Bangers And Mash

Bangers and Mash



Well, it wasn't just any sausage, it was my garlic sausage.   And, of course, I also changed the mashed potatoes by adding a bit of parsnips.  For sweetness.  And, I'm addicted to mashed potatoes and parsnips.  Finding a British beer in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, was nothing short of a miracle.  Bass.  At Safeway.  Wonders will never cease.  So began my multiple usages of stuffed sausage.

Given my weakness for sausage,  my first four different sausages didn't make a dent in my freezer so I decided to go for even more.  Top left is Charcuterie's Smoked Andouille recipe.  Below is Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Merguez Sausage.  On the right, both coiled and in links, is Charcuterie's Venison Sausage.  I feel like I'm on a sausage mission, trying more and more kinds of sausage-making, but maybe I'm just filling a junk food addition.  Be that as it may, as long as I had extra minutes in the day, a love of sausage loomed overhead.

At first I wasn't crazy about the Andouille, so I used and froze it without smoking it.  I figured I could smoke some of it, if I wanted, after defrosting....  I may be completely wrong but I had no choice because life is like that....  I didn't think it had enough pepper a first, but after freezing and then defrosting a few links, I changed my mind and really liked the flavor. Andouille Sausage is really good whether smoked or not, and it lends itself to many different dishes.  I used it in a risotto and it turned out very well.  I also made a cream sauce with peppers, onions, and zucchini and served it over egg noodles, as shown above.  Now I think that smoking it would really bring out the flavor even more.


Garlic sausage and peppers

So, every summer I look forward to the County Fair in late August (and yes, that is way too early).  I often enter some of my canned goods and have won a number of blue ribbons.  But what I really look forward to is the food booth from Coeur d'Alene because they serve coils and coils of homemade Italian sausage.  I can smell the sausage and pepper, onion, garlic, and oregano mix on the grill before I even see the booth.  The server cuts a long chunk of the coil, sticks it into an oversized sausage roll, covers it with the pepper mixture, puts it onto some serving paper, and hands it to you.  And, in a truly disgusting fashion, I also put yellow mustard on top - it must be some childhood thing.  Occasionally, throughout the year, I try to emulate the flavor, and although I didn't add the disgusting yellow mustard to the above sandwich, it came close to county fair memories.

I've used my sausages in a number of ways.  For dinner one night my husband and I had rigatoni with chicken sausage and peppers in cream sauce again.  I love how the cream absorbs the flavors of the peppers and sausage as well as the changing herbs that I add.  To me, it's comfort food.  I also made a risotto with my chicken sausage removed from the casings and I added some cut up broccoli.  That was delicious!  The hint of tomato from the sausage blended well with the broccoli, onions, and garlic.  My own chicken stock just added more flavor.

I haven't had the venison sausage yet.  I'm thinking I'll like it more in winter....  However, once those root vegetables come up in the fall, I may be tempted to serve them with venison sausage.  Hmm, what kind of beer would go well with venison sausage?  Maybe on a gusty, windy fall day, red wine would match the sausage better.  So many choices!  And tomorrow, a new Charcutepalooza challenge!  I'm ready!

Chicken Sausage

I resisted this challenge because I really don't like chicken sausage.  It's not that it doesn't taste good; rather, when it comes to sausage I want anything but chicken and fish.  If I had found someone reasonable duck, I would have made duck sausage.  If I had wild turkey, or grouse, or pheasant, I would have made that.  Actually, my favorite is pork sausage (except for my newest addiction, Merguez).  But chicken, to me, is just not something to be made into sausage.  I don't really like it ground into meatballs or patties either.  Maybe it's the delicacy of the meat and when it comes to sausage, I like it heavier in fat and flavor in the mouth.  I do, however, like chicken as forcemeat because there it retains its more delicate flavor.  However, I fulfilled my responsibility and I discovered that chicken sausage is not so bad when it's homemade.

