Charcuterie-Homemade Sausage, Round 2!

Well this past weekend I made another go of home made sausage. I certainly employed the handful of lessons I learned from my maiden voyage into becoming the modern day Ab Froman (oh come on! You know the reference!).

..Sausage King of Chicago!!!!

Okay..I trust the jokes have subsided..on to the recipe!

Style of sausage and ingredients remained very much the same as my last venture, but this time around I paid much more attention to getting everything into proportion.

See I have this nasty habit of over-seasoning..and being a self proclaimed Salt addict (I have 5 different salts and 2 different books on the subject..both of which I have read in the past 2 months) I have a bad habit of over salting foods to the point that no one else can enjoy them outside out myself..which is not the healthiest approach I might add :)

Here ya go!

-5.8 lbs pork shoulder (after de-boning)

-3 tbs kosher salt

-1.5 tbsp fresh young basil leaf

-1.75 fresh ground black pepper (mortor/pepper corn)

-3 tbsp diced garlic

-1.2 cups $2 chuck (that's pronounced "two buck chuck")-Merlot from Trader Joes

-1 package natural pork casings packed in salt

I butchered the pork shoulder 18 hours or so prior. After cutting the meat into 2x2 inch (or so) cubes I added the salt, pepper, garlic, and basil leaf to sit and partially cure in the fridge overnight prior to grinding.

After chilling in the freezer (colder is better..cant let the meat rise above 65 degrees else the fax will "break" and ruin he texture of the meat) I went about my business grinding, mixing (1 minute on medium setting then 1 minute on med/low setting with addition of chilled red wine), and stuffing into pork casings which had been soaked and rinsed for a 23 hours. This time around I had my kitchen aid sausage stuffer on hand (last time I diy'd this part..not so great) and it worked out fantastically.

All in all the sausages taste fantastic, in fact I've just distributed a few to my work buddies for their "professional" opinion and have froze the remaining 20 links.

If you would like a more in-depth description of the process please do let me know, I'd be more than happy to share as I'm all about this Charcuturie business and would love to be able to add to the promotion of this timeless art.

Next up-Brewing update: American APA (base malts: 2-row, oatmeal, rye, wheat)

Salute to that!

Homemade Pork Sausage..now we're talking Charcuterie!

Yep...this is a pretty big milestone for me since picking up Michael Ruhlmans and Brian Polycns "Charcuterie" last summer.

According to such great titles as the above making sausages is the ultimate in Charcuterie, what sums up the art of curing and preserving meats and is a whole field of culinary study in and of itself.

But enough about that..can you believe I made sausage? Me neither...but it was bound to happen :)


Just a quick post here folks, will be more in-depth on the next round of sausage making. Essentially what you see here is me raising a class of a Grand Cuvee Blonde Ale from some Belgium brewery who's name escapes me (was not so great anyway...wish I had some Brise-Bonbons left-French for "ball buster" by the way) and toasting the one poster we have in our kitchen..a classic butchers guide to pork and cuts of meat from these guys..its awesome.

From that point you have the grinding of 4lbs of Pork Butt (bone in-cubed and seasoned with salt, garlic, and pepper for 24 hours prior), the sampling of some of the sausage prior to stuffing into the natural pork casings (cooked on medium low heat on caste iron), and the final product which came out just "OK". Overall I consider the project a success and now know where I need to improve on my next go-around which I will post on at that point.

Cheers...and oink!

Curing Duck Breast, Ostrich, and Sockeye Salmon..not to mention drinking some Craft Beer....great afternoon!

So after a long hiatus which included a trip to the east coast, a trip to the west coast, and a trip to Alaska I think I'll break back into the flow of foodie/beer/travel blogging by letting you folks know about 3 food items which are now (as of last hour) in our fridge and on their way to becoming extremely tasty. This afternoon I cured two types of meat, threw down some salmon for another batch of Gravlax..and put down some fine craft beer (primarily Dogfish Heads Mida Touch)..and some of my own homebrew..good times!

First up: Duck Prosciutto, this is my 3rd go-around with the salt cured duck breast, no major changes compared to past sessions. This time I utilized only some crushed peppercorns and some thyme seed for. Stay tuned...

Second up: Gravlax, but here's the kicker..its with fresh Sockeye Salmon that yours truly pulled out of the icy cold waters of Alaska just two weeks ago! Ready for another kicker?? These fillets have traveled with my good buddy Anthony across the nation just to get back to me (via Anchorage, to Tucson, and finally to Chicago).

Recipe is pretty straight forward. Salmon is curing in Kosher Salt with a small amount of white sugar (3 tablespoons to the 3/4 cup Kosher Salt), a hefty amount of Young Dill picked up at Whole Foods, and the juice of one orange (not traditional for gravlax). The two steaks of Wild Sockeye are both about 2 inches thick which means this should be ready in just a few days..cant wait considering my last venture into gravlax was last summer.

Third up is another salt cured prosciutto...Ostrich. I picked up a frozen steak of Ostrich meat at Whole Foods and thought "well..why not cure it like Duck Prosciutto?"..so that's what I did. Nothing fancy here at all. We have one steak curing (completely covered) in Kosher Salt for the next 24 hours and then will hang side-by-side with my Duck Breast Prosciutto for one solid week (after being sprinkled with some white pepper).