Sausage Stuffer or Gun
Display: Cutting Edge
Culinary Technique: extrusion
Date: c. 1870
Dimensions: 5" h x 23" w x 10" d
Watch collection donor Mel Mickevic demonstrate this object with
Dean Christopher
Koetke, School of Culinary Arts, Kendall College,
and Victoria Matranga, exhibition curator.
This sausage stuffer operated like a simple plunger to force meat through the tin cylinder. However, it required great physical force. The butcher gripped the handles with two hands and pushed the gun's wooden base against his stomach or shoulder, which were protected with a padded apron. This stuffer appears to be handmade—note the soldered seams, the punctured holes in the cone, and the way the wooden plunger is constructed.