I began small, with only two pounds of chicken thighs.  I had fun with the de-boning.  Yeah, thighs are easy-peasy, but I watched this video on youtube by some guy who looked like he was half asleep but then de-boned that thigh perfectly in just seconds.  I figured after about another 500 thighs I might be half good.

Then, I ground the chicken.  The most negative aspect about making chicken sausage is that every time I touched the bloody chicken I had to wash my hands again for another step in the process.  I think I spent more time washing my hands and anything else that had contact with the chicken than with the sausage process itself.  Anyway, grinding was a breeze.  It yielded a uniform small and sticky grind that absorbed the spices well.

Then came the flavorings.  I didn't have fresh basil (like the Charcuterie recipe) and I really don't like dried basil.  I was in the mood for toasted fennel so I toasted two teaspoons, which I then ground in the mortar.  I added cracked hot pepper, salt, thyme, lots of finely diced raw garlic, some chopped, sun-dried tomato, and some orange zest.  I liked the idea of the orange zest, but I think it didn't do as well in a sausage as it does in a liquid.  My husband, however, thought it was very good.  For a liquid, I added half dry white wine and half ice water. 

Stuffing was a problem.  It really needed smooth and steady stuffing which is not easy for one person, especially with that sticky, viscous ground chicken.  I ended up holding the sausage casing with one hand and stuffing the KA stuffer with another, but at speed #4, it all seemed to work.  The sausage turned out just a bit thick.  However, it tasted really good.

I meant to add some pork back fat instead of using the chicken skin, but having forgot to defrost it, I just used the chicken skin.  Next time, I would definitely use the pork.  Since my spices came from the Provençal area of France, I felt the end flavor was pretty good.  And having worked with all that sticky ground chicken, I think I'm ready for some emulsified sausage.  Weisswurst, here I come!

Grinding Sausage



Sausage and peppers

I made Charcuterie's smoked andouille recipe because I was curious about how it would turn out.  For me, andouille means paprika because it provides not just taste but also that red color.  Noticing that this recipe did not call for paprika, I was intrigued.  The book says that the sausage is "...so flavorful you can eat it with no accompaniments" so I decided to try it that way and it is tasty but not what I expected of an andouille recipe.  Maybe the smoking provides more of my expected andouille flavor but even though I've stuffed some of it I have not yet had time to smoke it.  However, the fatty grind did become dinner.  I made it into little meatballs, which I sauteed in oil.  After cooking, I removed them, took out any burnt bits, put in some fresh oil and added my peppers and onions, with salt, thyme, and red pepper.  After the veggies softened, I removed them, made a dark roux, added some of my tomato passata and water, then put the veggies and meatballs back in the pan.  Scrumptious!  So, I served it over egg noodles.  Easy-peasy!

Part of the grinding process involves taste and that's what I really wanted to get right in this challenge.  As noted in my previous post I borrowed recipes freely from others.  I never really realized that I had many similar recipes in my own head because of what I add to meatballs, meatloaves, risottos, soups, stews, etc..  With that knowledge in mind, I have become quite a fixture at my local butcher and so far they've only failed me when it came to caul fat.   However, they do provide elk, venison, pork, and beef.  And they usually kill and cut the local moose, bear, and yak as well.  I'm not really into eating bear.  Yak, I love.  It's some of the best meat I've every tasted. 

  I had ground my own meat on a number of occasions and have experimented with making my own  meatballs, venison and lamb terrines, and various other kinds of meatballs/meatloaves with various grindings of the meat plus experimental additions like various kinds of cheeses.  However, I had never tried stuffing sausage casings before so I attempted this time to get the grind just right for that particular kind of product.

The grinding process went well with no particular problems or difficulties.  Then, jumping ahead of the game, I decided to stuff my several different kinds of sausage all in one sitting.  I noticed towards the end that I should have stopped for a bit, put my equipment in ice water, and then continued because the sausage began to taste a bit dry and crumbly.  Because I taste everything (isn't that part of the fun?) I noticed it quickly so I could stop in time to prevent further error.

