Making your own sausages is becoming increasingly popular. No wonder: if you make your own sausages, you know exactly what ingredients they contain. Instead of additives, you can use high-quality, natural ingredients and tailor the taste to your own preferences.

Whether it's classic bratwurst, spicy grilled sausage or vegetarian varieties – when making sausages, there are hardly any limits to creativity. With a good recipe and a little practice, delicious sausages can be made at home with ease.

Another advantage: homemade sausage is also an excellent culinary gift for friends or family.

Below we show a simple recipe for sausages with garlic and parsley, which are suitable for both grilling and smoking.

Sausages with garlic and parsley

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork neck or pork shoulder
• 35 g peeled garlic cloves
• 6 g freshly ground pepper
• 25 g fresh parsley leaves
• 25 g salt
  (for smoked sausages, curing salt can be used as an alternative)
• 1 pig casing (natural casing)

Making sausages with a sausage stuffer

The basic process of making sausages is always similar. With a sausage stuffer or sausage filling machine, the sausage meat can be filled evenly and cleanly into the casing.

Depending on the quantity, various sizes are available:

• 2–3 liter sausage stuffers – ideal for beginners and smaller quantities

• 5–7 liter sausage stuffers – suitable for larger quantities

• 10 liter sausage stuffers – for larger productions or group sausage making

The sausage stuffer usually works with a hand crank that moves a piston. This pushes the sausage meat through a filling tube into the natural casing. Depending on the desired sausage size, various filling nozzles with different diameters are available.

Making sausages with a meat grinder

For many types of sausage, a meat grinder is needed to mince the meat.

An electric meat grinder makes the work much easier and quickly processes the meat into minced meat. It is important that the meat and the appliance are well chilled – this allows the meat to be ground cleanly and the quality of the sausage meat is maintained.

Sausage recipe – step by step

1. Pat the meat dry and cut it into 3–4 cm cubes.
2. Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Wash the parsley, pluck off the leaves and chop them finely as well.
3. Mix salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley together.
4. Thoroughly mix the meat cubes and spice mixture in a large bowl.
5. Grind the mixture through the meat grinder. For a finer consistency, the meat can be ground a second time.
6. Then knead the sausage meat well until a uniform mass is formed.
7. Prepare the natural casing and rinse it with clear water.
8. Place the casing on the filling tube of the sausage stuffer.
9. Slowly fill the sausage meat into the casing, making sure that as little air as possible is trapped.
10. Then place the long sausage on a plate or baking sheet in a loose spiral.
11. Then twist the sausage at the desired points to form individual sausages. Change the direction of rotation each time.

Grilling or frying sausages

If the sausages are to be prepared as bratwurst, it is advisable to carefully prick small air bubbles with a needle. This makes the sausages less likely to burst when frying.

The fresh sausages should then be stored well chilled and prepared as soon as possible.

Smoking sausages

If you want to smoke the sausages, you will also need:

• a smoker oven or a smoking barrel
• Smoking chips (e.g. beech)
• Fuel or cold smoke generator

Before smoking, the sausages should first be dried so that the smoke can adhere better to the surface.

When hot smoking, the temperature is typically between 70 and 90 °C. The sausages are smoked for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

After smoking, let the sausages cool completely and then store them in the refrigerator. For longer shelf life, they can also be vacuum-sealed and frozen.