very small, and mixt in the
proportion of half a pound of fat to two pounds of lean, season'd with
pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and grated bread added to it, will make sausages,
if the meat is stuffed into the guts, with salt and water; but no mention is
made of what sort of guts, nor how they are to be prepared, nor how to mix
the water with the meat in chopping, and therefore is an imperfect one, for
meat cannot be chopt full small without watering it in chopping, and if it
be beat much to supply watering, the meat will be dryer and eat worse.

How to make compleat Sausages for Sale, or for a private Family.--The meat
being prepared as before mentioned, as it lies on the chopping block, we
grate white bread as small as possible, and sprinkle over it; which, when
mixed, hollows the meat, makes it go the further, weighs more, and makes the
sausages eat the pleasanter, half a pound of such grated bread is enough for
one loin of pork; then beat black pepper and Jamaica pepper, as much of the
one as the other, and mix them with salt, which sprinkle over the meat and
bread, and mix them well with the chopping knife: Then chop green sage very
small, and mix this likewise with the meat, though some dry it and rub its
powder in, but in this manner the sage is apt to lose some of its virtue;
therefore sage is kept dry in its leaves in winter, and chopt as the green
sage is, by which means the sage will make an agreeable green spotted
appearance through the gut when filled. The mass of meat being thus all got
ready, take an instrument, which we call a tin fill-bowl, made hollow and in
the shape of a syringe, only wider at top and narrower at bottom, about four
inches in length, an inch and half wide at top, and three quarters of an
inch wide at bottom. This being filled with the chopt meat, and the little
end put into the gut, the meat is forced into it by a finger pushing it
down; and when a pound of it is thrust thus into a fathom-long piece of gut,
and made all alike round, at every six inches in length a link is twisted
off, and a sausage compleated.--Thus, sausages may be made in a good and
cheap manner for a gentleman's, yeoman's, and farmer's family, clear of that
extraordinary expence that some receits may lead people into; as when
white-wine, eggs, oisters, and other chargeable ingredients are made use of:
Therefore, those receits that direct the making of sausages in a plain,
palatable, and wholesome way, must be the best for a private family's use,
as this which directs--To chop a leg of pork very small, and mix it with a
sufficient quantity of hog's hard fat, some Jamaica pepper, black pepper,
salt, marjoram, and sage, all cut and minced small, which being put into
sheeps or hogs guts, makes sausages.

To make Sausages as good as those from Bologna, according to the receit in
The Way to get Wealth.--Take, says this author, the fillets of young
porkers, three parts lean, and one fat, to the weight of five and twenty
pounds; season it well in the small shredding, and beat it in a mortar with
pepper and salt, a little grated nutmeg, and a pint of white-wine mixt with
a pint of hog's blood; then stir and beat it all together, till it is very
small; add a few sweet herbs, chopt small and bruised, as pennyroyal, sweet
marjoram, and winter savory; then with a whalebone bow open the mouths of
the guts you are to fill with this meat, and thrust it leisurely down with a
clean napkin, lest, forcing it with your hands, you break the gut. Make
divisions of what length you think convenient, tying them with fine thread,
and dry them in the air two or three days if it be clear and the wind brisk,
then hang them in rows at a little distance one from the other in your smoak
loft, and when they are well dried, rub off the dust they have contracted
with a clean cloth; anoint them over with sweet oil, and cover them with a
dry earthen vessel, and, either roasted or boiled, they will equal those so
much boasted of from this city in Italy.--Or make use of the gammon part of
a bacon hog, which shred small with a like quantity of lard and sweet herbs
as above; work it with red-wine and the yolks of eggs, till it becomes a
paste fit to be put into skins, so that the sausages ought to be as thick as
a child's wrist; then hang them up in a chimney, and when sufficiently
dried, they are ready to be eaten with vinegar and oil.--But to make these
Bologna sausages keep long, mix as much fat as lean of a porker, and then
add to it cloves, pepper, mace, salt, parsley, and sage, all shred small
into a paste and fill the biggest guts of a sheep, or instead thereof the
guts of an ox; then hang the sausages in a dry place not too near the fire,
and they will keep a twelve-month round; their usual size is a foot long,
and should be boiled just before eating.--Or Bologna sausages may be made
with the lean of beef, whereof the buttock part is best, and is chopt with
some bacon fat, and some beef suet, with pepper, cloves, mace, and a little
salt-petre and bay-salt, into a paste consistence, it will be fit to fill
large skins with; some add the powder of a few dried bay leaves: then dry
them in or near a chimney.

