Ever wonder what it takes to put together one of our fantastic parish dinners where we served a small and intimate crowd of 3.877 in 2009?

It was a sketchy weather day, and at the 2009 sausage dinner we went through:

• 3,877 total dinners in 7.5 hours. This was just 55 dinner less than the 3,932 dinners served in 2008. Late afternoon downpours sent many customers running to their cars. Had they stayed, we would have beat the record.
• 48 hogs - over 6,000 pounds of sausage
• 48 bushels of baked apples
• 85 gallons of apple butter, sold and/or served
• also, by the ton... mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, etc.

For information on the next sausage dinner, or any of our other events go to our Upcoming Events page.

Apple butter cook.

The preparation activity starts early in the week. The day before this picture was taken a number of people got together to peel apples. Lots of apples.

About 4:30 AM on the day of this picture, the peeled apples were ground up and placed into 2 large stainless steel kettles. They are then cooked and constanty stirred until around 2:30 PM.

Remember the days of copper kettles over an open wood fire outdoors, being stirred by people with large wooden paddles?? Well, that's OK for nostalgia. Our kettles use a propane flame, INDOORS out of the cold and rain, making for a more even heat and constantly being stirred by twin paddles turned by the electric motor as shown. Our method requires less manpower for the cooking as well as assuring a smoother, more uniform product.

Hey guys, would an outboard motor work as well?? Overkill you say?

Apple Butter canning.

After the apple butter is properly cooked it is canned into jars. With the setup our apple butter crew has perfected, 1 person can fill the jars as fast as 2 people can put lids on them.

Yes, we know... the hair nets. We let the ladies pose for a couple of shots without the hair covering. The jars worked on during these pictures were not sold.

Did they can a lot? Over 85 gallons... and it was all sold in the Country Store or served at the dinner.

Assembly line work.

The guy behind the vat has one job at this point. Keep the canning vat full of apple butter so the canner doesn't have to wait. The canner fills a jar, then the next ladies in line take the jar and give the edges a good wipe. The ladies in the back loosely fit the lids to the jars. The guys in the back, using leather gloves for a good grip as well as protection against the hot jars, tighten the lids, then put them on very large tables in the back to cool overnight.

The next day they are boxed to carry up to the country store for sale.

Much apple butter is served as a complimentary topping at the sausage dinner.

We were done and cleaned up by 5:30 PM. A 13 hour day.

Apple Jelly canning.

While the apple butter was cooking in the morning, a couple of the ladies that also helped with the apple butter canning were making and canning apple jelly. The jelly was also sold in the country store.

We gave these ladies the same hair net break. Took the pictures as they worked on their last 3 jars. They took their hair nets off for the photos and took the last jars home so they wouldn't be sold.

Sausage making.

The actual work of making sausage started on the farm months before as our local farmers raised the hogs.

Earlier in the week of the sausage dinner the hogs were turned into sausage. We'll spare you the gory details as to what went on before these pictures.

At any rate, 48 hogs were turned into 2 3/4 tons of sausage to be cooked or sold fresh at the dinner.

By the way, the sausage stuffer can turn out a 16 foot piece of sausage in under 5 seconds.

Another Assembly line.

17 guys were jammed tight into a space of about 20 feet. As the sausage passed down the table (all under USDA supervision) the sausage was processed. Links are made by twisting the sausage at appropriate lengths.

End Product.

The sausage was given a final once over, then hung on racks for a few days of curing. This was on Thursday, with the sausage being cooked on Sunday.