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Guacamole Burger

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Who knew the same Mexican flavors you love taste great on a burger? The guacamole adds a great creamy avocado base, while the subtle flavors of the Grill Master Seasoning make the burger patty itself take center stage.



INGREDIENTS
1 brioche bun
1 beef patty
1 tbsp Grill Master Seasoning from The Sausage Maker
1 can fire roasted corn, heated
2 tbsp. Guacamole (store-bought or homemade)
Red onion slices
Tomato slices

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Pat patty with seasoning on both sides. 
  2. Heat in a saucepan with oil or in a grill and cook to your liking. 
  3. Stack the burger with the beef, guacamole, fire-roasted corn, onion, and tomatoes. 

Spicy Italian Burger

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Italian flavors aren’t limited to just pasta. They go great inside burgers too combined with pepperoni and arugula salad. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette if you want to take this burger up a notch!



INGREDIENTS
1 beef patty
1 tbsp Spicy Italian Seasoning from The Sausage Maker
1/4 cup arugula
1 slice provolone cheese
3 slices pastrami or pepperoni
1 brioche bun
2 tomato slices
Onion slices
Olive, optional

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Heat in a saucepan with oil or in a grill and cook to your liking. 
  2. Heat saucepan with oil or using a grill, cook beef on one side then flip over to heat the opposite side. Cook until it’s cooked to your liking. 
  3. Add a slice of cheese and remove from heat.
  4. Stack burger with arugula beef, pepperoni, tomatoes, onions and garnish with an olive, if desired.

How to Dry Age Beef at Home

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At the Sausage Maker, we are big fans of meat. We want to help our fellow enthusiasts get the highest possible enjoyment out of a great piece of meat, whether that means recommending the perfect blend of spices and casing; providing the best sausage recipes from around the world; or showing you the newest and most on-target processes, tools, and advice for turning a good cut of meat into a fantastic example of a hand-crafted link. And while we love sausage, of course, there are other ways to go about enhancing a great cut of meat. Curing, smoking, brining, or any other way you can encourage meat to achieve its full, glorious flavor potential is fair game (get it?) for us.

Dry Aging vs. Wet Aging Beef

Which brings us to one of the oldest and most prestigious methods for intensifying the flavor of meat: aging. More specifically, aging cuts of beef. As many of our biggest fans may know, there are two generally accepted methods or styles for aging beef: dry aging and wet aging, with the former being the clear “older sibling” of the pair. Meat has been aged “dry”—also called “hanging out” or just “hanging”—for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The process involves leaving cuts of meat exposed to air (these days, also under refrigeration) for between 7 and 30 days. “Wet” aging has come about comparatively recently, made possible by technological advances in vacuum sealing and temperature control. In this method, the meat is sealed into airtight plastic packages and left in refrigeration, for usually slightly less time. The difference is that nothing gets in or out of the package—moisture, air, or microbes—and so it needs less management.
The key to both approaches is allowing for enzymes naturally present within the meat to break down the tissue, leading to more tenderness. There is also a change in flavor, with wet aging somewhat intensifying the meat flavor while retaining more of the “metallic” taste associated with fresh meat, whereas dry-aged meat develops a deeper, more concentrated flavor sometimes described as “nutty”, or even with a sharpness occasionally likened to that of blue cheese. There’s plenty of debate about which approach is “better”, and to some extent this will reflect the taste of the individual (whether one prefers the “metallic” flavor of wet aging over the stronger, “nutty” taste produced by dry aging). But in general, the argument comes down to this: Dry aging is the more traditional method, which produces a better, more complex taste and feel, while wet aging is easier, cheaper, and faster, but doesn’t result in meat that is as tasty or tender.

How to Dry Age Steak at Home

So what do we recommend, aging-wise? Well, for dry aging, the Sausage Maker’s digital dry curing cabinet can produce very fine, steakhouse-quality dry-aged steaks (as well as helping you cure salami, capicola, and other sausages). If you’re a serious DIYer, you might even consider building your own with the help of our step-by-step dry aging chamber guide. For those on a more restricted budget, however—or those who want to dip a toe into the dry-aging waters before taking the full plunge—we recommend UMAi Dry aging bags. This product, created by UMAi Dry (also makers of high-quality sausage casing kits) is a single-use, sealable bag in which home chefs can age meat in a standard refrigerator.

