Sausage Making: The Definitive Guide with Recipes Kindle Edition

Ryan Farr, a trained chef and professional butcher, scored big with his first book 'Whole Beast Butchery'. Book number two is this very interesting introduction to sausage making. I've been making sausages for--well, thirty years. I keep buying books on this subject. This is the 'book to buy' for first-time sausage makers. Why?: this is a 'hands on book.' The first section is what is 'definitive.' In text and about the best photos ever, Mr. Farr both shows and tells wannabe sausage makers every last basic technique we need to know: trimming, cutting into pieces for grinding, fat-to-meat ratios, the importance of emulsification, spicing and mixing and...well, whatever. He goes on to inform readers about cooking techniques and he concludes with a chapter on condiments and 'bread' items to go with good sausage.I come from a time and a place where we could purchase excellent hot dogs in local supermarkets. They were so good that we could grill them and sell them as a fund-raiser for our 4-H club at our county fair! My grandfather sourced them for his 'mom and pop' restaurant. Here is a recipe for the hotdog of your dreams: snappy chew, all-beef stuffing, all natural casing. Ryan Farr doesn't stop with making the sausage: he goes on to stress the importance of proper cooking, tailored to the type of sausage you have made: poaching for delicate items like seafood sausage and boudins, grilling for 'gutsy' items and so on.The big caveat: the first section is worth the whole price of the book. Farr incudes recipes but they are 'illustrative' of different types of the sausage maker's art. Rytek Kutas, while more 'commercial' in his focus, gives more recipes for more types of ground meat stuffed in casings. Farr's book includes terrines and 'pate en croute' (seasoned ground meat in a pastry case), a subject Rytek does not address. If you want more recipes, see the Marianski brothers' books, also available on Amazon. I own them as well and rate them highly. The Marianski books are more authoritative but Farr's first chapter tells a story, with those great photos by Ed Anderson, that earlier books do not provide. Speaking of the photos, this book is the only one I own that shows longitudinal cuts down the length of a cased sausage to show you the result of the recipe. Maybe you, like my wife, don't want to see any bits of fat in the product: just process the meat through a finer disc and you will have all the flavour and none of the 'flak' from picky eaters in your family. Real sausage lovers will appreciate the photos of what a well-made sausage can be and should look like! Good sausage doesn't need to be 'ground to death'...and Farr is not the only sausage maker to suggest, through his photos or in so many words, that it shouldn't be.I am probably 'preaching to the choir' on this: if you are making sausage, you already know that you can find plenty of recipes and you can make really good sausages that will even have you giving up beef steak once in a while. A good meat meal does not need to cost top steak prices!Okay: this is not the only book a sausage lover should buy to guide themselves to sausage heaven. It is the best existing book I have purchased to introduce meat lovers to the craft.

I love this book. Over the last few years I've smoked sausage 3 times, each time I was disappointed. After reading a lot of Marianski's Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages, I was still disappointed. That book is a great one as well, but it's better as a reference or guide for advanced projects, whereas this one has a very detailed yet concise template about how to make sausage. After being frustrated for years, my sausage turned out great--this book wasn't some magic solution, I had been buying better equipment over time, and the little practice did help, but after having a lot of texture problems and googling how to fix them, I stumbled upon this book. The template was very easy to understand and use, even easy enough that I could synthesize the methods with those of Marianski and make some of my own decisions. Success is inspirational, and this book helped me succeed, I look forward to making a lot more sausage, including some of the beautiful recipes in this book. I think someone that wants to learn to produce smoked sausage in particular, should make cooked smoked sausage a few times with templates in this book, then get the Marianski book and learn the ins and outs of smoking, temps, and curing... and if you're really cool, building a smokehouse.

This book is a great intro to the basics of sausage making. It has some very solid recipes and practical advice for a home chef. If your looking for a book with an extensive recipes, this is not it. It does have master ratios to help you follow some guide lines for your own creations. It has some great photography and a key to show you what the sausages are on the cover. The printing on this first edition seemed a little wonky as well. The cover was cupped on both side.For the price its a great addition if you collect cook books.Another books i would recommend reading is Charcuterie or Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages.

This book got me started with sausage making, but it's also taking me to more advanced techniques. I love how it discusses the process in detail, so I know what I'm doing. It lists all quantities in volume measures (like tablespoons) and weight (grams). My only advice - get a good kitchen scale and weigh all the spices for a much more consistent result. Also, when I switched to buying whole spices from the local co-op and grinding myself in a mortar and pestle, the flavor became even better.

Very basic information regarding sausage making. Was expecting some good recipes for different types of sausage to have made this book worth buying. Some strange recipes to say the least and not one that I am interested in making. Just wasted my money.

This book is filled with recipes and techniques that work! I have used this book for over a year and made at least half the recipes enclosed. As someone who had never made sausage before, it was super easy to understand the techniques and methodology explained. Over time, my technique and skill level has increased, as well as my collection of recipes and books. However, this is the book I always come back to. I get constant raves from every recipe I have made from friends and family.

There is some good content on sausage making techniques with good housekeeping content but overall the recipe content is lacking. A good 30% of the book has blank space on the page and far to many showy pictures that don't add any useful information or relate to technique and product. The last thirty-one pages are dedicated to related condiments that you can find in any cook good cook book, do you really need another recipe for biscuits? More regional recipes and variations is what I expected out of a "Definitive guide with recipes" but it's just not there.

Great book but very american

Interesting and easy to use

The only thing i love more than cooking is buying cooking gadgets and cook books...My kids bought me a sausage making attachment for my mixer last year and i'm looking forward to testing some of the recipes in this book. It's really well laid out based on the texture of the sausage your looking for and each section has formulas so you get the right mix of ingredients based on the quantity your making.

This book is awesome for learning how to make sausage. I've made the breakfast brat n italian so far n we loved the breakfast n brat so much that were making another batch of each with the bacon chedder beef linKS (I'm gonna smoke them before freezing to basicly make a smokie) and also the smoked polish sausage. We had a butcher come over that's a family friend come over n teach us how to stuff, cause thats one thing that is easier taught in person, and he said u only need the cure if your smoking it n not to mess with the amount or taste it cause it'll kill a person. He also like adding more water for an easier process stuff. He also brought over his 15 lbs LEM sausage stuffer n stuffed 7.5lbs in 2 min compared to the hr it took me n my brother with a meat grinder with a stuffer nozzel

Very thorough guide to making sausages. Book definitely lives up to it's billing on that front. Possibly too exacting in it attention to detail causing the average person to be intimidated.