Although I slid over the mark from just grinding into stuffing, I like the idea of having my sausage stuffed because of all the recipes I can make with already stuffed sausage.  I can just heat it on the grill, or boil it in liquid.  I can add it easily to a choucroute recipe.  I can slice the sausage for an hors d'oeuvres or a tapas (chorizo in red wine).  And, I can take it out of the casing and use it ground.

I'm happy the next challenge is stuffing because I love sausage!

Sausage, Sausage, And More Sausage

Four different fresh sausage

I am wearing a huge smile on my face.  Just the sight of those beautiful sausages makes me happy, brightens my day, and makes my taste buds tingle.  Top left is my fennel sausage; underneath, garlic sausage; in the middle, Italian sweet sausage; and both those babies on the right are Merguez sausages.  The casings for the Merguez had a hole so I had to stop, tie off, and finish with a smaller sausage.

This is my first time making sausage.  I never knew it could be so easy.  Actually, stuffing them, with a Kitchen Aid, is not easy without help.  That is one lesson I learned.  It's difficult trying to guide the sausage casing with one hand while stuffing in the meat with the other hand.  Also, pushing the meat into the sausage stuffer has to be somewhat continuous or the sausage becomes lumpy and filled with air pockets.  Of course, maybe that problem is related to oiling the worm.

Another lesson learned is that there is a very good reason for oiling the worm well, because otherwise the meat sticks to it, which means stopping and washing everything in the middle of making sausage or building my own arm muscles by forcing more meat to go through the stuffer.  Well, I have another batch of meat ready to go so I'll see if I learned my lessons.

Keeping the casing in lukewarm water before threading it onto the stuffer also helps. Otherwise, it's hard work and provides potential for the casing to tear.  So, having someone to help stuff the sausage, oiling the worm, and keeping the casings wet were my three most important lessons.  They were techniques I had never known before.

As for the recipes, well, I borrowed freely and must give proper due to the providers.  So far my favorite recipe is from Mrs. Wheelbarrow whose Merguez sausage recipe is soooo goooood!  She mentioned the merguez in this month's grinding challenge, but I first saw her recipe as a Food52 winner.  After seeing the comments that others left, I decided not to change anything.  Mrs. Wheelbarrow's spice mixture is incredible and I'm sure it will find its way into other dishes.  I don't know what harissa she uses, but I had some DEA harissa that I had picked up at The Basque Market on a trip to Boise.  They don't seem to have it in their online store but I've noticed that Amazon carries it.

Well, I did kind of change one thing.  I added about 1/3 c. of my pork shoulder butt to the lamb because I didn't want to end up with dry sausage.  I only had ground lamb left in my freezer because we had eaten all the lamb shoulder and I wasn't sure of the fat content, so, in went the pork.  In order to honor Moroccan tradition, I probably should have added oil or maybe duck fat in respect for the pork taboo.  Impulsively, however, I threw in the pork.  And to make it worse, I did it again in the second batch I have waiting to be ground.  I'm not sure what a good pork alternative would be.  I'm not crazy about lamb fat - it just isn't tasty. 

I borrowed the Italian sweet sausage and the garlic sausage recipes from Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie.  I did add a bit more hot pepper to the Italian sausage recipe, and, after frying a taste sample of the garlic sausage, decided to throw in some garlic granules in order to satisfy my garlic cravings.  Both of these are very good but next time I would toast and grind the fennel for the Italian sausage and double the amount of garlic for the garlic sausage.

Finally, the fennel sausage recipe came from Joyce Goldstein's The Mediterranean Kitchen.  This recipe called for toasting the fennel and it was delicious in the sausage!  She also has recipes in there for other sausages including Portuguese Linguisa, Greek Loukanika, Spanish Chorizo, and Calabrese Lucanica.  Wow, the Lucanica combines both pork and lamb!  I have found a match that I have to try!  I can see this is going to be the summer of sausage.

