The Red Flannel Rag

ready to use, so she stepped in to help. Her job was to pack the press full of the loose

sausage and put the lid on and slip an intestine on the stuffing tube. She sat next to the

sausage press and held the end of the intestine shut until at least a foot of the gut was

full of sausage. Then she dropped the end into the tub and just supervised the process.

After Grandma Molly died, Uncle Jim stuffed the sausage into a hog intestine.

I am turning the crank on the sausage press.

At this point when I was old enough and strong enough, I was called in to turn

the crank on the sausage press. It had to be turned very smoothly and slowly as the

intestines filled and slithered into a washing tub. If the sausage broke a hole in an

intestine, the meat started pouring out. I had to watch carefully and crank the handle

backwards to stop the flow. Grandma would take the broken intestine, give it a twist to

seal the hole, and we would continue to stuff the gut. When we finished we had enough

long ropes of sausage to fill several washing tubs. It sat in the meat house to cool

overnight. On Monday, it was cut into three-inch links and canned.

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