About Sausage-Making Paraphernalia

For cutting up the meat, we prefer the clean chop of a food processor to the results achieved with a grinder (although you must be careful to prevent overprocessing of medium- or coarse-textured sausages). But a good meat grinder—one with a sharp blade and plates with several sizes of openings—can do a fine job. If you do use a meat grinder, change the procedure in all the recipes as follows:

Instead of cubing the trimmed meat and fat, cut it into strips about 2 to 3 inches long and ½ to 1 inch wide; toss them in a bowl with the seasonings and push them through the grinder; then beat in any liquids called for.