Inge Miller brought a wonderful bit of Denmark with her when she immigrated to the United States. She is happy to share the recipes and tales of the delicious food from her homeland. Sausages are a popular food there and street-corner kiosks sell Danish hot dogs, rød pølse, and hot sausages, Medisterpølse, to passers-by even in the darkest and coldest days of winter.

Medisterpølse often serve as the main course in a Danish meal. When served with other traditional Danish foods the combination provides abundant nutrition for the active, energetic peoples of the tiny European kingdom.

• 4 pounds ground pork, not too lean
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup chicken broth or stock

• 1 large onion, grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cloves
• Pork casings

1. Soak casings in lukewarm water for 30 minutes. Flush thoroughly by running cold water through casing until salt is removed.
2. Trim excess fat from the pork retaining enough fat to make a about an 80 - 20% mixture. Cut meat into small pieces suitable for your meat grinder.

   

3. Grind meat a bit at a time using the coarse grinding plates. (I prefer a slightly grainy texture in my sausages and a single pass through the coarse grinding plates is sufficient. Later, when stuffing the sausage casings use a plastic stuffing blade to maintain the coarse texture or use the metal blade once more when stuffing the casings to make a finer textured sausage.) Do not force the meat through the grinder. after the last meat has gone into the grinder chase with a slice or two of day old bread to push the last of the meat through the grinder. a few bread crumbs in the meat mixture are okay.

   

4. Mix all meat and spice ingredients, reserving liquids until last.
5. Mix thoroughly and then mix again.

   

6. Use sausage maker and stuff meat mixture into casing. Twist stuffed casing into dinner-sized portions.
7. These are raw, uncured sausages. Freeze immediately or cook:

   

8. To cook, bring sausages to a boil in water, reduce heat and simmer (don't boil -the skins will split) for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the water and brown on all sides in a hot skillet or grill until browned.