Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing

I just got into sausage making and ordered this book based on the reviews and rating this book has. Having only gotten this 3 days prior to writing this review, I can honestly say this was well worth the money. A good deal is spent on explaining the hows and whys as well as some incredibly detailed information about some of our most controversial of ingredients as well as some very good scientific explanations as to the nutritive properties and processes from curing and fermentation. This book is well worth the buy for this information alone and I strongly encourage anyone that is even remotely interested in food science and ingredients to get this book, even if your not going to make sausage. That said, There are a few gripes but all of them I'm perfectly willing to put up with and didn't affect my rating of the book any. First, you can tell that the author is not a writer. While explaining things he does seem to ramble a bit and repeat himself throughout the book. There are a lot of citations and quotes throughout the book, especially in the beginning of the book. Theres no difference in formatting or font to tell what's being cited, or what's being written by the author. A perfect example of this was an FDA report about the use of nitrates/nitrites. This report is printed in full and takes up several pages. The only warning is the author says when it begins. Several pages into the report I couldn't tell if I was still reading the report or authors comments on the report. With all the oddities of this book, it doesnt detract from the overall incredible amount of knowledge presented. With this, you are informed and ready to tackle making your own sausages at home. The author also spends quite a bit of time explaining how and why things are done the way they're done so you're not blindly following some recipe just because it says so. With this you can begin experimenting and making your own sausage recipes instead of following others. All in all, I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

While this really is a massive, densely informative collection of instructions for obtaining cured meaty bliss, to call it a cookbook in the traditional sense might be misleading: If you were to open up to an arbitrary page without reading the associated chapter and technique introductions, you might be tempted to believe there is missing information. The recipes in this monster are closer to lists of ingredients, sometimes accompanied by suggestions and variations. They are organized in such a way that you might find virtually no information on the actual process your ingredients will need to run through for dozens of pages at a time; if you don't want to put in the (relatively minor) time investment to read the introduction and chapter forewords, you'll simply need to backtrack a bit once finding the recipe you're after to make sure you're filled in on the relevant techniques. That said, it's very much worth reading those introductory segments, which are rife with insight and can greatly aid in figuring out not just how to handle the recipes to which they pertain, but more generally which sections you'll be most interested in based on the general tastes they produce, techniques they involve and equipment they require. Perhaps more importantly, though, there is a great deal of safety information regarding handling, preparation and storage -- particularly in the beginning -- which are vital. This alone is reason enough to take your time and digest everything this book has to offer. Ingredient measurements for sausage are most often given for batch sizes of 10 and 25 pounds; sometimes the 10 lb listing is replaced by 100 lb. I have made several batches out of this book, always in 5 lb batches (simply by halving the 10 lb listings), and all have been very successful. For the most part, you won't find anything new-age in here; what you will find are many, many tried-and-true old-world meat preparations. Sausage aside, the sections on curing meats -- including the preparation of various sorts of bacon -- are enthralling and thorough. I highly recommend this to anyone who's interested in attempting sausage making at home; even if you never use a single recipe from it (though it's highly doubtful any omnivore could page through this without finding at least one intriguing concoction), this is a powerfully educational reading experience.

Like many others I purchased this book because in large part the reviews I saw at Amazon.com. I have ground and used a wood fired smoker for years, but had never tried sausage making. I have been a member of a historical reenacting group (SCA), and wanted a book that had authentic recipes, but as my mother is a nurse (RN) I have a firm grounding in the need for strict food safety. There are plenty of books out there that will give you some good recipes but few have anything like the detailed instructions with explanation of the reasoning and the science behind the current safety beliefs/accepted rules of food safety. Also included are instructions and color pictures for each step in sausage making, enough maintenance for all the equipment I might to use, and an explanation of what ingredients purpose is. This information is about the first third of the book. The only qualification is that as MSG is known to cause brain cell damage, and I know someone who gets psychotic episodes when ingesting it (I am a witness) so why include it, so as to lessen the salt needed? Also I would never any potassium salt to anything as my mother is a retired nursing professor, and has heart problems (with a sensitive enough heart or meds you could have some real health incidents and not know why). I also know that I need not add soy because it's just in food to help prevent unsightly shrinkage (and increase the profits of the sausage maker) and as a filer, and If I want I have options with similar binding effects. The rest of the book contains a few various charts (meat cuts, how much do you get for various weights of casings natural or collagen or other various helpful tidbits. Mostly its all variations of sausages (the same sausage but fresh and with nitrates are different and have different preparation methods. there is a good breadth of types of recipes and even a few (blood sausage) that are really hard to get someone willing to sell you the ingredients. I cannot recommend this comprehensive book enough. It's not just another small thin book with some recipes and next to no explanations of why we should do things, and what ingredients/procedures are optional or absolutely must not be disregarded. This book is a thick tome of useful knowledge right up to the closing pages of the index. If you want to make sausage and need to know how to do it without risking death (from food poisoning/botulism) this is the book for you! Ambre'