Italian Sausage and Lentil Soup

And this is how it began.  Clockwise from top left:  brown lentils from the Palouse; my homemade "passata"; my quickly defrosting chard from my garden; my homemade mild Italian sausage out of the casing; my sausage in the casing; my friend, Marsha's, beautiful garlic and onions; kosher salt; and sour cream.  All together they make soup.

I once had a soup similar to this at La Cucina, Cucina in Spokane, WA.  I loved it and this is the duplicate I came up with at home.  The sausage is so flavorful that I don't add any other herbs to the soup.  The heat from the sausage is just enough.  It is a soup in which every ingredient has its separate place on the tongue so that each individual flavor can be found but the overall flavor is rich and mellow with just enough hot spiciness and deliciousness that it's hard to stop eating before that feeling of being sated sets in.

To make the soup, I saute one large or several small onions, garlic (at least five or more cloves, crushed), and sausage (I take it out of the casing).  Then I add the chard, followed by the passata and enough water to allow the lentils to expand with a bit more for a soupier texture.  After it cooks for a while, I check for seasoning.  If it needs more salt, which it usually does, I salt to taste.  Actually, I bring it to the saltier side because after adding the sour cream some of the saltiness is absorbed by the cream.

I usually make a large batch of soup because I like to put the excess into one pint glass canning jars, screw on any old lid, and stick it into our chest freezer to have at some future date.  The one pint jars are just enough for one person because, of course, I have to leave at least an inch of head room so that the frozen soup doesn't break the glass.  For this batch I used one pound of lentils, three medium onions, eight cloves of garlic, about three cups of frozen chard, two heaping tablespoons of passata, twelve cups of water, and about a half to three quarters cup of sour cream.


Italian Sausage and Lentil Soup


Spinach or any other flavorful green can be substituted for the chard.  The sour cream is added at the end to help blend the flavors and mellow the contrasts in flavors.  I call my canned, roasted, pureed tomatoes a passata.  In my mind it's a true passata but I've seen other definitions.  At the end of summer, just before the big frost should hit, I strip my tomato plants of all tomatoes no matter what color they are.  The under ripe greens are separated from the rest of the tomatoes and allowed to ripen in my sun room.  I can usually make some last into the very first days of December.

The passata is the perfect dish to make in the evening and finish the next morning.  The ripe tomatoes are rinsed, dried, and ready to cut.  I cut out the stem end and any flaws.  Into a large casserole or baking dish, I drizzle some olive oil.  Then I add the tomatoes, and whatever else moves me that evening.  Sometimes I also add some garlic or onions or even balsamic vinegar.  I cook it all at 325 F until about half the juice of the tomatoes is gone.  The tops are always dark and well carmelized.  Then I leave it to cool in the oven until the next morning.

Whenever I get around to it the next morning, I throw the whole mess into my Cuisinart so that I don't have to worry about skins and seeds.  I pack it into sterilized, wet canning jars with some lemon juice (depending on the size of the jar).  The lemon juice insures that the tomatoes have enough acidity so that they don't spoil.  I always check my Ball or Kerr canning book to remind myself of how much lemon juice.  Yes, I have reached a point in my life when so much is in the very gray brain cells that it's always easier to just re-check my memory because I certainly don't want to kill myself eating my own canned goods!  Finally, I finish off the canning in a boiling water bath.  The tops seal and they go into my root cellar (a cool, dark place).  I use the "passata" in soups, stews, sauces, and even as a topping for crostini.

I have to have bread with my soup.  I make my own bread.  The one pictured happens to be Jim Lahey's (Sullivan Bakery, NYC) No Knead Bread.  I make it with sourdough starter, water, beer, and whatever flour I'm in the mood for.  The one pictured has unbleached white, kamut, and flax seed meal.  It loved the soup and I loved it all!  Yummy!

Smoked Out

 

Smoked, Moroccan spiced pork loin with olives/lemon.

