To be honest this isn't as difficult as you would imagine, there are some very good sausages out there, I'm a huge fan of Woodalls of Waberthwaite Cumberland sausage, but being able to make your own is a fantastic thing, you will need some sausage casings, natural or synthetic, I prefer natural but this is entirely up to you, you can ask your butcher or get them online
The flavour is another personal taste option, experiment with flavours, and I really do mean experiment, the recipe I'm sharing here is loosely based on a chorizo, but only loosely, I usually use a mixture of Pork shoulder and Pork belly, as the fat to meat ratio works quite well, you'll need a certain amount of fat to keep your sausage moist, I'm using Pork here, but you can use Beef, chicken, game etc just remember fat!
You can if you're feeling flash invest in a sausage machine, but with a little effort you can easily make your sausages with a robust piping bag
INGREDIENTS
500g of course minced Pork belly
500g of course minced Pork shoulder
4 cloves of garlic finally chopped
4 teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds
4 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
4 teaspoon of hot smoked paprika
A good splash of red wine vinegar
A splash of rapeseed oil
Plenty of seasoning
Natural casing
METHOD
1. Soak your casings as per the suppliers instructions
2. In a pestle and mortar grind the fennel seeds as finely as possible
3. Mix together the belly and shoulder of Pork
4. Now mix in all of the ingredients, and a generous amount of salt and pepper, continue to mix until all the ingredients are mixed well
5. Taste test by cooking a small amount
6. Fit your piping bag with the largest plain nozzle you have
7. Feed one end of the casing onto your nozzle, and tie a knot in the other
8. Carefully fill your piping bag with the sausage mixture
9. Gently fill the sausage casing evenly
10. Continue until you have used all of the sausage mixture
11. Carefully twist the casing at approximately 6in gaps to form your sausages
12. Leave them for about an hour and then their ready to cook
13. I'd leave them for 2-3 days for the flavours to develop