I am just getting started in sausage making and was looking for a guide for making sausage at home. After reading all the reviews here, I purchased this book. It is a fairly large volume and includes a lot of detail on equipment, meat selection, meat handling, spices, recipes and techniques. There are many recipes for most of the types of sausages that readers would be interested in. The batch sizes are pretty large for the home sausage maker but can be scaled. There is a lot of detail on smoking and smoking equipment. The reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that in my opinion, it is a bit too detailed for the average home sausage maker. Much of the book deals with details that a meat processor may need to know but not needed for the average home sausage maker that is only going to process a couple of pounds of meat at a time. That being said, the recipes are straightforward and should be easy enough for anyone to follow.

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! (Please note: I am only ¾ of the way through the book so I can't give it full accounting.) This book should be called, `The Bible of Cured Meat!' It contains or reaffirms or explains in-depth everything I have ever read or heard about dry curing meat. (Not to mention every other curing method known to man.) It not only tells you what you need to do, it lets you know what your results will be if you stray either way on a temperature or ingredient; very helpful for trouble shooting, or keeping you out of trouble if you are trying a new cure. I like the brief history behind each of the curing methods and their places of origin. I also appreciated the FDA discussion and where cured meats are at in the U.S. and abroad. As always, I find that the cover jackets of these books look like you are going to find a national geographic photo essay inside and then when you open them you only find a few pages of glossies. This book is no exception; it's lacking in actually production photos which I find almost as helpful as the written text. I think it would be safe to say that Rytek Kutas' book is the authority on meat curing. I think every other book I have is just suplimentary.

First off, I am very new to making sausage. In my opinion, the author does a very good job of explaining the origins of sausage making, as well as his own personal quest to learn how to make various sausages from around the world. If you don't learn the theory behind why anything is done a certain way, then you will have a hard time learning any new skill. This book does a great job at explaining theory and history, which a beginner like me needs. I have since learned that you can't just go blindly into sausage making, if precautions are not taken, botulism can be one of a few dangerous results. Again, this book is geared toward beginners and explains why certain chemicals are added for our protection. Not to scare anyone, but once safety measures are taken. Making sausage is fun and very easy. This book is a must have for anybody who wants to learn how to make sausage. The many recipes included are tried and true.

This review is long overdue - I've been relying on this book for 8 years. It's not the only sausage making book I have, but it's the most complete. I don't make sausage all the time - I get on a kick once or twice a year and make a few batches, then put everything away. So I have to refresh my memory sometimes. I have a few of my own recipes, but when in doubt I just follow straight from this book. Today was a great example. I'll be cooking for Thanksgiving this week, and I remember a British relative (now deceased) used to always bring bangers to go with the turkey. It's a great pairing. So I grabbed The Rytek (that's what I call it because I can't remember the title) and whipped up 5 lbs of bangers following his recipe. Turned out perfect. And while I have all the gear out, I'll make some kielbasa tomorrow.

This book was a gift for a friend but he found it to be very informative and thorough and he can't wait to start using it to make sausages.

Great book with lots of useful advice, wanting to make some homemade sausages It contained information on recipes, preparation and techniques for making sausages. In addition lots of information on home production of other meats.

Great reference book with tons of great recipes. This is the sausage bible. Teaches the fundamentals of meat prep, the what's and the why's and answers technical questions about what ingredients do what in the sausage. Gives you excellent guidelines on how to come up with your own recipes. My only criticism is it uses some proprietary ingredients in certain recipes (ie: Fermento) that the author sells through his Sausage Maker business. I can't get this stuff anymore in Canada as they've stopped shipping into Canada to private citizens and I've had no luck getting it through their authorized distributors here, too small a quantity I guess. All in all though, this book is a must own for anyone making their own fresh sausage, air cured meats or smoked sausages.

Not in metric measurements

This book has a lot of recipes older and simpler ones. Good how to’s as well. I recommend it.

Recipes are a delight!