Sausage Making

Sausage making began as a way to preserve and transport meat, likely starting once early people discovered salt's preserving power, after which they learned to further improve dried meat with dried berries and spices. Its basic technique, stuffing meat into casings, has stayed largely the same even as recipes have grown more elaborate and the craft has become a respected culinary art. Sausages are broadly fresh or cured, and cured sausages may be cooked, dried or smoked; because Clostridium botulinum thrives in a sausage's oxygen-free interior and survives ordinary smokehouse temperatures of 4 to 60 degrees Celsius, smoked sausages are always cured first as a food-safety measure.