Complete Art and Science of Sausage Making: 150 Healthy Homemade Recipes from Chorizo to Hot Dogs

When I see a title like this, I expect some rather precise food science about what is going on, so that I can understand it and know how to adjust it to my taste. And when I see sausage recipes that purport to be classics, I expect some authenticity. This book is neither scientific, nor are many of the recipes authentic.My main purpose in buying the book was to know well enough how to make sausages that I would be able to choose the equipment I wanted, and then make my first set of sausages without a disaster. I did achieve that, but I needed to do rather more additional research than I felt ought to be necessary.You immediately know that the authors are not of scientific cast of mind when you see the recipes. They purport to give the recipes in both metric as well as customary units, but the metric recipes are not as metric recipe users expect them. They have converted customary quantities to millilitres, as certain low-quality web-apps do, rather doing it properly and giving amounts in grammes. A quantity of salt, rusk or Prague Powder #1 in grammes is definitive: there is no doubt about how much you mean, whereas with volumetric units it depends on the texture and packing. These things are important. They recognise that when giving a volume of salt, and then explaining it would have to be a rather different volume if you were using a different kind of salt. Just tell us how much it weighs, then it works for all kinds of salt. Thoughtful bakers, even from the USA, always give quantities in grammes, because they know how that quantity is important, and weighing it is how you are sure of it.With authors lacking even this basic scientific cast of mind, we can be unsurprised that the book lacks the scientific approach it claims. I did not find the detailed food science explanations of what is going on as my sausage is being made, so that I can completely understand it. This is a shame since the book purports to cover all kinds of sausages, including emulsified, and dry. It is important to understand what is going on very thoroughly to make sausages successfully, especially in these trickier cases.The fresh sausage recipes are generally about 15% fat and 0.8%-1% salt (hard to know exactly given the imprecise approach to quantities). A fresh sausage you find in the shop is generally about 25-30% fat and 1.5%-2% salt, and many recipes in other sources reflect that. It is perfectly fine to give us low fat, low salt recipes, but there is no transparency that this is what we are being given. There should be an objective discussion of quantities of fat and salt to make a successful sausage, what other people use, a clear explanation of what happens when you use different amounts. I'm happy to have low fat, low salt, sausages. But I want to know that is what I am doing, and what the practical minimums are so I don't exceed them.Plate 7 is labelled "Spicy fresh kielbasa (page 125)". But the picture shows a commercial pre-cooked kielbasa, almost certainly warm smoked also. You won't get that by following the recipe on page 125, which is for a fresh sausage. We are not told how to pre-cook a sausage so that it presents like a commercial pre-cooked sausage, as we see in this and other photographs.What purports to be the scientific content of the book are random bits and pieces of things like hygiene and nutrition, which are not presented in scientific fashion. They lack the proper distance and dispassionate evaluation of evidence that a scientist would provide. Rather the authors tend to provide advocacy for a particular viewpoints (good sausages are healthy! This herb is good for you!) with selective use of evidence. This is not science, it is anti-science.There are a large number of recipes. Unfortunately we do not have definitive national recipes. Many are some "ideas for sausages that I think is nice and interesting", few of which are going to appeal to many readers. Which is a shame because I had hoped these national recipes would be definitive recipes. For an example of what I mean by "not definitive", in the first section of "classic recipes" are a couple of recipes for Italian fresh sausages. On examination they are for what Americans understand by Italian sausages, as modified by the author's low fat, low salt approach. How about authentic Italian recipes - that would be a much more useful and definitive cookery book, wouldn't it? The Czech recipe jitrnice is mentioned in the introduction, but we have no recipe. Oddly, there is no mention of Hungarian sausages at all, though in my experience the Hungarians are the finest sausage makers of central Europe. The chorizo recipes are strictly Mexican, with an aside pointing out it is not Spanish chorizo. The Mexican tradition is authentic too, but the Spanish is more famous and widely eaten, once you step into the wider world.

This is a nicely laid out book with an awful lot of recipes. However, I didn’t realise it was American/Canadian so a lot of the recipes are from there. Thankfully the ingredients are given in our measurements also.There are so many recipes from around the world, sadly not from Britain though. Closest thing is the “breakfast sausage” but apart from that the best thing about the book is the guidance to making sausages which was better than the instructions that came with my sausage maker.A real disappointment, thought Britain would be well known for it’s sausage!!

The recipes are laid out well. The index is easy to navigate. I have made 3 recipes from this book and I am really pleased with the results. Also I like that the quantities are realistic, most recipes make 6 sausages but you can scale up very easily. This allows me to make a variety of different types. Brilliant book

Lots of recipes and ideas

Look ok just got a bit cheap

Brilliant book - there are so many yummy recipes in here, and the majority off them dont use pinhead rusk in them either which is ideal for Coeliacs and those eating a gluten free diet.

very useful but a bit long winded.

Bought for my mother-in-law. She loves following the variety of easy recipes. Great book.