How to Make Cotechino Sausages:

Cup of Yum
1. Rinse the hog casings by running water inside of them. Next, allow to soak in a mixture of water, and a splash of white vinegar while you prepare the meat.
2. Start by cutting up all the pork meat, cheek, snout and ears into ¼" to ½" (about .75 cm) pieces (smaller is better). Store in the fridge.
3. Cut the pork rind into the same sized pieces.
4. Bring the other cut pieces of pork out of the fridge.
5. Place all the cut pork products into a very large bowl, then add the salt, pepper and spices.
6. Mix all the ingredients together by hand until everything is evenly distributed (about 10 minutes of mixing). This is a very important step. (Although we love this ratio of ingredients, you can cook a little of the mixture and taste it yourself to adjust the seasonings before stuffing the sausages.)
7. Tie off an end of a casing, then feed the entire length onto the end of the funnel. The length does not matter
8. Spoon the mixture into the funnel and squeeze into the casing, making sure to not have too much air pockets. (This is the part where you definitely want help.
9. If you see larger air pockets, poke the casing with a sharp tool (like a toothpick), and work the air gap out. Do this as you stuff the sausages
10. Tie off the sausages with the butcher's string into approximately 5" (13 cm) lengths (or whatever you like), then prick the sausages all over, to get rid of any more air gaps.
11. If you aren't dry-curing them, freeze them until solid, and then place into vacuum-sealer bags and seal. Place back into the freezer. These will keep in the freezer for 6 months (if you don't use vacuum bags, then only keep frozen for up to a month.