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1
If you are making sausage links, thoroughly rinse the casing of salt and soak it in a large pot of cold water overnight.
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2
Thoroughly rinse the casing again and place it in fresh, cold water until ready to use.
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3
Attach the knife and grinding-plate attachments to a stand mixer.
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4
Run the pork and beef through the grinder into a large bowl, followed by a slice of bread to push out any bits of meat stuck inside the works.
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5
Discard any ground bread.
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6
Add the remaining ingredients and mix together with your hands.
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7
Knead the meat until it seizes up and holds together, about 2 minutes.
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8
At this point you can shape the sausage mixture into patties.
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9
If you are making links, replace the grinding plate with a stuffer attachment with a 3/4-inch opening.
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10
Select a length of casing and run water from the tap through it in order to clear out any excess salt and spot any holes, which you should trim out.
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11
Cut a length of casing at least 3 to 4 feet long; tie it off.
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12
Run the casing between your fingers to remove excess water.
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13
Stretch the open end of the casing around the attachments nozzle and gradually slide the rest of the casing onto the nozzle, an inch or 2 at a time.
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14
Leave about 3 inches at the knotted end dangling free.
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15
Put the sausage in the hopper of the grinder and turn it on (Speed 4 tends to work best).
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16
Hold the dangling casing with one hand, and with the other, feed the sausage mixture into the hopper with a wooden pestle at an even pace.
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17
When 2 inches of casing are empty at both the knotted and free ends, stop stuffing and slowly pull on the casing to free it from the stuffer nozzle.
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18
Run your fingers over the casing to distribute the sausage evenly.
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19
Pinch the middle of the sausage and gently twist it to form two long links.
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20
Keep pinching and twisting to form links 4 or 5 inches long.
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21
Repeat this process until all of the sausage meat has been used, pushing out the last bits of meat with another slice or two of bread.
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22
Whether youve made patties or links, refrigerating the sausage overnight, wrapped in wax paper, will help it hold together as it cooks.
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23
To cook, snip off a single length containing as many individual sausages as you like.
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24
Dont separate the links until they have been cooked (in an oiled skillet, on the grill or under the broiler).
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25
Any uncooked remainders will freeze well.
