French Sausage

3 lbs. pork sausage meat (2 parts lean, 1 part fat)
1/4 tsp. saltpeter
1 tsp. espices fines (see recipe below)
1/4 cup cognac
1/4 cup chopped Pistachio nuts
1 small clove garlic, mashed
1/4 tsp. white pepper        
3/4 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt plus 1 1/2 tsp.       
Sausage casings

Mix all ingredients well.  Stuff into casings using a sausage stuffer.  With cotton kitchen twine, tie into links about 5 to 6 inches long.  Hang sausages up in a dry airy place where temperature is generally around 70 degrees and rarely over 80 degreees.  After two to three days, cook or freeze.

Espices fines:

1 Tbsp. each: crumbled bay leaf, clove, mace, nutmeg, paprika, thyme

1 1/2 tsp. each:  basil, cinnamon, marjoram or oregano, sage, savory
1/2 cup white peppercorns

 Pulverize all ingredients in blender, then sift through a fine-meshed sieve, and reprocess any residue.

To cook sausages, poach in water to cover just below simmering for 25 minutes.  Remove from liquid and cool on paper towels.  Peel off casings.  Roll in fresh white bread crumbs, pressing crumbs in place with your fingers.  Arrange in a buttered baking dish and dribble with droplets of melted butter.  Broil slowly, turning and basting with fat in pan several times, for 10 to 12 minutes until nicely browned.  Arrange on a bed of hot mashed potatoes and serve at once.

When the boys were young, we would have a pig butchered and then make a lot of sausage.  We always made Polish sausage and many times German sausage.  This French sausage, which was one of the best we tried, is a Julia Child recipe.  The weirdest sausage we tried was an Italian sausage called Cotechina which is made mostly with ground pork rind.  You'll notice I didn't include that recipe.