Jose makes most of his sausage in a USDA-inspected commercial kitchen in small batches of 20 pounds, which gives him great control over his ingredients. He hand trims and hand grinds his locally-sourced hormone-free pork, chicken, lamb, and turkey, uses fresh organic herbs whenever possible, and as he sells his product frozen he uses no nitrates/nitrites or other preservatives. Jose and Susan, both of whom are professional chefs, make around 7800 pounds of sausage a year. Currently they only produce the sausage during the summer months and sell almost all from the Hyde Park Farmers' Market, but they're hoping soon to also be distributing through local retail groceries year-round.
He also occasionally makes even smaller batches at home in his kitchen with a small 5-pound sausage press. When I visit, he's making Chicken, Apple & Tarragon sausage.
Within about ten minutes, all the meat is cased and he clips the casing.
Here's the cased meat, ready to be twisted into links:
He takes a pin and pricks any bubbles that have formed during the linking process so that the finished links will cook evenly.
When he's formed the entire casing into 5-oz links, he trays them and rests them half an hour in the refrigerator before cutting them into individual links, quick freezing them, and vaccuum-sealing them into packages of four. Most of the sausages he sells for $10 for a 20-oz package of 4 links, with a smaller number of premium sausages sold at $15 for a package of 4.
Jose produces nearly twenty different varieties, but only four are available each week at the farmers' market, except by special order.
They'll have an official website soon, and as soon as it's up and running we'll post an update and add them to our list of local producers. In the meantime, you can find Jose and Susan and their sausage at the Hyde Park Farmers' Market (opening day is June 1!) or place off-season or special orders with the Almeidas directly by calling (513) 679-1293.
Very interesting -
ReplyDeleteThank you!
We have a very small kielbasa making business near us. I always buy their brand of kielbasa at the market, but I've never seen it made. Your pictures are great!
Thank you, grandmother wren! I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool!
ReplyDeleteI bet they are delicious!
Thanks for your submission to this week's Carnival of Cities. You can read Away.com's roundup at here.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting...I love to know how things are made.
ReplyDeleteI seldom leave comments on blogs, but the ideas really rocks, also I have a few questions like to ask, what's your contact details?
ReplyDelete-Johnson
Hi, Johnson! The best way to get hold of Linwood Sausage Company is to visit Hyde Park Farmers' Market on Sunday mornings -- they sell their sausage there!
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