full but not too tight. Get it too tight, and your sausage will
burst when you try and twist it off into links or when the
casing shrinks during cooking.
Once you’ve extruded the meat into the casing, tie off
each end with a piece of butcher’s twine or knot it, then
twist it into individual links of whatever size you’d like. Tie
a small piece of twine around each joint to keep the links
tightly sealed.
Don’t want to bother with all this fuss? Don’t worry, you
don’t have to. Casings are great because they create a
natural cooking vessel for your sausage, as well as add
plenty of texture and snap, but well-made sausage can do
just fine on its own, formed into patties or logs. When
shaping casing-less sausage, keep a bowl of cold water
nearby to moisten your hands. Wet hands make handling
sausage much simpler.
Below you’ll find a few recipes for basic sausage