To make Sausages without Skins.--Take the leg of a young porker, and cut
all the lean free of skin and strings; then take two pound of beef suet, and
shred it small; this done, chop sage and onion, and mix them with pepper,
salt, and nutmeg; all which ingredients must be cut and minced small, and
when minced small enough, add the yolks of two or three eggs, and make the
compost into a paste: Now this paste may be kept sweet a fortnight, and when
used, it must be cut into the shape of sausages and fry'd.--Or take the
receit with this variation; make use of a leg of pork of a small size, two
pounds of suet from an ox, two handfuls of sage, the crumb of a two-penny
loaf grated, salt and pepper to your taste, and chop all pretty small
together; but, in the first place, be sure to cut out all skin and gristles,
and when all is well mixed together knead them into a paste pretty stiff
with the yolks of two or three eggs, and roll it (when you are ready to use
it) into the shape of sausages, and fry them.

How to preserve naked Sausages.--To make sausages for keeping them sweet
and sound some time, mix the meat pretty high with pepper, salt and herbs,
as before directed, then press it down in a glazed earthen pot very close,
and they will keep, if season'd enough, almost half a winter good. And when
such potted down meat is to be used, take some of it out, roll it in flower
in the shape of sausages, and fry them, or broil them: This is the most in
practice amongst farmers for their family uses.

How to preserve Sausages in Links.--If sausages in links are to be kept
some time, they may be so done by laying them in a glazed pot, and when they
are all placed in it, then pour on them salt water. This method is observed
in particular by those who make and sell sausages for their livelihood,
because if they cannot sell them quickly, they preserve them this way;
whereby the sausages may not lose any thing of their weight.--Another receit
says, make use of double the weight of fat to the lean of pork, and mix with
four pounds weight of this meat a nutmeg in powder, and as much cloves and
mace as the nutmeg, with pepper and salt; then chop a handful of sage, a
small parcel of thyme, and mix the whole with a handful of grated bread, all
mixed very small, and put into skins. Thus far the receits are pretty well;
but here is no mention made how to chop the meat with water, how to prepare
the skins, nor how to fill them, &c. &c.

To make Sausages by an old Receit.--It says, take the largest chine of
pork, and first with your knife cut the lean thereof into slices, and spread
it over the bottom of a dish; then take the fat of the chine, and cut it in
the very same manner, and spread it upon the lean; then cut more lean, and
spread it upon the fat; and thus lay one lean upon another fat, till your
quantity of pork is shred, observing to begin and end with the lean; then
with a sharp knife cut it through and through divers ways, and mix it all
well together; then take store of sage, and shred it exceeding small, and
mix it with the flesh; then give it a good seasoning of pepper and salt,
take the guts made as long as possible, and not cut in pieces as for
puddings, first blow them well to make the meat slip, and fill them; which
done, take thread, and with it divide them into several links as you please,
then hang them up in the corner of some chimney clean swept, where they may
take the air of the fire, and let them dry there at least four days before
any be eaten; and when they are served up, let them be either fry'd or
broiled on a gridiron, or else roasted about a capon.

Rabisha's Receit to make Sausages of Pork, or with the Flesh of a Fowl or
Rabbit.--Take pork, but not as much fat as lean, mince them exceeding small
together; then take part of the flair of pork in bits about the bigness of
the top of a finger, season it with minced sage, good store of pepper and
salt, some cloves and mace; then take small sheeps guts and cleanse them, so
fill them with your funnel, always putting some of the pieces of flair
between the minced; you may sprinkle a little wine on the top of your
sausage meat, and it will fill the better. I have made (says he) rich
sausages of capons and rabbits flesh, and could shew a receit for it; but
allow, that no flesh eats so savoury in a sausage as pork, by reason sage
and pepper are not so suitable to the other two sorts. Tie up the sausages
in links, and keep them for use.

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