Perhaps there is no article of diet more universally popular than the sausage, and it is one of great antiquity. In the "Forme of Cury," a cookery book compiled by the cooks of Richard the Second, we find reference to the "sausage," which, although it differed somewhat from those of modern times, was composed of similar material.

Mrs. Raffeld, whose book was published in 1769, gives a recipe for frying, but not for making, sausages, and Dr. Kitchener, writing early in the present century, follows the lady's lead. Cooks cannot do better than remember the Doctor's directions for frying. After saying, "Sausages are best when quite fresh made," he adds, "put a bit of butter or dripping, into a clean frying-pan, as soon as it is melted, before it gets hot, put in the sausages, and shake the pan for a minute, and keep turning them (be careful not to break or prick them in so doing) fry them over a very slow fire till they are nicely browned on all sides. The secret of frying sausages is, to let them get hot very gradually, they then will not break, if they are not stale. The common practice to prevent them bursting, is to prick them with a fork, but this lets the gravy out." Following these directions, the doctor remarks, "Sausages are a convenient, easily digestible, and invigorating food for the aged, and those whose teeth are defective." Whilst fully endorsing these remarks, we would observe that they apply only to home-made sausages, for it is almost unnecessary to allude to the doubtful character of the London sausage as sold in the majority of shops. Probably those purveyed in fashionable quarters of the town are not composed of unwholesome material, but then they are far too expensive for persons of moderate means, and are extravagant, as bread is largely used, and meat may be said to be merely the flavouring matter. The machines in use in the large manufactories will grind any kind of meat to a pulp so that it is impossible to discover of what the sausages are composed, and there is perhaps no manufactured article which offers such temptations for the substitution of inferior for good material as the sausage. The spices and flavouring substances employed are most cleverly chosen, and any flavour required is by their use imparted to the meat. Thus, liver, lights, and other inferior portions of beef, mutton, pork, or any other of - shall we say - the edible animals, are all ground up together, and then seasoned according to the requirements of customers, as beef or pork sausages, bread and water being added in large proportions.

It is surprising to find that in these days, when sausages can be most easily and successfully made at home by a small machine, that they are less so made than when there were no machines suitable for household use. Even thirty years ago all home-made sausages were laboriously chopped and filled by hand, the last process being one requiring a good deal of skill and patience. One of the first difficulties which has to be met is procuring the skins for the sausages, these can always be had at shops where the machines are sold, and the butcher who supplies the pork should, on due notice being given, obtain them fresh for customers. There are a number of sausagemachines of various makers, but Kent's Combination Mincer is by far the best and most useful, as it chops suet, prepares meat for potting without the aid of the pestle and mortar, and does, besides, with different simple adjustments, a variety of mincing operations.