Bob, Tess and the Sausage Maker

Sunday, December 3, 2006 This morning, while I mixed fennel into sausage meat, I suddenly remembered the time that Mom and Dad made Italian sausage in the kitchen of our Millville house. While I don't remember where Mom got the sausage or even why she and Dad got this project going, I do remember her chopping up the pork and pork fat while Dad clamped the grinder on the kitchen counter. Dad filled the hopper with the cut up pork and began to crank the handle while mom pushed the meat down into the hopper. In their usual "cooperative" way this simple action was accompanied by instructions from Mom and counter instruction from Dad. Dad cranked too fast and Mom pushed too slow; Dad cranked too slow and Mom pushed too fast and each of them kept up a running commentary on the obvious failure of one or the other to do the job "the right way". Finally, all the sausage was ground and while Mom mixed the seasonings and herbs into the meat Dad attempted to get the casings on the machine. The casings were hog intestines that were very delicate, transparent and slippery! While Dad tried to get the casing opening over the protrusion on the machine, Mom kept an eagle eye on him and soon began to get panicky. It didn't take long before she was yelling at him not to rip the casing. In the meantime, he was getting exasperated because as soon as he got one side on and moved to the other side, the first side fell off. His fingers, which were nimble and talented enough if he was building something turned stubby and awkward at this job and he began to curse under his breath. In his concentration to get the casing on, his tongue would flicker in and out at the corner of his mouth to help his fingers along. Just as Mom was threatening to take over the job, the casing slipped right on! I gave a sigh of relief and was surprised to realize that I had been holding my breath as if I had been watching a car chase. Mom grinned at Dad and he grinned back. I sat there and watched as Dad cranked the machine and Mom pushed the seasoned meat into the hopper and out came the sausage until it coiled on the kitchen counter. We had some of that sausage for dinner with fried peppers and onions and crunchy crusted Italian Bread. It was delicious!