Smoky will be offering his talents, techniques and secrets discovered over the last 150 years, or so. He will be to the point, pull no punches and if you suffer through the process, you will become a much better outdoor cook, turning out masterpiece meals for friends and family alike.

In this column, Smoky doesn't waste any time getting into the meat of the matter. Today, we play "pattycake with Smoky" . . . . . take notes!

So, with no further adieu, we turn the mike to Smoky. You're on Smoky . . . . .

Thanks PC,

Creating Country Sausage

By Smoky Hale

Even in these days of prophets preaching polyunsaturated platitudes, there are still occasions that cry out for something other than polyester sausage. In the days of yore, when Hector and I were still pups, almost everybody in rural America made their own sausage. Although, some folks were, by then, using store boughten seasoning mixtures, many still seasoned their sausage from scratch.

The sharp smells of savory sausage samples sizzling on the stove perfumed the crisp clear air of hog killing weather. When the meat had been once ground and seasoned in the same proportions as last year, a sample was quickly fried to check the taste. There is no instance recorded where fine tuning corrections to the seasoning were not made.

Even now, I do not know how to season a batch of meat that guarantees nailing the nuances on the first try. The freshness and potency of the individual seasonings provides too many variables. It may take several attempts to tweak the taste to its tempting best. That is one of the challenges of sausage making - but it is also one of the opportunities. A missed opportunity in most commercial attempts. It is quite obvious that nobody is fine tuning the seasonings in the vast majority of what is now sold as sausage.

Sausage making may seem a little awesome to some, but it is really about as simple as making biscuits. And well worth the effort for those who care enough to serve the very best. Once you ever try, you'll wonder why you waited so long.

The necessary tools cost less than a video movie and are guaranteed not to bore you after you have put it through its paces more than twice. Used meat grinders go for $10-15 at flea markets. Meat grinding attachments for mixers are only a little more and the steel blade in a food processor chops meat well. That's all you need for pattie sausage. A sausage stuffing funnel makes you a full fledged sausage factory.

For beginners, we'll do a simple country pattie sausage. Next you may want to stuff some and smoke them in your grill. Later you will want to do Italian full of fennel, Spanish chorizos and maybe even boudin. The variety of tastes and textures will amaze you.

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Smoky's 5th basic position for really great barbecue'n.