I like sausage almost as much as I like soup.

So I made another batch. This is a bulk breakfast sausage. Easy and fast to make.

The easy button for sausage is a Boston butt. The fat content is perfect for sausage so I chop it up and run it through my trusty HF meat grinder.

Add salt and sausage seasoning and mix well.

Taste test.

Adjust seasoning as necessary and taste again.

Fry up some and package the rest.

Don't waste that bone either. It went in a pot and made another soup. Also quite tasty.

And here I am about to goto the store to buy Italian sausage to make a batch of Italian sausage soup. It got high marks last weekend so I'm doing it twice! Looks like you're having a good time.

Sausage is something that seems easy enough to make, but I have a question in regards to the grinder itself. Has anybody used the KitchenAid grinder attachment for their stand mixers? It seems like it should work fine for occasional use, but how does it really perform? There doesn't seem to be much to a grinder, but I'm no chef and am pretty clueless when it comes to anything beyond simple meal prep and cooking.

Subscribed.

In reply to Derick Freese:

My mom uses the attachment on her kitchen aid. It's a little slower than the HF one because it's smaller, but it works fine. Before I bought the bigger one, that's all we used.

Toyman01 wrote: I like sausage almost as much as I like soup.

That's what she said.

Harbor Freight makes a meat grinder? Can it too be used as a hammer once it breaks?

In reply to mndsm:

Probably, but this one has run several hundred pounds of meat over the past several years without a problem so I don't know for sure.

I have the meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for the kitchen aid. The grinder is ok but would suck for bulk work. Sausage stuffer needs 3 hands to work properly.

In reply to patgizz:

Any powered sausage stuffer is going to need 3 or more hands.

I like everything about his thread. Need that italian sausage soup recipe (pretty please)?

There's a joke right there but given the target, I'm not taking the shot.

Marjorie: I took a pound of Italian sausage out of the casing (they didn't have bulk the last time I made it, bought some this time) and browned it on the stove top. Two cans of chicken broth and a can of petite diced tomatoes in the crock pot. Turned that thing up on high. Once the sausage was browned, picked pieces out of the skillet and shook with tongs to get the grease off but didn't pat dry as I wanted some of that pork fat flavor to stay with. Added that to the crock pot. Tablespoon or so of fennel seeds, half table spoon of garlic salt, half tablespoon of oregano, half tablespoon of crushed rosemary. You can tweak this to taste, of course.

Added the following veg; three medium carrots, halved & sliced. Two celery stalks. Eight white mushroom caps. Stirred and walked off for an hour. Added a can of drained red kidney beans (this time around I got a can of bean mix), stirred, walked away for an hour. Boiled some dried cheese tortellini, drained, set aside. To serve, get a bowl of this soup and then toss a handful of the cooked tortellini on top. Great with a piece of crusty bread. I don't put the pasta in with the soup when storing the leftovers because I don't want it turning to mush in the fridge.

In reply to pres589:

That sounds outstanding!

In reply to msdsm:

Smart move. The return shell would have almost certainly been fatal.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to pres589: That sounds outstanding! In reply to msdsm: Smart move. The return shell would have almost certainly been fatal.

Yeah, and it was such a huge tempting shot...... But death is dislikeable.

Please. I'm just a little bitty thing!

In reply to Marjorie Suddard:

You know, my mom is a little bitty thing also. For 48 years one of her favorite saying has been, "Dynamite comes in small packages." In 48 years, I've learned, she's right.

Fair enough. My mom was truly tiny... and truly scary at times.

My family gets together once a year and makes sausage. We call it Sausagefest. We make t-shirts and everything. It's awkward.

In reply to N Sperlo:

I don't know why a "Sausagefest" is a bad thing. Sausage is delicious.

Anyone know this one:

Oh dunderback, oh dunderback

How could you be so mean

To ever have invented

A sausage meat machine

Not all the dogs and cats and rats will never more be seen

They've all been ground to sausage meat in Dunderbacks machine

One day the darn thing busted

The darn thing wouldn't go

So Dunderback got in it

The reason was to know

The maid was having nightmares

And walking in her sleep

She gave the crank

A HELLUVA YANK

And Dunderback was meat

That was a nursery rhyme my mother sang to me.

neon4891 wrote: Sausage is delicious.

Dude, it's the internet. You can't take things back on the internet.

It's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.

Trans_Maro wrote:

neon4891 wrote: Sausage is delicious.

Dude, it's the internet. You can't take things back on the internet. It's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.

This from a guy whose signature line says what it says.

Another fine sausage soup recipe: Escarole and beans with sausage soup (quick to make for a soup):

3 cloves garlic

olive oil

red pepper flakes

4/5 lb ground sausage (throw the whole pound in if you want. I won't tell your doctor)

2-3 cups chicken broth

3 cups vegetable broth

head of escarole lettuce chopped

salt (possibly)

Parmesan cheese wedge with rind (none of that canned crap that tastes like lint)

1 14-16 oz can white cannelloni beans

Fry up all three cloves of chopped garlic and some red pepper flakes (be generous) in olive oil at the bottom of a 4-quart saucepan (Italian-Americans don't saute nothin'. We fry). Watch your heat so the garlic doesn't burn. We're talkin' a coupla minutes, tops.

Add the ground sausage and cook til done. Again, watch the heat. Leave the fat and oil mixture right where it is. Add two cups chicken broth (more if you want to stretch), 3 cups vegetable broth, and the whole head of chopped escarole. While you're at it, toss in the Parmesan rind too. Simmer the mixture 15 minutes.

Throw in the can of white cannelloni beans along with the bean water and grated parmesan. Simmer a while and taste for salt content. Add if necessary or if you're a friggin' buffalo. Simmer til it's done or your kids threaten to whack you in the head with a tie rod if it doesn't hit the table soon. This should be a broth-y soup so don't reduce it to mud. Also, don't be afraid to adjust any ingredient to taste. Escarole is often hard to come by in LA unless you go to Whole Paycheck so Swiss chard or arugula or any slightly bitter green will work.

Italian soul food at its finest.

Did somebody says sausage?