Place the sausage casing in a bowl, pour in enough warm water to cover it, and soak for 2 or 3 hours, until the casing is soft and pliable.
Wash casings thoroughly but gently under cold water, slowly running water to remove all traces of the salt in which it was preserved. Hold one end securely around the faucet and let the cold water run through to clean the inside of the casing.
To make each sausage, tie a knot about 3 inches from one end of the length of the casing. Fit the open end snugly over the funnel (or 'horn') on the sausage-making attachment of a meat grinder. Then ease the rest of the casing up onto the funnel, gently squeezing it together like the folds of an accordion.
Spoon the meat mixture into the mouth of the grinder and, with a wooden pestle, push it through into the casing. As you fill it, the sausage casing will inflate and gradually ease away from the funnel in a ropelike coil. Fill the casing to within an inch or so of the funnel end but do not try to stuff it too tightly, or it may burst. Slip the casing off the funnel and knot the open end of the sausage.
You may cook the sausage immediately, or, if you prefer, you may refrigerate them safely for 5 or 6 days.
Before cooking a sausage, prick the casing in five or six places with a skewer or the point of a small knife.
