2019 Creative Sausage Making participants, assistants and instructors behind coolers full of the sausage they made.
The sixth annual Creative Sausage Making class was held on January 11-12, 2019 at the Rosenthal Meat Center. CSM is a joint venture between the Meat Science Section of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Thirty participants, representing barbecue companies, foodservice distributors, retailers, chefs and backyard enthusiasts came to learn sausage production from start to finish.
Dr. Osburn led the classroom discussions and presented the science behind sausage manufacturing.
During the program, participants learned the science of basic sausage production, differences in casing types, sausage cooking/smoking and food safety. With the assistance of Meat Science graduate students and faculty, and additional technical support from Rick Fitzgerald (A.C. Legg) and Greg Mueller (World Casing Corporation), participants formulated their own batches of both fresh and cured/smoked sausage, stuffed them in natural casings and prepared them for packaging or cooking.
Trent Schwartz helped participants develop their spice blend to make fresh sausage.
Dr. Osburn kept a watchful eye over the tables as the participants formulated their seasonings.
Martin Wu weighed raw materials for his group.
Our new friends from Alabama grinding raw materials.
Zena Hicks overseeing raw material grinding.
Rick Fitzgerald with A.C. Legg has assisted with teaching at Creative Sausage Making and has provided spices for use during the camp and for the participants to take home with them. He has been providing this service every year since we began hosting the workshop.
Greg Mueller with World Casing Corporation provided the natural casing used at the workshop and was there to provide assistance to participants as well as the instructors during the laboratories.
Hanna Laird working with her group during Creative Sausage Making.
Kathy Modrow assisting Mackensie Ditta.
Kayley Wall working with her group.
Eric Hamilton overseeing sausage linking.
Kayley Wall teaching sausage linking.
Martin Wu helping to stuff and link.
Sausage linking.
John Baker running the stuffer.
Brogan Horton helping her group stuff.
Dr. Osburn advising
Fresh sausage made by CSM participants.
After the sausage was made, the students assisting with the program took over. They made sure that each participant’s product was properly labeled, then the fresh sausage was chilled and packaged. The cured/smoked products were hung on sticks, placed on a smokehouse truck and cooked in the smokehouse at the Rosenthal Meat Center. When the products were cooking and chilling, the products were packaged, matched with each person’s fresh sausage and placed in individual Texas A&M coolers for distribution.
Starting off Day 2, Dr. Matt Taylor and his students led the class through some practical ways to maintain food safety as they take their newly developed sausage making skills back home.
Dr. Wes Osburn and Dr. Davey Griffin led and coordinated the program, respectively. A tremendous group of Meat Science graduate and undergraduate students started preparing for the course earlier in the week by making example batches of each of the sausage products available for participants to make during the workshop. The products that they made were sampled during the last day of the program to give participants a better idea of what to expect from their own products when they got back home.
It takes a great deal of help and service to make workshops a success. Students involved in making products, leading groups, cleaning the lab and helping with all the behind-the-scenes activities included Chi-heng (Martin) Wu, Eric Hamilton, Brogan Horton, Hannah Laird, Kathy Modrow, Cassie Peña, Jacob Valenta, Kayley Wall, Morgan Foster, Zena Hicks, Rory James, Trent Schwartz, Holly Sanders, Wilsey Wendler, Ty Robertson and many others. Without their help, none of this would be possible.
TAMU Crew at CSM
The Creative Sausage making class has been conducted each January for the past six years. If you are interested in coming to the next class, email Dr. Davey Griffin at dgriff@tamu.edu to be put on the advance notice list for next year’s course.
