6:44 saturday morning

If dinosaurs roamed the earth today, would we eat them?

Not totally sure how I feel about it. Would probably taste like alligator, which allegedly tastes like chicken. What I do know is that one of these dudes would make a heck of a lot of sausages!



(source)

the skinny on sausage casings.

Okay everybody, say it with me...
"INTESTINES!!!"
Ha! That's not so bad, is it? Even if you don't want to think about it, when you eat any (well, any non-vegetarian) sausage, you are eating a combination of ground meats and spices stuffed into natural casings, meaning intestines. You're okay with that, right?
Good.
So the next question is, what kinds of casings are there? And are all casings created equal?


With all of the varieties of sausages, I'd imagine casings differ vastly.
Thus far, I've only used hog casings in my sausage experimentation, which I have found to be excellent for beginning to intermediate sausage makers. They are available at my trusty butcher shop for a pretty reasonable price (about 10lbs of meat will use about $10 of casings) and are pretty forgiving- nice and stretchy and not at all unpleasant to eat.
Lamb casings seem to be a good option for the slightly more advanced sausage stuffer. They are more delicate and narrower (think: breakfast sausages) but I hear they are incredibly tender and tasty. They also tend to cost twice as much and harder to find.
Beef casings are another option for sausages of the larger variety. They are thicker and smoother and have a snappy bite (think: bologna) and are ideal for your big, meaty sausages- chorizo, blood sausages, kielbasa, etc.
And vegetarian casings, well, give this a shot. Report back.
So, the good news is, nowadays, you can buy anything on the internet! Here's a great site that sells all sorts of casings- and they're cheap. They offer a great selection of hog, sheep, and beef casings in different diameters and dyes. I would imagine the procedure would be similar to ordering meat online, they would package it up nicely on dry ice, but casings hold up pretty well, so... here's the sketchy part.

"Salted casings have a very long shelf life when stored properly. Un-refrigerated, these salted casings quickly begin to give off a strong odor even though they are not spoiled. Put them back under refrigeration and this odor for the most part subsides."

Hmm... I don't know how my doorman would feel about accepting a package of stinky animal parts. But for the price, it is worth a shot!

a freezer full of goodness

One (of many) things that I love about my day job is that we seem to get every minor holiday off, so I've decided to dedicate these special days to food projects. Before we left for Argentina, we finished the last of the chorizo, so more sausage it was! I must say, it is much easier and more fun to make sausage with a buddy, but I wanted to try it on my own to really get the hang of it. The results may not be as pretty as the last ones, but they sure are tasty!
I decided on a large batch hot Italian and a small experiment batch of chicken cranberry.

Hot Italian Sausage
5 lbs coarse ground pork
1 cup cold red wine
1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano
5 tsp salt
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
3 tsp cayenne
5 tbsp fennel seed
2 tsp crushed chili peppers
5 tbsp paprika
5 tsp brown sugar
(modified from source)



Chicken Cranberry

2 lbs finely ground organic chicken (I used dark meat for economic reasons)
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/2 cup cold white wine
1/4 of a white onion, grated
2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp thyme



I'm pumped to have a freezer full of sausage again! The rest of the Italian is coming with us to weekend events in mini-sandwich form. I roasted some red peppers and they compliment it nicely.

a circus of meats

I just had to expand on this experience--

I would equate the experience to Bourdain's Uruguay extravaganza. So unexpected! We spotted a small restaurant called Circus near Florida street (a very touristy area of Buenos Aires) while trekking with our backpacks from the bus station to our hostel. I noticed that it seemed to be filled with locals grabbing lunch-- tasty looking sausage in crusty rolls with fresh chimichurri sauce. The next night, we happened upon it again while on our nightly dinner hunt and decided to check it out.

What happened next was the most fun I've had eating in quite some time. The grillmaster dudes cooked everything up on a main grill and then brought a mini grill to our table for us to graze on. We had seen the mini grills at other restaurants and were wary of them... We thought that good meat could not come from this, that the meat would inevitably be overcooked and dry, and I suppose that would be the case if we were being served a high-end steak-- but quantity won out over quality here! Granted, the cuts of meat weren't great and we were wary of the chicken, but the crispy, greasy bits of pork, beef, and lamb (maybe?) were so satisfying it was like a buffet of meat junk food. My stomach paid for it the next day, but it was totally worth it (and that's saying a lot for me, I am usually overly cautious to avoid stomachaches).

sausage thought: patties.

have yet to invest in a meat grinder? fear not! you can still make yourself tasty sausages, just in patty form. i don't know if these would be quite as satisfying to make, but i'm sure they would be just as great to eat.
i think i would miss the bewildered look on people's faces as i described to them the stretching and ballooning of the intestines as they filled with meaty goodness...

source.

argentinean eats

my mission for the week is to do some further research on what we may be consuming on our argentinean adventure next week. i know that we should expect to survive off beef and wine (sounds great to me!), but i am interested in finding more information on how specifically the beef will be prepared.


to my relief, they seem to prefer a simple, fresh preparation to highlight the meat itself (i was afraid of finding countless recipes containing mixed nuts or something that would make me paranoid to consume anything).


honestly, i can't help thinking of that episode of no reservations (click for clip) where the meat was cooked like this--

(image source: christopherjlester.typepad.com)
which is frankly a bit intimidating!

but the meat is traditionally prepared (in reasonable portions!) on an asado -or grill- over charcoal, either seasoned with salt or a simple marinade and often served with a chimichuri sauce--