How Do Dry Aging Bags Work?

The approach of sealing individual cuts of meat into clear plastic bags and aging them that way may seem similar to wet aging, and this has led to some confusion about the real nature of the UMAi Dry bags. The key difference is permeability to both water and air. The UMAi Dry bag allows moisture to escape from the meat in much the same way it would from a cut hanging or sitting on a rack in a dry-aging cabinet, and unlike a standard wet-aging bag (where part of the point is to have the meat sit in its own serum during aging). At the same time, the UMAi bag allows oxygen from the air to flow past the meat surface while keeping out larger-moleculed air components like nitrogen, as well as harmful microbes. This combination results in a dry-aged style cut, with the shrinking (and flavor concentration) associated with traditional cabinet-style aging, as well as the thick crust on the outside of the meat. Take a look at this demonstration from our friends at Ballistic Barbecue:


And here’s a great grill technique for those steaks once they’ve finished aging:

So what’s our final verdict on aging? In our estimation, UMAi’s dry bag introduces a “third way” between traditional dry aging (in a cabinet) and standard wet aging (in non-permeable sealed bags). Although all three methods have their pros and cons, we think the UMAi bags give the budget-conscious home chef who prefers the taste and texture of dry-aged meat an option that doesn’t require the time, space, or cash outlay of a full dry aging cabinet.

Sunnyside Burger

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How do you like your eggs? In a burger, of course. Add a little sweet potato for extra texture and thousand island dressing to tie it all together.

Sunnyside Burger
















INGREDIENTS
1 beef patty
1 brioche bun
1 tbsp Spicy Garlic Seasoning by The Sausage Maker
1 egg
1 cup sweet potato fries, frozen
1 slice American cheese
Thousand island dressing
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
     1. In a small pan heat oil on low and add the egg.
     2. Cook on low until the sides turn white.
     3. Remove from pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
     4. Cook sweet potato fried according to package directions, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
     5. Pat patty with seasoning and add to a heated pan with oil or cook over the grill until done.
     6. Add cheese to the top of patty.
     7.  Stack the burger with thousand island dressing, beef, fries and top with the egg.

Up in Smoke: A Guide to Meat Smokers & Techniques

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Here at the Sausage Maker, we’re interested in all sorts of ways of preparing and enhancing meat. One of the oldest and most well-loved is, of course, smoking. Cheech & Chong jokes aside, smoking has long been one of the more popular meat-cooking methods, and it’s deeply embedded in the American barbecue tradition.

Why Smoke Meat?

The practice of smoking meat most likely began in prehistoric times as a method of preservation. Since then, it has developed into an art form with deep roots in the cuisines of many cultures, and several different well-honed approaches have evolved to shape the smoking landscape.
Today, smoking meat—mainly cuts of beef, pork ribs, whole birds like turkeys, and (of course) homemade sausages—is accomplished by one of several primary methods, using different combinations of heat source and structural design. Below is a breakdown of those methods by fuel and build (leaving aside the large, trailer-based, professional rigs, which are a bit beyond the purview of backyard or basement smoking enthusiasts).

Ways to Smoke Meat

Charcoal Smokers

The old reliable briquet fire source for backyard grills across the nation is also the fuel of choice for several of the most popular smoker styles:
o   Bullet: Named for its shape, which is often more like a giant pill tablet (with domes at the top and bottom), this popular smoker is usually fitted with a water/drip pan to help with temperature regulation and humidity.
o   Drum: Shaped like the converted 30-gallon drum smokers it evolved from, these smokers look tough (and can be made at home from scratch) and have bigger capacities than bullets, but can be more fickle in terms of temperature and environment control.
o   Offset: This style has a fire chamber set off to the side and slightly lower than the meat containment area. They look serious, and the higher-end ones can be effective, but the fact that the smoke and heat need to go sideways (against their thermodynamic instincts) means these smokers can be tricky to operate.
o   Cabinet: Looking like a steel safe with a front-opening door, these can be easier to use (if not to transport) than the other charcoal models. The design improvements definitely come at a cost premium, however.


Propane Gas Smokers

Propane is popular as an easily controllable grilling fuel. With propane smokers, cabinet-style is basically the only option, although size (and price) can vary widely. Although most barbecue restaurants use industrial-sized versions of these gas-powered smokers, they are not allowed at barbecue competitions.


