160/365: Sausage Fest

Cutting up the beef and pork before grinding time.

Bella decides she wants to help Klucker mix the sausage.

Stuffing the casings.

Even Big Klucker worked this year.  This is a rarely seen sight.

Yes Uncle Jeffrey needs to be report to DFS.

Get your mind out of the gutter . . . I'm talking about making summer sausage!  It's a Klucker family tradition that every spring we make summer sausage.  The goal is to do it in late February or early March.  It needs to be early enough that the meat doesn't spoil while it's smoking.  I learned the Delbert Klucker rule early on in my relationship with my Klucker, if you're not there to help, you don't get any of the end product.  That could mean salsa, sauerkraut, sausage, or mulligan.  I usually take the easiest job of the day which is cutting up the meat to be ground.  It's not a friendly environment for vegetarians.  After cutting, it gets ground and then mixed with seasoning.  The mixing is the worst part because your hands freeze.  This year Bella decided to try that job out.  She didn't last very long.  After that the mixutre is stuffed into casings before being tied and hung in the smokehouse.  It's a labor intensive process, but nothing beats Grandpa Klucker's recipe . . . and trust me that his spirit lives on in the process every year.  At least four or five times during the day someone will reference Papa Del, usually in relation to how much Papa Klucker is becoming like him.