Sausage making

Last weekend was spent at my parents' house in the country. We had lots of great food. From earth to table. The food theme was not limited to my parents' house.

It was a very cold morning last Sunday. Mum said we were going to her and Dad's Italian friends' house to watch some sausage making. She had little faith in my stamina, thinking I'd get bored from all the outdoorsiness. At one point Dad asked whether I wanted something more glamourous. I surprised them both, and even myself - I had a great time. I put on my journalist and photographer hats and did some research in the name of Tune into Radio Carly. The hats were only metaphors. If I had worn a hat, I would have been much warmer! I think my enjoyment also came from wearing sensible shoes for the trip, too.

As Faux Fuschia says, vegetarians, look away now!

It was such an educational experience. It was like real life Food Safari! Aside from the sausages, so much produce is grown and made on these peoples' land. They provide vegies for the local markets. They make their own wines. I loved the self sufficiency of it all.

Mum and Dad's friends do an annual pig slaughter and sausage making fest on the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend. They have lots of their friends helping them out - they come from interstate for the event.

The pigs get slaughtered on Friday, the butchering is done on Saturday, sausage making is done on Sunday and clean up on Monday.

The sausages are made in a fully equipped shed.

This is a huge tray of pork mince for the sausages and salami. It is flavoured with chilli, salt and coriander. They mix the herbs and spices through it by hand.

The mince is cooked on the stove and taste tested to see whether more flavour needs to be added. Here's what I ate. Tasted good.

These are natural sausage skins, soaking in water, ready to be filled with mince. The skins are tied with string.

The mince is held in a big machine and someone winds a handle to feed the mince through a pipe. The sausage skin is attached to the end of the pipe.

Here is a salami being made.

The salami was THIS BIG!

These are sausages. They can be cooked and eaten straight away.

And these are salamis. They will be hung to dry.


I learned that the salt and chilli preserve the mince so the salami keeps fresh. The sausages are pricked to remove the air so they don't explode when cooking. I also learned that sausage making is a messy, cold job. I imagine being so self sufficient is tiring, but rewarding.

This is prosciutto being salted...

...and hung. Prosciutto is the Greek word for ham. You can find out more about it here.


This pot sits on a gas cooker. It's filled with stock for a cabbage soup.

This home built wood stove was lovely.


Here are some goats that their neighbour keeps.

The goats had recently given birth to eight kids. The kids were high up on the hill away from the humans.

The goats eat everything in sight. And they make a different sound to a sheep.

They had a cute dog that looked a bit like Toby.


It was a fantastic morning and I thank Mum and Dad's friends for letting me take photos and write about their tradition on my blog.

From earth to table

I had a wonderful weekend away at my parents' house in country NSW. Going home is always a relaxing and nurturing time - Mum's a great cook, and Dad looks after me by seeing to my car (thanks to both!).

This weekend was spent eating great food and drinking wine. That's it really. Friends came over on Saturday night. Mum and I went to a farm on Sunday (stay tuned for a blog entry about that one soon). We watched Mao's Last Dancer on DVD while eating dinner on Sunday night.

It was difficult without Toby. Last time I went home Toby was there, but no Jazz. I kept on expecting to hear the pattering of dog paws on the concrete, and the need step over a dog on the door mat. I miss the dogs so much.

Here is Toby's kennel. As Dad said, no one lives there anymore. It's so sad.


My bedroom has slowly been taken over by Mum's stuff. Parts of my bedroom are just as they were in 1999. Savage Garden Mania.

This is some of my collection of Savage Garden CDs. In December last year, when the bushfires were two km away from my parents' house, Mum asked me what I wanted her to save. I said my Savage Garden CDs.

Here is I Want You. It is very rare. It has been autographed. A penpal of mine gave it to me because her friend didn't want it anymore. It would be worth a lot in fan circles.

This is a clock. My first boyfriend bought it for me for Christmas in 1999. I laugh when I think about him buying it - he was NOT the Savage Garden type.

Here is a picture of Darren Hayes in Vogue magazine. It's laminated, just like most of my other Savage Garden posters.

And this is an introduced species. iPod with Darren Hayes on it.

Here is Baby. She is older than I am. I had her when I was born, and for some reason, she was on my (single) bed when I arrived home. As you can see, she has been repaired. She has many stitches. She has a button with berries on for her nose. I got a replacement Baby because this one got too much of my cream on it.

On Saturday when I arrived, I went out to the garden with Mum to pick some vegies for dinner. The temperature was freezing and I don't go outside much, but this was great!

These are snowpeas.

They are growing up the fence of the dog run. If Jazzy was alive, the snow pea vines would be tangled around her!

This is one part of the garden. We are facing west.

I love the greeny purple here.

Coles Showgrounds Village, I love you, but your vegies lack chlorophyll compared to home growns.


Here is Mum picking vegies.

This is a giant daikon radish. It was THIS big.

This is an eggshell. It has eyes on it, drawn on with texta. Dad said that the eyes scare the butterflies.

This is me with Nigel the ram. I am standing well away from Nigel because he's a bit scary.

This is a pregnant sheep.

See the black sheep with the curly hair? Its name is Mohwak.

Here is Nigel scratching himself on the fence. Sometimes I get so itchy I do this too.

Here are some flowers.


I like the old fashioned style of this woodfire.

Cheese. You know how I feel about cheese.

This is our dinner on Saturday night. I am so pleased that almost all that we ate came from Mum and Dad's garden (the vegies), their paddock (the lamb) or their kitchen aid (the sausage).

I had never stopped to value the goodness of homegrown produce until recently. It tastes so much better when you know where the food is from.

This is fennel salad.

These pork sausages were made by Mum and Dad. No preservatives, just pork mince, herbs and spices. The lamb is Mum and Dad's too.

A delicious lemon tart with King Island cream.

It was a feast!

This is Sunday night's pie. All the vegies on the plate are home grown. And the pie bowls were made locally (near to Albury) by a potter.



Here is Dad rolling the pastry for the spare pie.


I feel really refreshed - thanks Mum and Dad! I truly appreciated seeing the food go from earth to table.