The matter is not up for discussion. Hands down, the world’s best hot Italian sausage is sold exclusively at the one and only Blue Hill Fair out of a booth located across the midway from the horse pulling ring.
Nestled snugly into a hearty roll and topped with way too many grease-soaked peppers and onions, that sausage is a stand-alone masterpiece. But when combined with two parts livestock barn smells, one part carnival music and just a pinch of fair dust, it achieves gourmet perfection.
A recent craving for one of those sausages on a cold December day was all of the inspiration I needed to embark on my next wild game culinary adventure: making sausage.
I’ll point out that I wasn’t completely inexperienced in the sausage-making realm, having occasionally dabbled in it over the years.
From time to time, I’d tried my hand at tossing spices into different game meats here and there, but it was always just a very novice attempt and I’d never used casings of any sort.
This time, I dedicated myself to the idea, aspiring to settle for nothing less than a passable fair-booth substitute.
Once fully invested and eager to get started, I took careful stock of my equipment, resources and knowledge base. It became very clear that I was significantly under-equipped in all areas, but at least had enough to seriously consider the venture.
I had a grinder with a cheap plastic sausage stuffing attachment, a basic understanding and a pile of frozen deer and bear meat, but nothing else.
I spent some time glancing through a book on making sausage I’d received as a gift. I also attended some classes at YouTube University where I developed what I figured to be more than enough confidence in the discipline.
The only thing I needed was to find some casings and seasoning, so I headed to the only place around that I figured might have both, which was Emery’s Meats and Produce in Brewer.
I felt a little sheepish walking up to the counter. It just seemed that with as much wild game butchering and preparation I had under my belt, needing to ask for advice or direction on something as simple as making sausage was silly.
But swallowing one’s pride is often necessary so I took a big gulp and explained to the crew what I wanted to do.
A short time later, after a bit of advice from some friendly, experienced folks, I walked out with 16 feet of hog casings, some pork fat, a package of pre-mixed hot Italian sausage seasoning and a dash of hope.
Given that this isn’t a how-to tutorial on making sausage, I’ll spare you the more nuanced aspects of the process, but will share the basics.
After partially freezing enough one(ish)-inch chunks of deer meat and pork fat to achieve a 70/30 meat-to-fat ratio, I ground them together through a 7-millimeter coarse grinding plate. I hand-mixed in an appropriate amount of seasoning, then ground the meat a second time through a 5mm fine grinding plate. I set the ground meat outside to keep it chilled.
The hog casings had been cut to 4-foot lengths, which I thoroughly rinsed inside and out with water to remove the salt brine they were packed in.
I attached the larger-sized sausage stuffing attachment to the grinder and carefully slid one of the casings onto it. I ran enough meat through the grinder to come to the end of the attachment, tied the casing off tight against the meat and slowly began to feed more meat through the grinder.
As the casing filled, it took a bit to get the feel of things but slowly, I began to make progress.
A few minutes later and much to my pleasant surprise, there on the counter sat a beautiful, delicious-looking coil of hot Italian deer sausage. I repeated the process, this time twisting individual links into the coil.
I’m certain I didn’t do it right. I’m sure I either allowed too much air space, didn’t pack it tightly enough, twisted incorrectly or whatever else an expert might note, but to me it sure looked like the real deal.
Looking and tasting are two entirely different animals though, so after the sausage had spent a night in the refrigerator to rest, I was excited to test one out for lunch.
A familiar smell filled the kitchen as a medley of peppers, onions and sausage slowly cooked to perfection while my stomach growled.
I wondered how Jeff, the owner of the sausage booth at the fair, might critique my work and whether I’d wasted all that time only to fail miserably.
After all, there must be some reason I felt too intimidated to try it all these years.
Then, with one bite, it was settled: The world’s best hot Italian sausage is most certainly still found exclusively at the Blue Hill Fair.
But I do believe the world’s second best hot Italian sausage is made with deer meat and found exclusively in our freezer.
They say there’s nothing wrong with second best and besides, I was short on livestock barn smells, carnival music and fair dust.