books about smoking and sausage? [General]

2012 Feb 21
I'm looking for suggestions for a book (or books) for my husband.

He'd like to build or buy a smoker, and learn more about sausage making, but he hates doing online research so I'm hoping someone might be able to suggest a book title or two.

His preference is towards something fairly old school when it comes to method for either topic (smoking or sausage making). Simple ideas, old fashioned recipes, etc. Any ideas?

2012 Feb 21
i have 2 suggestions, both of which are great books and would be considered staples in any sausage makers reference library.

#1 - 'Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing' by Rytek Kutas. very comprehensive (~600 pages)and it was first published in the 1970s, so it's about as old school as it gets. lots of classic old fashioned sausage recipes/methods.

www.amazon.ca

#2 - 'Charcuterie' by Michael Ruhlman if he is looking at something a little more "modern".

www.amazon.ca


2012 Feb 21
This is the go to book for building your own smokehouse

www.amazon.ca

They also wrote another book on fermented sausage

www.amazon.ca

2012 Feb 22
Try to find a copy of the Foxfire Books series. Then he will have all the instructions necessary for slaughtering as well as building his own still! I love reading through ours once in a while. All kinds of interesting stuff.

2012 Feb 22
I second and have regularly used both of monty's suggestions...Ruhlman is also publishing a follow up to Charcuterie titled "Salumi" this summer, which I anticipate to be an even more helpful resource.

2012 Feb 22
I like Ruhlman's book although find his sausages too salty but an excellent reference.

Also I think the following are must haves:

Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book

Stanley Marianski, Adam Marianski as authors have a book on fermented sausages that has oodles of needed technical info and a book on smokehouse design that is worth a read.

Rizak thx for the suggestion on Firefox as I was able to run some r*m wash through my column device on the weekend :)


2012 Feb 23
Yup, the Marianski books are the 2 I linked above.

Monty's recommendations are solid as well of course. Can't wait for that Salumi book myself! I've got the Charcuterie book and it is really good.

2012 Feb 23
Another vote for the Charcuterie book. Lots of good recipes (and techniques) to use as starting points and then add your own twists.

2012 Feb 24
I tried smoking sausage once ... but it kept getting stuck in my pipe !


2012 Feb 24
I used to smoke fish

Friends used to ask me why, and I'd say "Oh, just for the halibut"

2012 Feb 24
Your killing me!

Anyways I had a bud who went to Sask last fall for deer and a local butcher made him up some farmers sausage which as a prairie boy was a stellar example of a good menno farmers sausage. of course I could only beg and plead for so many handouts from him before his supply ran low. I called the butcher and he is willing to share some recipe guidance and a spice mix for it.

Cant wait for the next pig to go in in March!

I tried to find good recipes on line but nothing that came close to what I grew up on.....big plates of perogies fried in bacon and onions with a side of farmers sausage.

Man that makes me drool.....

2012 Feb 26
krusty!!!! Are you talking about that red, really, really yummy sausage? Comes in a coil, not too dry, not too moist? You try it and think you've gone to sausage heaven?? Mennonite farmers sausage? And you are telling me that the butcher is willing to share some guidance and spice mix?????

My family is from Saskatchewan, and I too have mouth watering memories of perogies and sausage with all the trimmings. We used to get ours from a butcher in Waldheim.

Will you please, please share what you find out? We've got pigs going in this week, and I'd happily put aside a bunch of pork trim to make into some true blue farmers sausage.

Oh, and back on topic, thanks for all the book suggestions! They were very helpful!

2012 Feb 26
Hey OG found myself a Berkshire boar for the next round of breeding BTW.

Small world as I have another great friend who grew up in Hague and has a tonne of great growing up on the farm stories.

The butcher has two recipes and one is farmers sausage and the other is Mennonite farmers sausage.

Stay tuned as there may be a community sausage making party in the works.

2012 Feb 26
Sausage Fest!

2012 Feb 27
Sask farmer sausage - everyone knows the only real stuff comes from Manitoba :)
There is a guy near Bellville doing Farmer Sausage and its pretty good, but I can't remember it for the life of me. Having tried most of the commercially available stuff from everywhere between Alberta and Ontario, my preferred supplier is Schanzenfeld from the Winkler area.

2012 Feb 27
I am a recent import from Abbotsford BC. As part of a family transplanted from the Prairies, I was raised on Mennonite Farmer Sausage. Any one in this area that can give me a lead on acquiring Winkler-style (Rempel Meats, Funk's) farmer sausage, I would gladly offer the rights to my first-born (okay, maybe not quite) but something rather significant. I have been relying on relative's trips for quickly disappearing sausage. If there is enough interest, we will have to plan a field trip to Winkler.

2012 Feb 27
best sausage is from Manitoba, eh? I remember a joke that we used to hear all the time when we were living out west:

'You know why Saskatchewan is so windy? Cuz Alberta blows and Manitoba sucks." Ba, ha, ha, ha!

But, yes, sourdough, there is some good sausage to be had in the Winkler area. ;-)