Electric Smokers

These are also easily controllable, and also basically only come in one style: the cabinet.Using electricity for your smoker means adding an element like wood chips—something has to burn, after all—which the electric coils heat to produce both the smoke and the humidity necessary for smoking. Once this preparation is complete, however, it’s relatively easy to use an electric smoker. In contrast to the charcoal, wood-pellet, and even gas style, these smokers, especially at the higher end of the market, are truly “set it and forget it”.
There are also a few popular combo designs, like the “egg” style, which can be used both for smoking and for grilling, often simultaneously. Some of these use charcoal, while others are fueled by “pellets”—hardwood pods of compressed sawdust. For smaller jobs (not generally involving cuts of meat, but more for adding a smoky flavor to sauces, butter, and other ingredients), there are handheld smokers which burn sawdust, herbs, or other flammables and “shoot” smoke, which can be used for flavoring. There are also stovetop designs into which you can load small cuts of meat and sawdust (in different compartments) and then just put the whole thing on your stove or grill.


What’s the Best Smoker to Buy?

As with any meat-related topic, there are a wide variety of strongly held opinions about smokers based on everything from taste to cost to convenience. At the Sausage Maker, we’ve chosen to focus on gas and especially on electric smokers. Although charcoal smokers remain popular, we find that charcoal needs a lot of attention during the smoking process: Coals can either go out or get too hot, and the controls for the damper or chimney can be finicky and hard to learn and get used to. Over the course of an 8- to 24-hour smoking session, this can be demanding. And for smoking sausage in particular, charcoal tends to create too much direct heat, sealing the sausage and keeping it from absorbing the smoke flavor throughout, so that the smokiness gets concentrated on the surface. Despite the obvious advantages of electric, some chefs remain attached to their charcoal smokers, perhaps for reasons of tradition and familiarity as well as taste preference. For a thoughtful discussion and debunking of some of the prevalent myths about electric smokers, check out this article from House of BBQ.
As for the taste question: There are plenty of intricate online discussions and arguments about smokers—stylistic ones about “classic” smoking approaches and methods, and more scientific ones about what gases and other smoke elements are produced by which combinations of fuels and heat sources, and what ends up creating better (tastier, healthier, more tender, better-barked) smoked meats. With plenty of meticulous attention to design and based on our long experience, we’ve created a line of electric smokers that deliver authentic, delicious smoked taste while also providing superior control and convenience for the home chef.
For example, our 30 lb. Digital Country Style Smoker features:
  • Grade-A 1.25” non-sagging insulation
  • 304 grade, 22-gauge stainless steel (very durable and heavy-duty, unlike the 400 series used for many cabinet smokers)
  • Huge 4” diameter industrial grade rubber casters for ease of movement
  • High-quality electronics
  • A unique, removable, peaked-roof design that increases the vertical hanging space and allows easy top-down adjustments during smoking
  • A Bluetooth-enabled, smartphone-compatible temperature control feature

You can explore all of our smoking cabinets here, and whatever method you choose, happy smoking!

How to Make Coppa/Capicola at Home

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This coppa tutorial is for those who have dabbled in the dry-cured and want to take it to the next level. We’ve aimed to make one of the more intimidating dry-cured recipes worth trying at home with step-by-step instructions, from ingredient prep to stuffing into beef bungs to the aging process, with plenty of tips along the way. We hope our guide encourages you to try your hand at homemade coppa to share with your loved ones. Buon appetito!

What’s the Difference Between Coppa and Capicola?

Coppa and capicola are two terms for the same kind of dry-cured meat. They can pretty much be used interchangeably, with one small caveat: Coppa originated in a region of Italy called Emilia-Romagna, while capicola was developed in Calabria. Either way, the meat comes from a muscle in the hog’s neck and gets dry-cured, then sliced thin for eating. You might also hear this cut referred to as capocollo (the most direct combination of the words capo and collo, which mean head and neck in Italian), capicollo, or even gabagool.

Can You Age Meat at Home?

An important thing to consider when making coppa at home is whether you have an environment that will encourage the best possible aging process. You may need to look around and see if you have a place (often a cellar or basement is fine) that during the late fall or winter months will hold temperatures from 50-59F and moderate-to-high humidity of about 70-80%. If the temperature is reachable but humidity needs a boost, consider a humidifier and/or humidity controls to get it just right. The Sausage Maker also makes a Dry-Curing Cabinet for the ease of set-and-forget.

