how the sausage is made

idiomatic phrase

: the practical and often unpleasant or messy aspects of a process that are usually not made public

You would think that being on set, and seeing how the sausage is made, would take the magic away for Mr. McClay.

—Adam Epstein

Both new chairs of their chambers' respective Defense Appropriations panels are well versed in how the budget sausage is made.

—Andrew Clevenger

Offering up vintage backstage footage of Jim Henson and Frank Oz operating the Muppets feels a little like Henry Houdini coming back to reveal all his secrets. … Yet that's almost the least of the pleasures in a highly satisfying HBO documentary … that wisely places roughly equal emphasis on how the sausage was made and how the culture was changed.

—Chris Willman

Examples of how the sausage is made in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So giving the writers an opportunity to produce and see their episode all the way through post and see how the sausage is made? —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024

This is a rare case where seeing how the sausage is made actually enhances my enjoyment (of crossword puzzles)! —Sam Corbin, New York Times, 24 Nov. 2024

Meek learned that people don’t care how the sausage is made, and there are no spoils for being right when your opponent has better jokes. —Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 Aug. 2024

Users love seeing content that shows how the sausage is made—sometimes quite literally. —Carey Bringle, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024

Someone who knows how the sausage is made, is content to just sit back and enjoy the shenanigans, but will also throw in a couple great jokes and maybe turn a few great lewks, then casually mention meeting Liz Taylor. —EW.com, 6 Aug. 2024

Music nerds who love knowing how the sausage is made have a veritable feast here, a toe-tapping tribute to the true backbone of the music biz. —Debby Wolfinsohn, EW.com, 16 July 2024

Defective Software Beyond the specific drawbacks of the industrial program and the national champions strategy lies a defective approach to designing policy, that is, how the sausage is made. —Arvind Subramanian, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2021

Fans also appear to have a surprising, and monetizable, appetite for learning how the sausage is made. —Rory Smith, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above