Homemade Sausage

The most accessible introduction to making sausage at home. James Peisker and Chris Carter, the butchers behind Nashville’s Porter Road Butcher, wrote this book for people who have never ground a single ounce of meat but want to learn. It covers everything from sourcing quality cuts to stuffing your first casing, and it does so without assuming you already know your way around a grinder.

Why Start Here

Most sausage-making books fall into one of two camps: either they are dense reference volumes aimed at experienced charcutiers, or they are thin pamphlets with a handful of recipes and little guidance. “Homemade Sausage” sits right in the middle. Peisker and Carter explain the fundamentals clearly, walk you through equipment choices without pushing expensive gear, and give you enough technique to understand what you are doing rather than just blindly following steps.

The book covers the full range of fresh sausages: bratwurst, chorizo, andouille, Italian links, breakfast patties, and more. Each recipe includes tips on meat selection, fat ratios, and seasoning adjustments. The authors come from a whole-animal butchery background, so they also teach you how to think about which cuts work best for different styles of sausage.

At 160 pages, it is concise enough to read in a weekend and start making sausages the following week. The instructions are practical and tested, and the tone is encouraging without being oversimplified. If you have never made sausage before, this is the book that will get you from curious to confident.

What to Expect

A hands-on guide organized around technique first, recipes second. The opening chapters cover grinding, seasoning, stuffing, linking, and cooking methods. The recipe sections follow, grouped by sausage style. Expect clear photographs, honest advice about what can go wrong, and a strong emphasis on using quality ingredients. The book keeps its focus on fresh sausages rather than dry-cured or fermented varieties, which makes it ideal for someone just getting started.