Coppa Recipe

Note:Everything but the meat is available at end of the tutorial.

Supplies You’ll Need:
100mm collagen pre-tied casings OR beef bung
Note: Have backup collagen casings in case the beef bung tears and can’t be used.
Rub Mix
Compact food lug w/cover
#24 netting roll
Plastic wrap
Sharp knife
Food scale (10 lbs max)
Sausage pricker
Manual OR spring-loaded pliers
1/2” hog rings
Bactoferm Mold-600 (protects the surface from contamination)
Bactoferm B-LC-78 (protects the meat from spoilage bacteria)

Ingredients You’ll Need:
10 lbs pork butt/shoulder (AKA “Boston butt”)
Cure Mix
Capicola rub OR DIY coppa rub (per 5# coppa)
·         1 Tbsp crushed red pepper
·         1 Tbsp coarse black pepper
·         1 Tbsp Spanish paprika

Coppa Cure Mix Recipe (per 5# coppa):
4 oz salt – purified (non-iodized)
1 oz dextrose
1.5 tsp Insta-Cure #2
3 Tbsp coarse black pepper
3 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp Spanish paprika
2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

H2: Quick Tip on Buying Pork: Buy your pork from good local source and skip the chains and mega-marts. A quick search online will help find a local butcher, and if you’re in the area of one of our recommended meat markets, give them a try! If you talk and connect with your butcher, you’ll get the best quality cuts, support local business, and have an excellent final product to be extra proud of.

Phase 1: Prep Work (meat still in fridge)
Get your battle station ready, with your supplies in easy-to-reach places so you aren’t looking for them. Clean and clean some more—anything that will touch the coppa needs to be sterilized. Mix thoroughly all the ingredients from the cure mix into a clean container and set aside.


Phase 2: Cold Curing
Trim your butt and wrap it up!

Get the pork butt out of the fridge and trim away the fat cap on the surface. Cut it into approximately 2-lb pieces and trim away anything you don’t want to eat later. Leave the marbling intact and toss the pieces into the food lug. Season well with the cure mix by pouring it over the entire batch and rubbing it in thoroughly. Every nook and cranny of the meat should be visibly discolored by the paprika and peppers. Now plastic wrap each piece separately several times, pack the pieces side by side against each other into the food lug (stacking them is OK but no more than two high, and only if needed). Refrigerate for 30 days (not a typo).



During this month-long curing and marinating process, the salt, cure, cold and lack of oxygen nitrates to their more useful compound, sodium nitrite. This important stage will also allow the meat to develop shelf-stable properties under a more controlled refrigeration environment, instead of risking failure by hanging them right away in warmer, more vulnerable conditions.



will keep the meat from spoiling while the meat proteins gently begin to soften and absorb the spices and cure. The native beneficial bacteria in the pork also begins to break down

Keep the meat in an area that you will remember to check up on at least twice a week for any sitting “juices” in the bottom of the container that you need to drain periodically. You should also flip it upside-down and overhaul top pieces to the bottom if you have them stacked. Not much else to check on during this stage.

Phase 3: Stuffing
Day 29: Butts and bungs
First, get the capicola rub ready. You’ll either buy one from the Sausage Maker or make your own (recipe above). If you plan on using beef bungs, put them in cold water and in the refrigerator so they are pliable and ready for the following day.


Day 30: Pack ‘em and hang ‘em
Hope you remembered that coppa container that’s still in your fridge? Let’s get ready for the next big phase of the project. Prep your battle station again. Next, open both Bactoferms (Mold-600 and B-LC-78) and put them into separate containers. Add 1 tsp Bactoferm B-LC-78 to 4-6 oz of room-temperature distilled water and cover container to prevent contamination. Do the same with the Mold-600. Get the food lug with the coppa and beef bung (if using bung instead of collagen) out of the refrigerator.

