W4DW-Spicy Sausage Skillet

Week 2 of Pork Month (Porktober) and once again I have a pig farmer willing to share a family favorite recipe with all of you.  This recipe is another one of those one skillet wonders that farm moms everywhere love similar to Kathy's Mexican Hamburger Skillet.  

This recipe is from the Felts Family in Southeast Kansas.  Rich Felts is the Kansas Farm Bureau Vice President and a very good friend of our family.  I met him when his son and I were on the livestock judging team together in college and I have loved this family ever since.  Shirley also shared her most requested recipe for Sausage Soup with me.

One of the great things about raising your own meat is that you usually have a supply in the freezer.  One of the draw backs is that you must learn to cook all the different cuts of meat and usually the man of the house won't let you get more meat until the freezer is empty.  Well apparently, Rich's wife thought she needed more pork until he opened the freezer door and saw they had plenty of sausage.  He informed the family that they would get no more meat until the sausage was gone.  Shirley found this now family favorite to use some of the sausage that year.  I would like to extend a special thanks to her daughter who happens to be the Montgomery County Farm Bureau President for sharing this family favorite.

Spicy Sausage Skillet

            1 pound pork sausage

            1 medium onion, sliced

            ½ cup chopped celery

            2 tablespoons brown sugar

            2 teaspoons mustard

            1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

            1 cup water

            ½ cup catsup

            1 can (8 oz.) tomato puree

            4 medium potatoes

Brown sausage.  When fat has gathered in skillet, add onion and celery.  Cook ‘til soft and yellow.  Remove excess drippings from pan.  Add all other ingredients except potatoes.  Pare potatoes.  Slice thin.  Add to skillet.  Cover and cook slowly until potatoes are tender – about an hour.  If sauce gets too thick, add more water.  Yield:  4 servings.

A few words about the recipe from Cindy and Shirley:  The recipe is out of the American Heirloom Pork Cookbook from Checkerboard Kitchen, Copyright 1971 Ralston Purina Co.  We made this dish many times.  Even when times were tough we always had sausage.  We learned to be creative and try different sausage recipes.  This one was definitely a hit.

Those of you that grew up on a farm will recognize that this was probably out of a cookbook that the farmers were given for buying feed from Purina.  I love it!

Still looking for more about pork? Check out the Kansas Pork Association's page.  There is a recipe for Santa Fe Cured Pork Roast  from the Haverkamp family on the KPA website that looks yummy!

-A Kansas Farm Mom

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