Sausage has long been an important element of man's diet. It originates over two thousand years ago. Some of its basic practices are almost as old as civilization. It can best be described as finely chopped and seasoned meat usually stuffed into a prepared casing and cooked, smoked or cured. The first recognizable mention of this fare comes from Greek writings of around 500 B.C. Thereafter, the word for sausage occurs with more frequency. It was also a favorite of the Romans, at one time becoming so popular for festive occasions it was placed under a ban by the early Christian church. The modern word "sausage" is derived from the Latin, salsus, meaning salted. In days past people did not have refrigeration to preserve meat and making sausage was a way to keep meat edible for long periods of time. Over time many types have evolved: fresh, cooked, cured and dry to name just a few. Breakfast sausage is obviously a fresh type. Pepperoni, salami and summer sausage are of the dry type. Hot dogs, Bratwurst and Polish sausage are a cooked and cured type of sausage.

Not many people have an old fashioned meat grinder to use these days, but many of us do have a food processor. It can make sausage on a small scale just fine.

When making your own sausages start with fresh pork shoulder. It has a blend of lean to fat that is great for making your own sausage. If you use a leaner cut of meat, adding some lard or other fat becomes necessary or a dry unpalatable product will result.

I am not going to try making anything but fresh sausage. The curing and smoking process is too involved and requires too much specialized equipment.

There are many other ingredients that might find their way into our sausage today. The first would, of course, be salt. Next might be preservatives such as sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. (I have no interest in making something with these chemicals.) Next would be the seasonings, such as herbs, spices and smoke flavor. Penzeys Spices carries several sausage seasoning blends. I chose the Italian Sausage blend. For the other two batches I got a little experimental. I started with a 6 pound boneless pork shoulder roast. I cut it into pieces small enough to go into my food processor. I ground, or chopped really, the whole roast a small amount at a time and placed it in a bowl. Using my hands, I then mixed the whole mess together to blend the meat and fat evenly. I divided the meat into 3 equal parts (about 2 pounds), added 1 teaspoon salt to each and seasoned them differently. One batch used the Italian seasoning and for the next batch I used 2 teaspoons plain old poultry seasoning to make a breakfast-type sausage. The last batch had only fresh, minced garlic and black pepper. Instead of natural casings, I used oven roasting bags cut into sheets. I rolled the meat mixture in that and tied the rolls into links. The breakfast sausage I made into small links and will cook in a skillet from the fresh state. I made the garlic and Italian sausages into larger links. These will be placed into simmering water for 30 to 40 minutes to cook thoroughly. The breakfast sausage turned out very good. The garlic experiment was not so good. The Italian sausage was, of course, very good.