to your rescue
As an Italian American I did pay attention to my grandfather when he was doing this. He was born in Italy but then came to the USA.
and your answer is:
easier than you thought.......
I suggest going to a sausage shop in your area and buying the best they have which is still rather cheap. Feel free to print my post and bring it with you to the sausage shop and they will verify this method I have posted. If they dont, then it isnt an Italian sausage shop.
simply buy the italian sausage whether it be sweet or hot and whether it be in links or whole..(whole is easier to work with.)
Hang the sausages in a cool dark place such as your cellar using a string.(use something like an ice pick to make the hole for the string to pass through.)
DO NOT TRY TO CURE FRESH SAUSAGE IN A TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED AREA IN YOUR HOME. THIS WILL PUT YOUR HEALTH AT RISK BECAUSE THE SAUSAGE WILL GO BAD ON YOU.
let sausage cure for 3 weeks in your CELLAR or any other room such as a wine cellar also which is not subject to heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer.
You will know when the sausage is cured because the outside will become some what hard. If it is still soft then let it hang for an extra week.The cured sausage will have a beautiful aroma to it.
after 3 weeks presuming you are using the whole sausage.
remove from strings and bring to a cutting board.
cut the sausage lenghts in the size you prefer. (I prefer cutting them them to the height about 1/2 inch lower than the height of the mason preserving jars.
after cutting the sausage... get your glass mason preserving jars and put them in stove top boiled water with the lids and covers also...DO NOT BOIL THE RUBBER SEALING RINGS,...
after about 10 minutes remove the jars and lids and covers from the boiling water carefully preferrably using tongs because these will be very hot.
put the jars face down on several layers of paper towels so the drain and wipe the covers and the lids.
to each jar, add 1 whole clove of fresh garlic and a half teaspoon of salt..
place your sausage in each jar but dont force them in as you want some space left so the oil can get through to the sausage.
Next use a high grade vegatble oil or peanut oil (do not use olive oil as it gels and will look like crap once refridgerated.
completely cover the sausage with the oil leaving about 1/2 inch of space on the top. It is important not to leave any sausage uncovered with oil.
place the rubber seal gasket inside the covers and put the lids on the jars and then the covers.
Hand tighten until some what tight but not tightened all the way.
after about 6 hours tighten the lids more and turn the jars upside down for 2 hours...
then simply remove the covers and if more oil is needed fill the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top and now seal as tightly as you can.
the sausage can now be stored in a dark food closet such as where you keep your canned goods for up to 6 months.
Once you open a jar then it MUST be refridgerated.
Enjoy what you made ...... the rule of thumb here is that if after several months , if the garlic turns black then do not eat them. It will be very sad but you have to throw them away.
This has never happened to me in the 10 years I have been doing it however and I just made 12 jars which I am already enjoying and will also be giving a few jars away to friends.
The above instruction due to the lenght seem difficult but really these are simple to make.
you can preserve wild mushrooms the same way as well as hot italian stuffed cherry peppers stuffed with fresh sliced Prosuitto and a good provole cheese..
Only difference on the mushrooms is that you need to boil them first and preserve with either a pickling solution or 2/3 distilled white vinegar and 1/3 filtered or botteled water.
When boiling the mushrooms use the old italian rule of thimb with 1 addition. in the pot of boiling water put a whole clove of fresh garlic and a quarter. If either the garlic or the silver turns black during boiling, the mushrooms you picked are not good to eat.. just throw them out...
market bought mushrooms like Shitake, Oyster and Portabella mushrooms are fine however because in the USA they are organicly grown.
boil the mushrooms until they begin to soften and do not over boil them because you will end up with mush.
enjoy.
