Making sausages

I’d just starting to plaster the ceiling when Galia one of our neighbours came round with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Did I want to learn how to make sausages?

So I downed tools and grabbed the phrase book, this was going to be a challenge. I usually rely on Joe to do the talking and I’ve rarely had to speak Bulgarian with out him around as back up. We got to her house only to find her husband Stefan, who does speak a bit of English had had to go into town and so that left us alone. Me with very limited Bulgarian and Galia not speaking any English. We managed the usual do you want a coffee bit ok and then the challenge began. Armed with my trusty book we did manage to fill an hour in talking about her sheep, dogs and the chickens and our plans for chickens next year and possibly a pig after that, so now I feel a lot more confident about getting out and about on my own.

Anyway back to making sausages. Basically you get the cows intestines, cut them into strips and filled  with a mixture of minced beef and spices. You don’t eat the cows intestines unlike pigs they are just there to hold the meat in place. The sausages are hung up to dry, but are taken down twice a day to be rolled with a glass bottle after 8 days they are then put in the freezer. All this is a 2 person job that is why we had to wait for Stefan’s return before we began.

Meatballs

Making the sausage

Drying sausages