Preserving Meat: Cured Sausage

Sausages, like many preserved goods, are much easier to make than one would expect. This process took about 1.5 hours to make including preparation and cleaning. However, it is important to keep in mind that making sausages alone would be more challenging than with others. These sausages were made with the helping hands of Ririko, Rita, and me. 

Archeological findings show that next to fish, beef was most used in Scandinavian cuisine, followed by mutton and pork (Serra, D., Tunberg, H., 2013). Nevertheless, the slower decomposition of cattle bones compared to those of other animals leads to their prevalence in archeological remains and possibly skewed numbers (Serra, D., Tunberg, H., 2013). Having said that, when looking for which meat to use from the store we settled on pork, as it is the cheapest one that we could afford as students. I personally believe that could also be considered as something connected to the past, since looking back on history, fish was most widely available in Scandinavia, and now that has changed to pork.

In our practical session, we were provided with a recipe that we were able to use for our assignment with some tweaks to it (Fooladi, E., 2011).  


Cured sausage

Equipment

  • Meat grinder
  • Several large bowls
  • Sharp needle
  • Thread

Ingredients (for 8 small sausages) 

  • 70 g margarine
  • 900 g minced pork
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1.5 tsp allspice
  • ½ tsp ginger
  • 1.5 m sausage casing


Instructions 


Before starting out with anything, the sausage casings must be thoroughly rinsed and left in cold water for an hour. This is for them to get stretched out after being stored in a salt solution for preservation and shrinking as a side effect (Fooladi, E., 2025).






 



Cut the onion very finely and mix all the ingredients together well. To make sure that it is spiced correctly, make one meatball and boil it to taste it. It should be slightly too salty to the taste (Fooladi, E., 2011).

 




Stuff the sausages into the casings, using the meat grinder. The casings should be held firmly, but not too tightly for the casing to pop. If an air bubble appears in the sausages, the needle should be used to poke a small hole for the air to escape (Fooladi, E., 2025). If a desired length has been stuffed, the machine should be turned off to be able to tie it off with a piece of thread. After that, a break of about 4 cm should be given, and then the casing should be tied again for the new sausage. 






After finishing with the stuffing, hang the  sausages in a cool, well ventilated space for 2-3 days to achieve a more cured taste, making sure that the sausages do not touch, to avoid the possible spread of bacteria (Fooladi, E., 2011). 






It was surprising to witness how easy it is to make sausages, just as the ease of making marmalade shocked me. Having a strict moral rule against buying meat as to not support the animal industry, I will not be making sausages on my own anytime soon, however, I believe it was a meaningful experience to gain. Perhaps I will be able to put my knowledge to use in the future, with my own animals.



References

Fooladi, E. (2011). Norwegian Food Culture: Session 3: Meat ERAMAK 101. University College Volda

Fooladi, E. (2025). Norwegian Food Culture: Lecture. University College Volda.

Serra, D., Tunberg, H. (2013). An Early Meal.

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