Mid-Summer Madness

Once again the mid summer has come and gone without the culminating blow out shindig that I always plan to do. I guess unless you live in the land of the midnight sun, The summer solstice doesn't mean much, the longest day of the year quietly passes into night.

However since our good friends from New Jersey were in town we took the opportunity to spin again some of the house favorites.

With a few things from the potager, I recreated the Chicken Liver Sausage, which we enjoyed for an appetizer.

We followed that with another edition of the mini-porchetta, this time instead of using pork shoulder, I wrapped a boneless loin with the pork belly.

To accompany the rôti de porc, La Bonne Femme, ripped a receipe from Gourmet, May 2007, for Aligot with Horseradish cream.

(ah-LEE-go) uh-huh.

For dessert mint ice cream on cornmeal sugar cookies (Gourmet, July 2007).

And we ended the evening as we began it: En pleine air avec trop de vin de citron et menthe.

Cheers.

For the Love of Liver

Liver Sausage, Beta. Columbus in May Part II.

I love paté. Even more I love a paté that comes in a tube ready for picnicking and is easy to make. I don't want to fuss with aspic and floaty bits and lined loaf pans, I just want a little spreadable love from my cracker.

I got the ingredients from Carfagna's, still my hands down choice for procuring meat in Columbus(Weiland's is a very close and suitable second), they quickly and gladly filled my order and everything looked great.

Here's the ingredient list:

1 lb chicken livers

1 lb pork shoulder

1/2 lb pork fat

30 g shallot minced

21 g salt

6g pepper

no more than one gram of:

ground clove

ground ginger

grated nutmeg

pinch of fresh thyme minced

50 ml white wine chilled

I called this a beta, because I couldn't find a receipe to use, so I made it up. This preparation is very much like an emulsified sausage, it is important to keep the ingredients and equipment very cold.

First I sautéed the shallots just until they softened then chilled them in the fridge. Next I cubed the shoulder and the fat, then mixed them in a bowl with the spices. I rinsed the livers in cold water, then I ground the meat mixture and the livers together through a small plate on the meat grinder. Liver through a grinder is going to look runny, don't worry about it. Using the paddle attachment I stirred in the wine slowly then shifted it into medium for 2-3 minutes.

Now the mixture is holding together. Time to stuff.

The sausage poached in a simmering bath to an internal temperature of 160F. Then into the ice bath. I let the wurst rest on a rack unwrapped in the fridge overnight. And the next morning:

One is really all I need, but since you already made two...

Ma loves her liver sausage. After breakfast we went for a hike in the Hocking hills.

What about a picnic lunch?

This recipe makes 2lbs of sausage which, in terms of paté, is a lot. It probably freezes well, I didn't have any left to test, but I will be making it again soon.

Simple, spreadable, and you can make it yourself.

Cheers.

Waffle Party

Quick Maple Syrup Breakfast Sausage.

Fermented Yeast Waffles

It started a few months ago. La Bonne Femme, became obsessed with waffles. Waffle this waffle that, I need a waffle iron. Instead of rushing out to Bed Bath Beyond, I convinced her to wait until Easter in Columbus where I was sure we would find an old iron. The Easter bunny came through, and hidden under the chaise lounge in the piano room laid a box containing an old Hamilton Beach from grandma's house.

To be honest, I have always thought of waffles as the more complicated cousin to pancakes: A chemically leavened sweet batter that requires whipped egg whites. Then I found a recipe that uses a fermented yeast batter. Fermented? Sign me up.

photo credit: Josh

The recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated, March 2004, made the most wonderful waffles. Starting the night before here's what we did:

1- 3/4 cups milk

4 oz butter cut up

10 oz (2c) AP Flour

1T sugar

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp (5g) instant yeast

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

I melted the butter in the milk over low heat, then allowed to cool to at least 110F (don't wanna scorch the yeast). Meanwhile I combined all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and in another bowl. I lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla. I first added the milk mixture to the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula to keep it smooth then I incorporated the eggs. Covered and refrigerated overnight.

