Fresh Country Sausage

One of my earliest memories of growing up in North Carolina was the ritual Saturday morning drive to a large farm to stock up on fresh eggs and chickens, buttermilk, slab bacon, and, to be sure, the best whole-hog country sausage ever made. Throughout the South, bulk sausage has always been part of the fall hog-killing tradition, and even out of season, many serious cooks (myself included), wary of most commercial products, still grind and blend their own sausage on a regular basis. I find