Homemade Sausage

1. Remove the skin off of two pork shoulders, totaling approximately 18kg (40lbs).
2. Debone the pork shoulder and cut it into manageable strips, adjusting thickness based on your grinder.
3. Using the coarse dial on your grinder, grind all the meat. Separate into desired weights if making differently seasoned sausages. (Tip: Place metal grinder parts in the freezer for a few hours before grinding to keep the process cold for best results).
4. Once the meat is ground to your desired coarseness, season it. Use about 18g of salt per kg of meat, with 30% of that total salt being curing salt (e.g., for 18kg, use 324g total salt, with 97.2g curing salt and 226.8g regular salt). Add your desired seasoning/spice blends.
5. Mix the meat by hand until it becomes pasty and stringy.
6. Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings as needed.
7. Attach the sausage filler attachment to your grinder and prepare natural hog casings.
8. Fill the casings with the seasoned meat and twist them into individual links. Prick the skins to ensure there are no air pockets.
9. Smoke the sausages on a grill (e.g., Traeger) at 225°F until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
10. Once the sausages hit the target internal temperature, pull them off the smoker and shock them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
11. Store the cooled sausages in vacuum bags and freeze.
12. To serve, thaw the sausages and cook them through on the BBQ or in a pan. Serve in a bun or as is.