The next morning the batter is nearly over flowing the bowl. I give it a little stir and then put the iron to work. These waffles are unbelievably good. I made one batch with 50 percent whole wheat, also highly recommended. And they freeze really well; make a big batch and save on your Eggo bill. They crisp up in the toaster real nice. One thing these waffles don't do nice is hold in the oven. Eat them right off the griddle. I think quantities listed made about 7 waffles on our little 7 inch iron, I'm not sure, I made a triple batch for the waffle party.

Hey, what's a party without sausage?

First of all, I would like to dispel the impression that making sausage takes a long time. I made 2 pounds of sausage, which was plenty for the 5 adults and 5 children at the party, in 90 minutes, including clean up. If I had not of stuffed it, the time would have even been shorter. I did make a couple of shortcuts with the ingredients, such as using dried sage and powdered ginger; yet still I had a stand up link. Let's go to the boards:

895 g pork shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes

16 g salt

4 g dried sage

2 g ground black pepper

dash garlic powder

26 g (2T) maple syrup

cold water

Combine the dry ingredients with the cubed pork and run it though the grinder with the fine plate. In a measuring cup pour in the maple syrup then add cold water to the 100 ml mark. Using the paddle attachment or a big wooden spoon, stir the sausage mixture adding the water. Continue until the mixture starts to come together about 1 minute. If your are feeling fancy stuff into sheep casings twist into 4 inch lengths.

Notes: S asked for a milder sausage, but next time I might add a pinch (up to 1 gram) of cayenne to balance the sweetness. If you don't like maple syrup, just use 100 ml of water. Make these sausages at least the day before so that the ingredients get a chance to mingle. If you stuff them into casings, let them mingle in the fridge unwrapped (maybe even on a wire rack) so that the skins dry a little.

So anyway it was a nice get together, Sabra brought pomegranate juice and champagne for pimosas, we sat out on the new patty o'furniture (sorry it's a tic), and our morning brunch floated into an afternoon garden party.

photo credit: Josh

By 3:00 we had broken into the vin de hoo-hoo, and were feeling ready for a nosh. In no time, La Bonne Femme, put together and presented her signature dish, the bacon and onion tart.

The brunch wound down around 4. All was left to do on the sleepy Sunday was stretch out and wait for the sun to set. It's not just sausage, it's a lifestyle.

Cheers.

Sausage Mania

Tasso Ham
Cold Smoked Andouille
Cold Smoked Kielbasa
Smoked Venison Sausage

Ah, spring has arrived. Here in the Southland the breeze brings up wisps of humidity and clouds with rain. The daffodils trumpet up to greet Spring's haphazard arrival, and young men's fancy turns to sausage.

Last week we had quite the mania here at the hermitage, when in one day we made three different kinds of sausages and some ham. It all started when I asked the the neighbor if he would be interested in making his crowd pleasing gumbo with Andouille sausage that I would make. He said yes and while we were at it maybe we could make some kielbasa with some of the beef he had on hand. Sure why not? Another neighbor heard we were making sausage and he called because he had some venison in his fridge and wondered if we could so anything with it. Sure, let's get on with it.

Tasso Ham.

I had seen the recipe in Charcuterie, and had always wanted to try it. It is a very easy preparation. We sliced five pounds of pork shoulder into five steaks then rubbed them in a mixture of salt, sugar and pink salt. We covered and refrigerated the pieces to cure for four hours. After the cure, we rubbed on a mixture of white pepper, cayenne, dried marjoram and allspice.

Then onto the smoker to cook to 150 F, about one hour.

Looks kinda like Shake-n-Bake, huh? I didn't have the time this week to get into the etymology of Tasso (or anything else for that matter) but the cookbook said it is mostly used as a component of other recipes like gumbo, jambalaya or stewed with greens. I found it very good sliced cold.

Cold Smoked Andouille Sausage.

The first sausage of the day was the Cajun champ Andouille. The roots of this sausage start and stop in the Sportsman's Paradise. There is French sausage named Andouille, but they are of no relation. The French version is made up of chopped up spiced chitterlings stuffed into, well, chitterlings. As for the name, Grigson in her book, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery, provides this footnote: Andouille is from the Late Latin adjective, inductibilis, 'that may be drawn over something.'"

Ok. we are going to make the Cajun version, so that we can get some gumbo from the neighbor.

Again we got the recipe from Charcuterie, Five pounds of pork, 1 pound of onion and your assorted Cajun spices. Let's get stuffing.