Remove the coppa pieces from the plastic wrap and rinse them thoroughly under cold water. Spray or apply the Bactoferm B-LC-78 and then rub all pieces with the capicola rub or homemade mix. If you’re using collagen casings, soak them for only a couple of minutes in cool water. Jam each piece into the casings. Push pieces down to the bottoms of each casing and pack them in tightly. Be careful if you’re using beef bung casings so they do not burst under the force of stuffing. Once the casings are stuffed, feed them through the #24 netting roll and tie it off on each end. The netting helps gently squeeze air and moisture to the surface. Use a sausage pricker or sterilized needle to remove as many air pockets as you can, poking holes all over the coppa. Spray the surface with Bactoferm Mold-600, a quick coating on the entire casing.
Prior to hanging the coppa, document its weight with a calibrated food scale. When you hang it up for drying and aging, the final weight of your product should be at least 40% less than it was at the initial weigh-in

Ideally, hang first at 58F and 85% humidity for two days. This extra humidity will encourage the Mold-600 to grow and cover the surface of the coppa in a protective mold layer. Even if the mold has not shown yet, cool it down to between 50-55F and 70-75% humidity and hold at this setting for the rest of the recipe, which could be anywhere from 30 to 45 days. If the hanging area is small (<25sq.ft.), try to refresh that air or have a very small fan in the area to move air. If the area is larger, the movement is less important but some air movement is always helpful. This simply depends on whether the conditions were held somewhat constant and when you hit the right weight for shelf-stable coppa.

By the Way, What Is a Bacterial Starter Culture?

The B-LC-78 is a bioprotective culture that will encourage quality bacterial growth while discouraging harmful bacteria like listeria from growing to unsafe levels. The Mold-600 is penicillium nalgiovense, a beneficial/protective mold that will create a biological armor on the surface. The armor will protect against chance contamination of other native molds/yeasts and will help regulate the flow of moisture and prevent case hardening. It will also gradually increase the pH level of the meat over time (offsetting any ferment flavors that may occur) and it will add to the flavor and aroma of the coppa.

Say your grandpappy never used bacterial cultures and you still lived? Grandpappy, in the old country, used a method called “backslopping” to get those beneficial bacteria into the next batches. Backslopping requires removing some product from a batch that is already fermented and begun aging, removing it from its casing and mixing it in directly with the new batch prior to casing and hanging it. Same concept as making sourdough bread at home. While some villages may still use backslopping due to lack of access to starter cultures, it has been discouraged and even prohibited in much of modern production because it can increase the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Maybe grandpappy didn’t use starter cultures, but in our opinion he would have loved to, given the opportunity.

Phase 4: Hanging
Day 60!
About 30 days in is a good time to do the second weigh-in. At this point the coppa may have lost about 30-35% of its weight, and may still need a little more time to get to the optimal loss for stability and slice-ability. If it’s short of its desired weight, give it another weigh each week. If you’ve reached your desired target weight, congratulations! It’s time to give the coppa a good slicing, the thinner the better. Have a cheese board and crackers ready for the best snacking experience. For short-term storage, keep it in the solid state, bag and refrigerate. If you have a vacuum sealer, this would be the best time to slice, pack into vac-bags, seal and refrigerate for at least six months in storage (as long as the vacuum seal holds).

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial on making coppa/capicola at home! It really is not as tricky as it all may sound, and we’ve attempted to boil down the process to include only what we would consider best practices. This tutorial may not be for the beginner sausage maker, but if you are familiar with making soppressata or other dry-curing recipes, you will likely be more comfortable making this one.

As always, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call and we will do our best to help.


Sausage and Cider: Perfect for Fall

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Fall has arrived! With it comes a little chill in the air, a little color in the trees, and a little bit of pumpkin spice in everything (along with seasonal allergies if you’re among the unlucky). Fall also means it’s time for the apple harvest, and that always reminds us of hard cider.

Hard Cider History: Worldwide Favorite, American Classic

Even though it still may seem new—at least when compared with old favorites like beer—cider has actually been around for a very long time, with some strong-drink historians alleging that it dates back to at least 55 BC, when invading Romans found the local Britons drowning their sorrows in fermented apple juice. Even here in the states, hard cider was a staple as far back as colonial times. In fact, almost all the apples grown in America before the Revolutionary War were used for fermenting and drinking rather than baking or eating (Johnny Appleseed wasn’t thinking about pie). George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and other founding fathers all enjoyed their cider.
Here at the Sausage Maker, we appreciate well-crafted beverages, especially those with a strong and properly equipped DIY element. And for simply drinking while enjoying the crisp autumn tang in the air and admiring the changing colors of the leaves, good cider is hard to beat. But because sausage is never far from our minds, we also find ourselves pondering the question: Can cider pair with sausage as well as beer does? (Spoiler alert: Yes. But read on for details.)