 I finished up my brief, albeit somewhat obsessive, Charcutepalooza smoking challenge. I learned a lot about smoking. I learned that a smoker with an attached thermometer is much better than one without. I own the one without. Not being able to really know the temperature of the smoking chamber, except in approximates, makes smoking much more of a challenge than a pleasure. Greatly reinforced during this challenge is the knowledge that I should always, always check the meat's doneness with a thermometer. I use an instant read thermometer.  I learned that I much prefer brining over dry rubs, because the dry rubs become too cooked or too dry.  Then again, I've been brining for so long that perhaps that taken-for-granted knowledge helps me to produce a better product.  Maybe I could learn to love dry rubs too, but I'd have to use them more often. I learned that I like some foods smoked, but it's not fun to smoke everything in sight because not everything tastes better smoked. I am looking forward, however, to a smoked wild turkey next Fall.   We always have many winter squash in the garden each year and I did love the smoked flavor in the squash.  Smoked bacon has never been high on my list of cravings, and now that I've made pancetta, I'll take that first any day. Finally, I learned that after smoking I not only need a shower but my hair needs big-time scrubbing.  Maybe that's an indication that I'm doing something wrong???

Smoked pork loin with Moroccan spices

I think this was my favorite smoked meat: pork loin with Moroccan spices.  I know, that is so NOT Moroccan.  I mean pork???  But I did it anyway.  I didn't have a local beef or lamb loin, but I did have pork.  My friend, Mark, gave me "his" Moroccan spice mix recipe.  It's not really his because he found it many, many years ago in some magazine.  But it's certainly yummy!  It contains  coriander, cumin, smoked Spanish paprika, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. 

The pork loin tasted really good just plain.  The second time we had it with some sauteed vegetables with a Mediterranean twist.  I finished off the veggie saute with a splash of water so that I could add some leftover rice to the pot and have it be soft and fluffy .  Finally, I added the slices of the pork loin to the top of the veggie/rice mix just to steam the meat slightly for warmth.

But my favorite dish appears in the photo that begins this blog.  I cooked up some diced onion with a pinch of saffron.  Then I added some chopped, green French olives and the sliced rind of one of my salt cure, preserved lemons, and some water.  I salted to taste; obviously, it didn't take much.  Finally, I added several slices of the smoked, Moroccan spiced pork loin to the pot just to warm the meat.  I served it all with my combo tzatzakis/raita yogurt mix: Greek yogurt; cumin; fresh cilantro; seeded, chopped cucumber; a dash of hot pepper; and salt to taste.  It was so tasty that I started eating before remembering to take a photo; thus, the utensil accompaniment.

Spicy, smoked pork with pear chutney, aioli, and gouda cheese.

 Another favorite dish was the sandwich I made with the spicy, smoked pork loin.  Last fall I had made some pear chutney with our own Bosc pears.  On several occasions, Serious Eats has featured sandwiches, in New York and Los Angeles.  One of those sandwiches had a pairing of pork and pear, or maybe it was apple, and cheese.  Taking my cue from that, I bought a "ciabatta" (it came close in appearance but lacked a bit in flavor), spread some of my own aioli mayo on the bread for moisture, added some gouda, the sliced pork loin, and my pear chutney.  Now that was good!  I loved how I could taste each flavor but not one overpowered the other.  Now that's a keeper!

Smoked pork hocks

The pork hocks became the item that finally made me realize that I should have smoked them longer in order to bring the meat up to temp, but, I should also have kept the interior of the smoker cooler so that the smoke didn't brown the meat too much.  I wrapped and froze these to use with beans as a future soup.

Smoked baby back ribs

 The ribs were my most disappointing dish.  They were obviously smoked too long.  The rub overcooked.  The smoker's internal temperature was too high.  And yet they held such promise!  I rubbed them with a dry rub from Anne Burrell's Crispy Mustard Braised Pork Belly.  Then, after sitting in the fridge for 24 hours, I didn't wash the rub off.  Needless to say the ribs are a bit salty.  Because the herbs were overcooked in the smoker, I ended up throwing the ribs in boiling water.  That improved the flavor.  But they were still a bit salty.  I think the best thing to do with them now is throw them out - oh no, I cannot waste food! - or, cook them with some beans or cabbage or something.  I know an idea is brewing, but it has not yet come to fruition.