Wait a sec, did I show you the new casings?

Yes, I finished off my first hank (a hank is the unit of measure in which casings are sold, its about seven miles of casing, not really, but the package did last me a year). Yeah so I sent the Bonne Femme out out to score some more and she came back with something a little bit different.

Each length is threaded onto plastic. before I had sort through the package to get the casings then thread them on to the stuffing tube. Now...

How much easier can sausage making get?

After stuffing and twisting the links, the Andouille goes into the fridge for a couple of days.

On the second day we cold smoke the sausages for six hours. Now the Andouille is ready to gumbo.

Cold Smoked Kielbasa.

There is no place more Polish than Chicago. What other city closes down for Pulaski Day? And nothing says Polish sausage like Kielbasa. Wait, keilbasa is Polish for sausage.

Our ingredients are beef, pork, pork fat and garlic. the spices are paprika, pepper, marjoram, coriander and nutmeg. We got the recipe from Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book. Grind stuff, twist, let it hang.

The kielbasa cold-smoked with the Andouille, then I roasted it to 150F.

These turned out pretty good.

Venison Sausage.

Sausage was invented because prehistoric man had too much venison in the freezer. The recipe we used from Charcuterie, called for half venison, half pork, and it wasn't too heavily spiced. We hot smoked it at the same time as the tasso ham. It turned out real nice.

So ten pounds of sausage, five pounds of ham, two men, one day. Not bad for our little kitchen sink operation.

Oh yeah, and I got my gumbo.

Cheers.

St. Patricks Day Bangers and Mash

Irish Bangers recipe

"Bangers and Mash" you see it on just about any pub menu in our fair city, but what is a banger? Since the bacchanal de vert is upon us I figured it was a good time to explore the sausages of the Emerald Isle...

And that completes the tour of sausages of the Ireland. What did you miss it? That's because there's not much. The Oxford Companion, lists several regional sausages of the UK but nary a one in the land of Erin. Larousse, mentions a blood sausage, drisheen, of Irish decent, and says bangers are an old name for Chipolata. Whatever. I searched for a "Bangers" recipe and came up with a smattering of unimpressive ideas. In Bruce's Aidells' , Complete Sausage Book, he states the sausage he had while living in London, which tasted like it was made with "Sawdust, salt and grease," was his motivation to start making sausage at home. I kept on hitting dead ends, but I was not deterred, we must have something to go with our green beer.



Rusk.

Just about all the recipes I found called for bread crumbs or rusk. As a general rule I have always shied away from cereal fillers in my sausage, but in spirit of being authentic, we'll give it a go. Rusk, according to the dictionary is "A slice of sweet raised bread, dried and baked again in the oven." We'll use toast. Let's go to the boards:


Irish Banger


2 lb pork shoulder diced

3 slices (90 g) whole wheat bread dried in the oven chopped into fine crumbs

20 g salt

1/2 t (1 g) dried marjoram

1/2 t (1 g) grated nutmeg

1/4 t (1 g) powdered ginger

(2 g) ground black pepper

1/2 t (1 g) finely grated lemon zest

100 ml milk


Combine ingredients, except milk, and rest the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour. Grind through fine plate into chilled bowl. Add milk and stir mixture until it starts to come together, about one minute. Stuff into hog casings. For that fancy pub look, twist the sausages into 4 inch lengths. Gently saute them to an internal temperature of 150F. To finish the authentic look make some grilled onions, some curry gravy and mashed potatoes.


Being 'twas a weeknight when I made me bangers, and I hadn't any potatoes (horrors!) I truly embraced the Irish spirit and instead of going to the grocery, I found somethin else in the pantry to mash:

Mac's mashed acorn squash with a wee bit o curry.

Peel quarter and clean one acorn squash. Put the pieces in a roasting pan, liberally sprinkle with salt pepper and olive, and cook until soft in a 350F oven, about 30 minutes.

I let the pieces cool a bit, then I put them in the food processor with a little milk and curry powder to taste. Since I was doing this ahead of time, I put the puree into a buttered casserole dish to warm just before serving. It was real good. One small acorn squash served two people. To finish the presentation, I had to have something green: Swiss chard sauteed with garlic and crushed red pepper. A wee bit of Guinness, and we're ready to chase the leprechaun.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Cheers.