Quote:
Originally Posted by Redbaron
It is a regional delicacy. Mostly North East North Carolina, but I hear it used to be more common throughout the South. I have been told, with no way to know if it is true or not, that NC is the last state that this particular style dry sausage is legal to make and sell.  If true, that may be part of the reason why it is only found there, and might have been a heritage food common throughout the South years ago before my time. All I can say 100% for sure though, get the right batch made from the right forest finished pork, and you'll have tasted by far the best sausage you ever even thought of eating. 
Mac’s Air Dried Sausage
PS: To cook it you first boil to hydrate it, then fry it like any other breakfast sausage links. Make sure you pierce the skin with a fork to let the extra fat cook out. If it is the real mccoy, the fat will be a very deep yellow color, almost orange, not clear white. |
Italians have been making air dried sausages probably for centuries--salami, sopressata, etc. used to all be air dried with no preservatives added. Mom and dad still make all their own sausages and while most are frozen to be eaten fresh, a portion get a little extra salt and then hung in the basement to dry. Once fully dry, they get packed in oil for longer term storage. There's no way these would ever be allowed to be made and sold this way,.
They still cook a lot of the traditional foods from the old country, and us kids are on a mission to learn how to make as many of them as we can before it's too late.