This post is a bit late because it is April 15th already, and Mrs. Wheelbarrow has just announced the new Charcutepalooza challenge: Grinding!  I am ready for this one.  Meguez sausage, bratwurst, Thuringer Bratwurst, Spanish chorizo, maybe even "Rotwurst," the speciality hot dog like wurst from Swabia where I once lived for a year.  Sausage is my junk food.  And now that I've finished with my temporary, 8-week substitute position, and no longer have six college classes upon my own three, I'm going to throw myself into, overindulge in, satiate myself with, and completely succumb to the joy of making sausage.  Caul fat, sheep casings, hog casings, weisswurst, chorizo, saucissons sec, kielbasa, andouille, oh, it will be heaven on earth.

Smoking Convert

Smoked pork, shallot, garlic, squash.

I confess, I was never really big on smoked foods.  I'm not even a big smoked bacon fan.  And I'm not a fan of barbecue sauce.  Maybe I'm an American culture failure.  But now that I've smoked one spicy, dry rubbed pork loin, there's no stopping this smoking convert.

In the above photo, the spice rub looks much darker than what I see. Hmm, any photo hints?? This first photo also shows that I really went wild over the first time smoking as I also smoked shallots, garlic, and winter squash. The shallots and garlic need to be tended more carefully next time, but the winter squash had a slightly smokey flavor that combined well with the sweet carmelization and earthiness of the squash. Had I had more squash, I would have cooked it all for some great soups and raviolis!

For the pork loin, I followed the dry spicy rub from my curing bible, Charcuterie.  I also ground up some very fresh, dried herbs and spices from my favorite local Health Food Store, Mt. Mike's, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.  After wrapping it in plastic wrap, it looked like this:

Red, wrapped, and ready to begin

I left it in the fridge for the required amount of time, then prepared myself for smoking.  We have a Brinkmann electric smoker.  We didn't use chips because they just burn too fast in this smoked; instead, we used larger, water-soaked hickory chunks.  We have some applewood, but it isn't chopped up yet and with our very wet winter, not really dry enough.  So, we used what we could find.

I thought I'd just follow the directions in Charcuterie for smoking but obviously different smokers require different timing, heat up at various rates, and have a high temperature limit.  I could not get our smoker hotter than 250F and that was with lots of wood.  So, I settled for a longer cooking time.  Also, the final temperature of the meat was a bit higher than what I really wanted, so next time I'll go for the lower, fully-cooked pork temperature.

Smoking away

On another occasion, I served the pork loin plain again, but this time with sauteed yellow peppers and onions and with saffron rice and dried tomatoes.  Loved it!





More spiced pork with peppers, onions, and rice.


I didn't have time to take a photo because we were late for our ten hour trek to the Oregon coast, but the pork also made into a delicious banh mi sandwich.  My son just cut slices and ate it plain because he liked it so much.  We have a bit left and that will become some other dish when we return to Bonners Ferry tomorrow.

The smoking bug did not stop at the pork.  I also smoked a curry rubbed, butterflied leg of lamb.  The yearly lamb comes from my friend, Annie, who raises the sheep for wool.  It's usually smaller and our local USDA butcher cuts it.  I always get the leg bone in, so I had an opportunity to try out my "butchering" skills in order to have the butterfly cut.  I felt good about how it went.  I also made some freshly chopped curry spices but followed too closely a recipe I once found on the web and ended up with a bit too much coriander, which didn't allow the cardamom to come through as much as I wanted.  But it was still good!



Curry crusted butterflied lamb leg


Again, the photo makes it appear darker than it is.  It's pretty good.  I think I'll mix it with some lentils and spinach for soup.  And make more sandwiches out of it, maybe something in a homemade pita with yoghurt raita, tzatziki, raita*, and dal.  There's just no end to it....  Now what shall I smoke next?

*linguistic and cultural confusion....