How to Make Hard Cider

First: What makes good cider, and what makes cider good? As with most food and drink, the ingredients used will determine the characteristics of the finished product. With hard cider ingredients, the main distinctions in taste come from the amount of acid (mostly malic acid), tannins, and sugar found in the apples themselves. There are a few different classification schemes for cider apples, but one of the oldest and most used (and definitely the most fun to say) is the Long Ashton system, established by one Professor B.T.P. Barker while he was the inaugural director of the Long Ashton Research Station in Bristol, Southwest England (long recognized as one of the chief cider-producing regions of the world). Prof. Barker set up a four-way grid based on two attributes—malic acid content and tannin content—and named the quadrants Sweet, Sharp, Bittersweet, and Bittersharp. Incidentally, cider apples have amazing names: To choose just one example from each quadrant, you have Slack-ma-Girdle (Sweet), Tom Putt (Sharp), Brown Snout (Bittersweet), and Foxwhelp (Bittersharp).
In general, hard cider is produced by combining these types of apples in varying amounts. More Sharp or Bitter apples produce cider with a drier, more acidic flavor and mouthfeel, like some European ciders that are closer to dry wine, while going heavier on the Sweets gives you the kind of sweet cider that Americans are usually more familiar with. You can experiment with balancing apples from the different categories to produce cider that is more or less sweet (classifications range from Sweet through Medium-Sweet, Medium-Dry, and Dry) and has a higher or lower “sharpness” from the tannins and acidity.
Read our comprehensive homemade cider guide if you’re interested in choosing your own apples and going the DIY route. For the best results in pressing your apples (or other fruit), we recommend our Harvest Fiesta Fruit and Wine Press.

What to Serve with Sausage

So now that you have your cider—either purchased or homemade—what should you eat with it? From Sweet to Dry, and with variations in sharpness, a lot of ciders share certain characteristics which make them a good fit for particular foods. Steve Stradiotto, the brewmaster of Molson’s cider lines, has developed three simple rules for cider/food pairing: cut, contrast and complement. There are other schemes and recommendations, but we like this one for its directness and for how well it works in setting cider up with sausages. Below are some sausage suggestions to match each aspect of your cider, along with examples of hard cider brands that showcase the different flavors. Keep in mind that most ciders (including the homemade variety) will have some degree of cut, contrast, and complement, and will therefore probably match well with any of these sausages.

Cider and Pork (Swine)

“Cut” refers to the acidity in cider (even the sweetest ones), which can cut through rich fatty foods like cream sauces, heavy cheeses, and—of course!—pork sausage. To bring out the cider’s cut, we recommend making and serving pork-heavy Eastern European sausages like fresh Polish sausage or thisSlovenian take on smoked kielbasa called krainerwurst: The fatty pork and bacon will resonate deliciously with the with acid tang of your cider. Another excellent pork-forward recipe that will match well with cider is Bad Bob’s “Brown ‘N’ Serve” Breakfast Sausage; not that we are recommending drinking hard cider at breakfast (although if it was good enough for George Washington…). For a cider on the dry end, which should have no trouble standing up to the rich porkiness of these sausages, try Crispin Browns Lane.

Cider and Spice

“Contrast” describes the ability of the carbonation, acidity and “sharpness” (tannins) in cider, working together, to contrast with spicy foods like the soppressata dry-cured hot pork sausage from Chuckwagon or thisEl Salvador chorizo. For a nicely balanced cider whose acidity and sharpness keeps pace with the sweetness, we like Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider (the same folks who make Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, among many other brews).

Cider and Sweetness

Food that cider will “complement” is anything sweet enough to harmonize with the apple-y goodness of Sweet to Medium-Dry ciders.  Fruit is the classic example here, and anything made with it. An excellent sweet sausage to complement your cider is the (simulated!) salamini Italiana alla cacciatora. The taste of this cacciatora sausage is “…sweet and delicate, gently enriched with a little salty touch and with the scent of garlic and pepper”.  A good example of a well-crafted sweet cider that would match the flavor of this sausage is Woodchuck Original Amber.

