Making Sausage, Not Laws

Hi, all. Just got a new gig as the chef at a restaurant that will be opening in a couple of months. I'm hashing out the menu with the owner right now, and as expected once push came to shove his vow that, "It's your kitchen, as long as you make money I don't care what you put on the menu" has fallen by the wayside.

No suprise, as I said, so that's not a huge deal. However, he wants a sausage & peppers appetizer (which I'd also do as a sandwich for lunch) using his old family recipe -- and he wants me to make the sausage from scratch every day just like his grandma did.

I'm going to have one prep guy every shift, but he'll be pretty busy with all the other prep, plus the kitchen's on the 2nd floor, the dining room's on the 1st, and the walk-ins and dry storage in the basement so there's lots of fetching to be done. Also, this is a pretty small kitchen, with not a lot of space for prep, and I worry about the sausage-making skills of whoever I'd need to train to do this.

Do any of you have experience with making sausage from scratch? This obvoiusly concerns me, so I'd love to hear any input you've got.

Thanks,
- Steve

By Chefgibz0 (Chefgibz0) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 01:11 pm: Edit

I would assume you would have a hobart stand mixer somewhere in the kitchen. Hobarts have attachments for sausage making that come with the meat grinder attachment. Optimally a buffalo chopper with sausage attachment would be nice, but they take up alot of space. As far as the fetching......all those stairs would suck. So low man on the totem pole is in order there. Train mise en place attitude and organization and the less steps the better. As far as the competence of the person doing the job is a reflection on you. "Team reflects leadership", movie; Remember the Titans. Standarize the recipe and insure it is being followed to the T. Your hiring, training, and support staff will show in the quality. As far as the "made fresh everyday like grandma" thing........fugggedaboutit. When made from scratch sausage needs time to "cure" to let the meat and seasonings marry. Batches can be made big enough to allow this to happen without sacrificing quality and flavor. If the owner is persistant about it being made everyday.....do it for a few weeks...soon he will forget about it. He may ask everyonce in a while but that you can live with. Fresh sausage is a pretty easily done task and does not require alot of time and effort. Have fun with it. I assume as well that the "old family recipe" is italian!? Make some chicken raisin sage, or seafood sausage, chicken olive sudried tomato herb for specials. As long as the proper steps are taken it should run smoothly for ya.

By Snuffaluff (Snuffaluff) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 10:15 am: Edit

Could you make "fresh daily" out of aged? I mean, the people you are serving won't know the difference if you made the sausage a week ahead of time and let it cure and then tell them it's made fresh daily. Fresh as sausage gets.
Remember, I'm an idiot so take this with a grain of salt. *8)

By Jonesg (Jonesg) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 06:00 am: Edit

I worked making sausages when I was a butchers apprentice, fresh sausage is oxymoronic.
We made one batch a week and supplied other butchers, supermkts and hospital accounts.
They need to hang !.

I think the issue really is , you have to get this guy out of the kitchen or you will have to operate in an amateurish fashion and that will be your fault. If he wants sausage, fine, but how you make it is your concern, thats what he's paying you for.
Regards, Gerard

By Steve9389 (Steve9389) on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 11:45 am: Edit

Thanks, guys. Actually, I got him to abandon the homemade sausage idea. I also enjoy making sausage, and I do have a 30q Hobart, but I just don't have the time or space in this tiny kitchen to do it.

- Steve

By Chefgibz0 (Chefgibz0) on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 12:02 pm: Edit

Too bad. I think that, even though sausage is looked upon as low brow, a good house made sausage separates a good establishment from a run of the mill eatery.

By Ladycake (Ladycake) on Friday, October 15, 2004 - 08:41 pm: Edit

I agree, I would like to see more of the housemade variety, but not necessarily made daily.