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!

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!