So wherever on the Sweet-Dry range your taste in cider falls, we’re sure you can find (or make!) one that will satisfy it. Pairing your cider with a good sausage makes the perfect cozy meal for autumn. Enjoy!

The Sausage Maker Guide to Super Bowl Food

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The Big Game is less than a week away, and while the Rams and Patriots are making final preparations for Super Bowl LIII, The Sausage Maker team has created a recipe game plan for hosting parties. Fans of the other 30 teams that came up short can still enjoy the game among friends and family and replace feelings of disappointment with delicious party food. If you’re still looking for crowd-pleasing menu items, try one- or all - of our favorite Super Bowl recipes below!

Players don’t jump into full-speed play without stretching and warmups, so why would the fans? One of the most important parts of a football party spread is the finger-food appetizers that can be enjoyed all game long. You likely have your favorite appetizers that include buffalo wings, chili and sliders, but why not add a new item to the mix?


Creamy Queso Blanco

Homemade queso dip is an easy-to-make game changer that can be customized with toppings of your choice. It all starts with white American cheese slices from the supermarket’s deli counter. Melt the cheese on low on a stovetop, stirring in milk until the cheese reaches its desired consistency. Be careful not to make it too thick, as it will harden as it cools. Next, pick your toppings. We recommend adding spicy guacamole right into the cheese for a one-two punch of deliciousness. We won’t get into the homemade guac debate now, but you can’t go wrong with avocado, jalapenos, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime and salt (garlic optional). We’ve found the more wrinkles or stretch marks on the jalapeno peppers, the spicier they are. Choose smooth shiny peppers for a milder flavor. Looking to eat meat in every dish? Add bacon bits to the creamy white queso.


Venison Jerky
Venison Jerky DIY

If you’ve had a successful deer season and have a freezer full of meat, jerky makes a crowd-pleasing snack for any game day. Jerky does take several days to marinate and prepare, so get started soon! Meat slicers help speed up the processing time and create uniform-sized pieces - a must for consistent jerky. Choose your favorite jerky seasonings, or experiment with a new spice mix! Beginner jerky makers can get results with a conventional oven, but we prefer using a food dehydrator with trays for great-tasting natural meat snacks. Kick up your venison jerky with a favorite hot-sauce marinade. For more jerky-making tips, visit our jerky page.


Every guest has his or her own strategy for in-game grazing. Some prefer to munch on chips and dips throughout, while others opt for an all-liquid diet. Looking for a fan-friendly main dish you can prep hours before the game? You can never go wrong with a serving of brats and sausage.

Brats & Sausage
brats and

If you’re new here, bratwurst refers to a specific type of link sausage from Germany and is typically made with pork and veal. Sausage is a general term for minced meat mixed with herbs, spices, fat and salt. Let’s not get hung up on the details - what you need to know is either choice is delicious and can be made at home or picked up from a local butcher shop. At-home sausage making can be done hundreds of ways; browse our selection of high-temp cheeses and seasoning blends for a tasty sausage mix. Whether you opt to grill or smoke sausage, the toppings are just as important when making links at home. Skip soft rolls; instead, choose four tortillas or a hard roll that can stand up to the juicy sausage. Grilled bell peppers and onions (we prefer white or yellow) and your favorite mustard are a must but don’t forget the bacon bits or sauerkraut toppers.

Whatever dish you decide to serve, make sure to get the cooking done early before kickoff so you can enjoy the game and your company! We almost forgot - running out of chips is not an option and will result in a major party foul. So stock up on extra potato and tortilla chips. Find other recipes for the game on our DIY food recipes page.

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 The Sausage Maker Giveaway



Here at The Sausage Maker, the season of deals is one that keeps on giving! From now until December 4, 2020, we are collecting entries for three prize packs totaling $2,000 in value! The rules to enter are simple: 

  • Make a purchase with The Sausage maker of at least $100, NOT including shipping!
  • $100 = 1 Entry, $200= 2, $300= 3, ETC...
  • Non-Commercial Customer entries Only!
  • That's it, you're entered! Good luck to all! 
  • Stay posted to our Email, Facebook, and Instagram for when we reveal the mystery giveaways! Winner will be drawn December 11, 2020! 
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