Laurie Thorp, program director of the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment, or RISE, helps out at the farm and said the contest was a great way for the students to take a break from farming and celebrate the animals they raise.

“For us, it’s a really nice way for us to take a pause in the summer from all the hard work they’ve been doing in the heat and also an opportunity for them to learn some culinary skills,” Thorp said. “The students learn how to make homemade sausage the old-fashioned way and use some of the nice ingredients that we grow here at the farm in their recipes. It’s really about bringing food full circle from farm to table.”

With no culinary background, Student Organic Farm production manager Dan Fillius made an Italian sausage he called the “Mama Maiale” and took home the crown for the third year in a row on Tuesday at the sausage throwdown.

Kurt Kwiatkowski, MSU Culinary Service’s corporate chef, judged the sausage throwdown and said before crowning a winner, he took several things into consideration including creativity, presentation, how it looks on the plate, among other categories.

Kwiatkowski said Fillius aimed to do nothing other than make a really good sausage.

“It had great flavor, great texture, perfectly cooked and it was just really good all the way around because it was well balanced,” Kwiatkowski said. “He had both flavors but his sausage maintained the fatness and had some spice to it. There were a lot of different things going on but you could still taste the pork, which was nice.”

Fillius said his technique was consistency, which is a strong virtue for the three-time winner.

“It was pure luck the first year I won, but ever since, I’ve been just tweaking the same recipe and making it perfect,” Fillius said.