Homemade Sausage Making

I'll go first!

I retired 3 years ago after a 40 year career in automotive parts management.

Two of my fellow employees were avid casing stuffers and got me interested in doing something better.

That's when I entered the world of sausage forums.

It has led me to this, the Premier forum of all time.

I confess to being a follower of putting seasoned, ground meat into casings and callimg it sausage. Mia Culpa!
Now that I've seen the light, my eyes are clear and much of the contents of my my freezers have gone to the SPCA.

Fresh meat, properly refrigerated and prepared is the answer to successful product.

So, I have been in recovery for about two years and now feel somewhat qualified to offer a small bit of advice.

You need not bare your souls here, just share your work backgrounds, please.

It matters not if you have been a CEO or a labourer, all work is valuable and honourable.

PS:::: I put all the 'U's in just to piss Chucky off!

I work for the County Road Dept its a great job close to home 10 min drive to the shop I am not gonna get rich working there but it does pay for my sausage making supply's I have been there 14 years next month and really enjoy the work I am working outdoors most of the time
I have Smoked Salmon all my life and I figured sausage making would be the next step in the smoking process plus I got tired of paying large amounts of money to have someone else make sausage for me and started playing around with my smoker soon I was building bigger and better smokers both for hot and cold smoking
I already had a grinder so I bought a stuffer and just started playing around and reading everything I could find on smoking meats Rytek helped a lot Now days I have the smoker going every weekend
Oh and on Monday we start our summer schedule 4 ten's so I get 3 day weekends for a while YAY

I spent 20 years in the US Army. Currently a Independent sales rep for a couple of boat manufacturers. Always have loved to cook on the grill. Bought a combination grill/smoker last year. Been smoking ribs, chicken, turkeys and just about anything that fits in the smoker. Started wanting to do sausages. Bought some grinding/stuffing supplies. Started looking for information on the internet and found you guys!! Both my sons (28 & 26) are coming over today and we will be attempting our first time of grinding porky up and putting him in some casings!! The hole family gets together quite a bit to BBQ, drink a beer or two and enjoy each others company. In the summer it's by the pool, in the fall duriing football, spring is college basketball. Basically we dream up a reason to BBQ. We never put the grill or "Cajun Cooker" away for the winter. The coldest I have ever fired up the grill and the Cajun Cooker was -12 F. Fairly obvious that we don't stand there and watch it like we do other times, but we still Git "R" Done!!

I am a Teamster concrete mixer driver in Rochester, NY.

My spouse and I own a pig roast catering business we operate in the summer.

I have been making sausage since the 90s learned everything I know from Rytek's book, and other's, as well as all of Stanley's.

I make tons of sausage during, and after deer season, for my buddies and love it.

My goal is to have my own sausage shop by next year, catering mostly to hunters to start out.

When I was in High school I trained as a machinist, I graduated and joined the Air Force and was trained as a welder, I applied for training as a radio repairman and worked in that field for a few years. After I was discharged I worked as an engineering technician, we moved and I took a job in ballistic research and from there to construction equipment repair. Now I repair houses using all of the skills I have aquired over the years. I cook almost everything from basic ingredients, make all of our bread. I hate to see food wasted. Edible garbage either goes to the wild foxes or the compost pile none ever hits the trash cans.

I am a Professional Land Surveyor and partner in a Civil Engineering consulting firm. Been a surveyor for 30 years and employed where I'm at for 20 years. I used to think I made sausage til I decided I didn't and got serious. The forums helped a ton and I now branch out into other cured meats too. I am also an avid wine maker and drinker

Dave Zac

Big Thanks to all who have responded to this thread.
It gives me a feeling of kinship with y'all.
In my initial posting I failed to mention that I also babysat, worked as a construction laborer and as a server in both restaurants and bars.
It is important and very clear that we all are proud of and respect our careers, whatever they may be. Maybe it's in the smoke?

Keep it coming folks!

Respectfully,

Colin

All of the jobs we have had and all of the places we have lived serve to make us what we are today. In the words of the song, "I know I'm nobody's idol, but at least I've got a title and I take a lot of pride in what I am."

I spent my summers while attending university as a lifeguard. After university, I worked in the financial business for 14 years, after which I operated my own business for 8 years. After selling the business, I sold gas compressor valves throughout northern Alberta and Saskatchewan for the world's foremost valve manufacturer. I was offered a senior position in the Canadian HO in Toronto which I declined, preferring instead to live in Alberta, knowing that it would eventually led to my leaving the company. Subsequently I ran "hotshots" all over Alberta & Saskatchewan. For those who do not know what a "hotshot" is, it involves running small, urgently required freight packages to drilling rigs, gas compressor plants, logging camps etc. in various locations in the bush by pickup truck. I am now forcibly retired with severe osteo-arthritis in both ankles. While I do not enjoy the pain of my arthritic ankles, it does provide me with a lot of time to pursue my hobbies of hunting, fishing, woodworking, & last but not least meat curing & sausage making.

We can now get repair parts for bodies. Hips and knees are rather common' can't say about ankles. My hip had gotten so bad I had to lift my leg with my hands to get into a car. Had it replaced and now I can carry a load up or down stairs.

I am presently consulting a rather renowned orthopedic surgeon as to replacement of my ankles. He will do it, but is rather hesitant at this time, because as he put it "knee & hip replacement is quite common, and the technology is quite advanced. I cannot say the same for ankles. The decision is yours." In view of his comments, I will put up with the pain and anti-inflammatories until such time as I am more comfortable with going through with the surgeries.

If the surgeon has his doubts I would respect them. The ankle and wrist are pretty complex compared to a hip joint.

I am the shop foreman for a small Ma and Pa structural steel company. I handle the shop and yard fabrication and also help in the field as needed. We are a small non union shop so we do what ever is needed and there are no strict job descriptions so that keeps things interesting It is great having access to a full fab. shop for my various cooker builds

I am a Journeyman Machine Repairer/Vacuum Systems Specialist. I work on high vacuum furnaces, induction sintering furnaces, hot iso-static presses, robotics and other machine tools.