COOKING IN: Ever wonder how to make your own sausages? If not, here are some relishes to make the most of them
It seemed easy enough to say: "One whole pig, please." The trouble was with all the supplementaries. Did I want the head? I suppose I did. And the trotters? Definitely. What of the hocks? Good with beans, I thought, and for soups, so, yes, those too. Was the loin to be whole or in chops? There is a recipe for whole-roasted loin in milk, so yep, loin whole.
What arrived was pretty terrifying. It was a lot of meat. All neatly butchered and wrapped in plastic, but there was no mistaking the quantity. The last pig I'd ordered had been a toddler. This one was at least a metre long.
The real purpose of the big order was to make sausages. I adore them. It's the purity of a continental sausage I seek. Just pork and seasoning, perhaps with some garlic to play up the sweetness of the meat.
It was one thing getting the pig, quite another mincing and stuffing. My mixer has moved house more than once, but its bits seemingly haven't. The man from the mixer company couldn't have been nicer. If I didn't mind calling to his house - this was a Saturday - he would provide mincer parts, along with a sausage-stuffing tube, both of which are essential.
We started work at 10am, with every intention of finishing by lunchtime to eat said milk-roast loin of pork. But by noon we could see this was not going according to plan. By then there were four of us working. One stuffed, the second minced, the third finished and the fourth tried to keep everything clean.
When you start stuffing, do it tightly; otherwise you can end up with meat everywhere. Do a run, then go back and twist, to fashion each sausage. There is plenty of air to allow for the twisting.
We stopped mid-flow for lunch, so the whole exercise lasted about six hours. We gave away quite a lot of our sausages. They have been enjoyed by all.
When we tired of stuffing the skins, we simply minced and mixed, and the result made the most delicious sauce for pasta. Were I not so devoted to sausages, I might suggest burgers, but that's another day's work.
ON THE CASE You can get sausage casings from your butcher. Alternatively, the Natural Casing Company will post them to you; 00-44-1252-713545, www.naturalcasingco.co.uk