My Favorite Recipes By Linda Marler

German Sausage

One of the December food traditions dear to many hearts in Whitman County is the production of delicious German wurst. Since so many German and Volga Deutsch immigrants settled here, and their descendants still live in Whitman County, the tradition of sausage making has been passed down faithfully.

Nearly every culture has some variety of sausage, but German sausage is loved by many people of other cultures.

Uniontown and Moscow both have large sausage feeds that bring happy eaters from miles around while raising funds for local projects. Many families make sausage, some community groups join together to produce the tasty food, and one men’s group in Colfax makes around a ton of sausage each year.

The Knights of Columbus group at St. Patrick Church in Colfax has been making German sausage for decades, and the tradition seems as strong as ever. This December more than twenty-five men gathered to grind and season pork shoulder meat and stuff it into casings. A water-powered stuffer is used, but several manual crank stuffers were in action, too.

Some of the sausage is packaged fresh to be cooked as sausage patties. A crew member or two fries sausage burgers for lunch so that everyone working is satisfied that the spices are correct and to give them strength to pack up the links, measuring 18 to 24 inches long, and clean up the kitchen.

The links are smoked; this is the most difficult part of the process. Newbie sausage makers can accomplish a great product up to this point. Experience helps sausage makers determine the heat of the smoke and the timing to give the best smoked sausage flavor.

After smoking and cooling, the sausage is weighed, wrapped in butcher paper, and buyers bring their money and depart with armloads of sausage. Since the packages are five pounds each, most people freeze part of their sausage. Zip-lock or vacuum-seal bags are probably the method of choice.

As for cooking, purists cut the links into the desired sizes and fry them in a skillet on the range. A few paper towels on the plate to which they are removed will make the cardiologist a bit happier. Other methods include boiling until almost done, which dissolves and carries away some of the fat, and then finishing the sausage on a gas or charcoal grill to brown and crisp the outside, boiling in beer (even cheap beer works well) or cooking on a grill over indirect heat.

There are probably more menus using sausage than can be listed here, but the obvious use is with eggs and other breakfast foods. Frying fresh potatoes to serve with the sausage is another big hit. Cooked sausage sliced thinly is a delicious addition to spaghetti sauce and for topping pizza.

Some people are quite guarded with their sausage recipes, but most recipes are quite similar. The amount of salt and pepper varies a bit, and some recipes include garlic or garlic water, sage or sugar. Other great sausage makers are offended at the mention of some of these additives.

The following recipe is from the author’s own family. W. H. Truesdell, Jr., remembered making it as a kid, and when he tasted German sausage locally, he was very pleased. W. H. and Mary’s own adventure in sausage making went awry from lack of smokehouse experience. Sausage and smokehouse were lost in a blaze of glory, but the Truesdell’s had a great story to tell on themselves for decades.

Recipes:

Truesdell Family Sausage Recipe

from W. H. Truesdell, Sr.’s, German farm neighbor in Colorado in the 1920’s.

100 pounds pork, either boned pork shoulders or whole hog

10 ounces salt

4 ounces ground pepper

1 clove garlic, finely minced, placed in cheesecloth and suspended in 2 quarts of cold water

sausage casings

Feel free to reduce the size of the recipe, but be sure to decrease the spices accurately.

Pork should be cut into cubes sized to feed easily into a food grinder, either hand-operated or motorized. Season the cubes of meat with salt and pepper and grind. After grinding the meat, sprinkle evenly with garlic water, discarding minced garlic.

Rinse casings. Thread casings onto the spout of the stuffer and fill evenly with ground meat. Make links by twisting the casing at desired intervals, usually 12-24 inches.

Smoke meat according to the directions of the best sausage smoker you can find. Cool and wrap. Enjoy!

Lentil Sausage Soup

Cheryl Lothspeich

1 pound lentils

5 cups water

1 29-ounce plus 1 14.5-ounce diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 pounds link sausage cut in bite-size pieces

1 cup chopped or diced carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1 medium chopped onion

In a large saucepan, combine the first six ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Add sausage; cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Chop vegetables and add to first mixture. Simmer an additional 45 minutes.

Makes 8-10 servings. This soup freezes well.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Cheryl Lothspeich

32 large mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup butter or margarine

8 ounces bulk pork sausage

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

melted butter or margarine

Wash mushrooms; remove stems and chop, reserving caps. Saute chopped stems and garlic in 1/4 cup butter or margarine in a small skillet over medium heat about 3 minutes. Add sausage, and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. If the pieces of sausage are large, food process briefly with the blade.

Place about 1 Tablespoon sausage mixture in each mushroom cap. Drizzle a little melted butter or margarine on top. Cook on broil or at 550 degrees with mushrooms 4 inches from heat until bubbly and brown.

Potato Sausage

a popular variation made in small batches, not smoked.

Wilma Schierman, from the Endicott Educational Association cookbook, 1964-65.

2 pounds hamburger

2 pounds fresh ground pork

2 Tablespoons salt

4 pounds ground potatoes

1/2 ground onion

1 scant Tablespoon pepper

garlic salt to taste

Mix ingredients together well; if mixture feels too dry, add water till medium thin. (A lot depends on potatoes, some are more watery than others.) This may be stuffed using approximately 1/2 pound casing for this recipe, or you may use a casserole (dish).

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. This sausage may be made up and frozen unbaked. If so, bring it out and bake immediately for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

This may be made with all hamburger and no pork if you wish. (Some will find you may want to add more salt, pepper.)