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
1 fresh bay leaf (optional), finely chopped
(recipe from www.epicurious.com)

oh, and chorizo is a big deal, too! wonder how it compares to my chorizo? might have to finish that off this week in anticipation...

turducken: a history

i assumed the turducken was purely a result of the glutenous food fascination as of late in this fat-obsessed culture of ours,* but no! it actually has a history, and a widespread and royal one at that. look at that bursting goodness!

the edwardian-era ballotine is an early version. it consists of a piece of meat, fish, or poultry that has been boned, stuffed and then rolled and tied into a bundle. it is allegedly a frequent request of the queen and can be prepared for up to 21 people! maybe they start with an ostrich or something.

the french have their twist too, creating the largerst recorded nested bird roast in th early 19th century with 17 birds- a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler. the final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. fyi-- this dish probably could not be legally recreated in the modern era as many of the listed birds are now protected species.

and i'm inclined to poke around and find out if this ever happened!

here's a great step-by-step on how to prepare a bird to be stuffed another bird:

1. Locate the wish bone, slice down either side and remove.
2. Cut the skin down the center of the back, neck to tail.
3. Begin separating the skin and meat from the carcass using small cuts, beginning at the neck. 4. Remove the humerus, which is a saber-like bone near wing.
5. Cut through the wing joint.
6. Work down to the oyster, cut through and separate the thigh joint from the carcass. Cut meat away to the keel bone or center of the breast. (Do the other side)
7. Pull the whole carcass free of meat.
8. Holding the thigh joint scrape the meat to the knee.
9. Cut around the cartilage and locate the top of the leg bone.
10. Scrape to the end of the drumstick.
11. Cut the end of the drumstick with poultry shears {or a very sharp knife}. Turn leg right side out. (Do the other side)
12. Holding the top of the wing joint, scrape the meat to the first joint.
13. Snap the bone out of its joint. (Do the other side)

*if you haven't seen this site, get on it.

wearable meats.

thanks, etsy.

and craftzine.

and etsy, again.

but maybe this is taking it too far, hmm?

sausage shoppers?

so, do you think i could sell pretty little packages of artisan sausages on etsy?
i don't see any problems with it in their terms of use...

my first go at sausage making.

my sausage making experience was everything i'd hoped for. my friend over at tryharder and i made a day of it, starting out with a return trip to huntington meats. let me continue my raving of this excellent butcher-- they were amazingly helpful and when i told them what my mission was, the guy who was helping me got a big grin on his face and pulled out a ragged notebook filled with all of their personal sausage recipes and gave me lots of ideas! how great is that?!

so anyway, they sold me heaps of casings with storage instructions (in the fridge in tupperware with a really lot of salt-- they keep for a long time and then can be rehydrated) and five pounds of pork butt (fyi- total cost: $18). he offered to grind it for me, but i took pride in saying, "no thanks, i'll do it myself!"

so, i think i will just share this process in a photo essay. i will say, at least for a first-timer, it is a two-person job. maybe after a few more tries i will get the hang of it and try it solo, but it is more fun to bring a friend along on the meat fun!

here's the pork after i trimmed the fat and cubed it up.

feeding it through the grinder.

here are the meat worms coming through the other side.

seasoning the ground meat. (we pan-fried a little piece to test for flavor after mixing)

feeding it into the casing. (this was the tamest of the pictures...)

loooong sausage!

twist, and done!

i tweaked the chorizo recipe a bit but i would definately recommend it. nice and spicy with good flavor. will be great to cook with big pots of rice and veggies, but tasty enough just grilled up plain! what flavor should i try next?

adventures in sausage making!

oh, how i love random holidays...

here's my plan for the day:

playing with my new toys!!!

so that's the surprise! the super-amazing man got me the kitchenaid meat grinder with the sausage stuffer attachment for valentine's day! he was so proud- he discovered it before i did. i was so excited to show him the sausage-making video when i found it last week, and when i pressed play, his face fell. "you spoiled my surprise!!!"

don't worry. still the coolest gift ever, the gift that will keep on giving.

i think today i will try this simple chorizo recipe, since i'm craving something spicy. mmm... i'm not usually big on recipes, but i'll give it a shot.

always keep one in your purse!

just a preview of the goodness that the man got me for valentine's day...

this perfect pocket-sized guide is an excellent reference for all things meat. the chapters include beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry and other game birds, game and other domesticated meats, and sausage and cured meats. each cut is detailed with a general description, recommended amount to buy, how to store, preperation instruction, and flavor pairing ideas. fantastic resource!!
i think it will be a great help in my next project... (a girl's gotta have some secrets!)

sausage video!

now this is what i'm talking about!!! yesssss (click the "watch the demo" link)

soon i will be selling my homemade sausages on the street corners next to the ladies selling the little turtles and pirated dvds!

meat grinders and custom sausages

i am so inspired by the gentlemen at wurstkuche (http://www.wurstkucherestaurant.com), a new belgium beer and sausage restaurant in the downtown la arts district. although they don't make their own sausages, they have offer a really great variety, including veal/rabbit/white wine and alligator/hickory-smoked pork and lots of tasty brews and sodas. pretty neat to see young locals experimenting with meats.

makes me want to invest in one of these:


(image source http://www.surlatable.com)
super classy kitchenaid meat grinder attachment! i love my kitchenaid and use it often, but don't think i've ever consumed something i've made in it. i wonder if you can attach a pork casing to the end for sausage making? hm, what would i make first? maybe something with lamb... how about a custom sausage station for a restaurant idea? put your meats, seasonings, and veggies or cheeses in a dish, bring it to the meat grinder, and then grill them up?