Country sausage

washman · Nov 24, 2016

Growing up in Indiana, whilst I often preferred bacon for breakfast, as I got older I enjoyed some good old country sausage. I hated biscuits and gravy as a child but once I hit 10 or 11, I really started to enjoy it. A lot I might add. I make it to this day and while I don't eat it often, it really is a treat when done right.

One thing I have noticed is the rather precipitous decline in the quality of store bought sausage. Regardless of the brand, anymore it smells rather strange and tastes like......well crap. Jimmy Dean, Bob Evans, Old Folks, Tennesee Pride, Eckrich...........all of them have really declined. Browsing the ingredients, I see now they've added water(!) MSG, BHT BHA and often times artificial color. Ugh. And the links are even worse, a concoction of all kinds of crap that is unappetizing.

We raised our own hogs for 5 years, basically for our own meat. We were not professionals by any stretch but we had Landrace and Chester whites. They were fed ground corn, hickory nuts, acorn nuts, along with a steady supply of "slop" from the kitchen......egg shells, coffe grounds, leftover lettuce, etc. We inoculated them against disease but that was it. They got to slaughter weight as nature allowed.

And let me tell you, that was without question, the finest pork ever. No they were not Berkshire heritage breeds or poland chinas but they were as natural as one could raise. Pork chops with FAT! Fork tender roasts. Ham steaks naturally smoked. Bacon that kept its size in the pan.
And of course pure wholesome sausage. Whole hog pork with spices and sugar some salt and that was it. It was somewhat a coarse grind but it fried up wonderfully. Tender, delicious, I get nostalgic for it at times. Like now.

We took our hogs to Myers Frozen Food Previsions in St Paul Indiana. The hog you brought it was the hog you got back. No switchout with other hogs. You got pure lard in 1 gallon pails. Jowl bacon. Trotters. Salt pork fat back for beans. My goodness it was a bonanza.

Around 3 years ago, dad and I were reminiscing about the "good old days" when sausage was the real deal not the garbage of today. Well being an intrepid sort, I put google to work to see if I could secure some proper country sausage. After a lot of looking, phone calls, emails, I found a place in NC called Neeses. And they ship too! While it is not cheap by any means, it really is a treat to have fresh sausage made the old way delivered to your door. Well dad agreed to be the guinea pig. They day his arrived, he fried up some, called me and said I have an order of 5 lbs on the way to you. Really? yes! He said it was that good and 99% close to the sausage from our own hogs 30+ years ago.

I usually get the extra sage variety but their regular is very good too. Cooks up wonderfully, does not get tough and gnarly in the fry pan. Makes very good gravy too. Spoon that over some baking powder biscuits and color me happy.

Attached is a photo of the extra sage. Pay close attention to the ingredients. Notice what is NOT listed! That says it all.

Does anyone else go ga-ga for country sausage?

imperial70 · Nov 25, 2016

mmmm sausage fest

norgeway · Nov 25, 2016

Neeses

Is the ONLY sausage and bacon I will use, as close to homemade as you will get, good lard is harder to find, the slaughterhouses pay no attention to important details such as if a hog is in heat or not...if you kill one in heat you will NOT have lard fit to eat, also, if you kill one without consulting your almanac to see what is the proper sign of the moon, you might have sorry lard and meat, a little thing as the moon phase can really make a difference, I wont even go to the dentist without checking the almanac, try having dental work done with the sign in the head,,,,you will see how important it is.

mikael3 · Nov 25, 2016

The annual tradition of hog-killing had died out in our family a few years before I was born, so I missed out on what is probably one of the most important cultural events in rural America. I’m really sorry I never got to be a part of it.

Through the years, there were some neighbors who kept up the old ways. Going home for Thanksgiving back in the ’90s, I was shocked and excited to see a hog raised up on a kid’s swing-set, split wide open, and being hosed down by the owner. I wanted to stop the car and join in, but that seemed a bit strange, so I didn’t.

Every Thanksgiving, my great-aunt would remind me that in her childhood, Thanksgiving Day meant only one thing: hog killing. Always the coldest day of the year, as she recalled it!! The family, adults and kids, spent the whole day on it. The men killed, drew, and cleaned the hogs (our family always raised two back then), and they salted the hams, shoulders, and bacon.

Then the work went over to the women, who ground everything up for sausage—using those impossibly difficult hand-grinders. They fried the patties all day long, stacked them hot in large Mason jars, covered them with boiling lard, snapped them shut, and then set them upside down for the lard to solidify and seal in the meat. The meat keeps till warm weather like that, which is shocking to all modern Americans with their fake allergies and made-up diseases.

My aunt remembers getting care packages at university, with jars full of sausage, and she and friends would dig into the lard and pull out the sausage without even heating it!! She was very popular for sharing those treats!!

norgeway · Nov 25, 2016

My Grandparents

Canned sausage exactly the same way, it kept fine and was fantastic..But She liked it HOTT!!!

mikael3 · Nov 25, 2016

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I make my own sausage now, because as everyone here seems to agree, it’s almost impossible to buy anything worth eating. I grind my own meat, always shoulder. I have a few different spice mixes that I use, but I am always interested in hearing what other people do to create that old-time taste. This is my mix for hot sausage, which I like; but I do think it’s missing something, and it isn’t quite the old-fashioned flavor I’m looking for. Dried garlic or onion would probably help. A mix of chiles might also be good: paprika and cayenne with the chile flakes. I just haven’t had time to work on the recipe.

For 2 lb ground pork, with a good mix of fat. All the spices are ground:



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1 Tbs salt

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 Tbs dried sage

½ tsp dried oregano

⅛ tsp cloves

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes



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It would be great to hear from anyone willing to share their recipes.

[this post was last edited: 11/26/2016-00:00]

washman · Nov 26, 2016

some of the old sausage commercials are fun to watch on youtube.

gyrafoam · Nov 26, 2016

Pork is something I have not eaten in years, however, all the folks around Roanoke seem to prefer that Neese's Brand, so it must be good. I see their trucks driving around town pretty often.

The last fresh-off-the-farm place I remember in Atlanta was the old Kwik-Pik IGA down on Stewart Ave. in Hapeville. Like the old Matthew's Market on Roswell Rd.---- Long gone by now, I'm sure!

perc-o-prince · Nov 27, 2016

Breakfast sausage

John, Here's the one I've been tweaking over the past couple of years:

3# ground pork
5t rubbed/ground sage
1.5T kosher salt
2t ground pepper
1t ground nutmeg
1t red pepper flakes
2.5T dark brown sugar

Chuck

Country sausage

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