I have been making sausages for years, starting at La Bruschetta in West Stockbridge in the 1990s. At that time customers were looking for novelties, which led to a recipe for seafood sausage with spinach and carrots in it: I served this in a course at the James Beard House in 1997. During the years of Stellar Pasta (1999-2005) I worked with Barbara Delmolino (affectionately called Mrs. D) and Dominic Polumbo (Moon in the Pond Farm) to preserve Mrs. D.’s family recipe, and once a year turned the pasta shop into a sausage workshop.  In 2006 I worked for Stafford Premium Meats, a slaughter house owned and operated by New England Heritage Breeds Conservancy and funded by Cabbage Hill.  I worked on research and development of recipes using pasture raised meats: bresaola, beef jerky, bacon, hot dogs, hams, and many types of fresh and cured sausages. While in Italy (2004 and 2006) as a dellegate of Terra Madre (Slow Food’s biannual meeting)  and visiting sausage shops, I refined my knowledge of the art. The most important thing I discovered was that you don’t need fancy or expensive equipment to make great sausage.

Here I am making Hot Italian Sausage for our launch party (using a recipe I gleaned from Arnaldo Giovasi in North Adams.) The meat grinder is a Kreft #12, capable of processing 20LBS per hour.

Our shop will produce 1000 pounds of sausage per week, both for sale fresh, and for cured products. We will use a Hobart #20 grinder with 150 pounds per hour capacity to do the job. All the sausages will be hand stuffed.