by Rose Mary Keller Hughes
- 4 lbs. pork—not too lean, it needs some fat
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 3 yards of sausage casing
- Mince the garlic cloves and cover with water
- Grind the pork (you can ask your butcher to do this)
Mix in the garlic (water drained off), salt, pepper, paprika, and cloves. You will need to do this with your hands. It usually took us more than one set of hands as the meat is so very cold.
Carefully wash the sausage casing. Fill with the ground mixture. Tie with string. If you don’t have a sausage stuffer, you might ask your butcher to do it for you—or you can make sausage patties.
Place sausage in a large pan and bake in a 350 degree F oven until the sausage is a gleaming red . . . or . . .
Place in a skillet, add water to cover, cover pan, cook until water evaporates. Uncover pan and cook until the sausage is browned.
This sausage freezes well. My dad also had a little smokehouse (oh, it was soooo good!). When we made sausage (both when I was a little girl and when my children started with the process) we always tried to see how long a piece of sausage we could get from the stuffer before the casing broke. This is good-tasting meat! We also quadrupled the recipe for the family reunions at our cottage and you could see everyone sniffing the air when the sausage started getting finished in the oven!
Some put a pinch of ground cloves in their mixture — my father did not.
[Edited by Rose Mary Keller Hughes, Recipe Coordinator]
Last updated: 12/07/2025