Review of Recipe Oddley Posted / First Mediterranean Attempt
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 1:53 amFirst, the recipe Oddley posted:
I made 5 pounds of this tonight. Ground the pork in the Kitchen Aid with the course disc. Mixed up the spices with some water first to get them evenly mixed into the meat. Stuffed them into large hog casings. First time I'd used those. They were a lot harder to get onto the large stuffer tube than the collagen breakfast casings had been on the small one. But I eventually got them done. After that was done, I blew one up trying to link them. That will take some practice. And I need to watch that video that got mentioned for the proper technique.
Anyway, the taste of the sausage:
It is pretty good. It has a pleasant spice from the crushed peppers, and the ingredients are indeed pretty well in balance with each other, to my taste. However, I'd probably add some other spices. The pepper, fennel and salt give a nice overall taste, but I'd like some subtler secondary flavors. The analogy that comes to mind is classical music. While the lead instruments are playing, there are others in the background. The non-musician (like me) can still appreciate the richer overall sound even if we can't pick out the other secondady instruments in the orchestra. They just make the leads sound better. So I'm of the opinion that the recipes needs a little work. It isn't at all bad, but my preference is for a fuller, more diverse flavor.
Then I made 6 pounds of a "Mediterranean" sausage. I used some ideas from the Merguez in the Kutas book, some ideas from a lamb sundried tomato recipe in the Adell book, and some random things that just came to me.
Mediterranean Sausage #1
2 lbs lamb (ground with the fine disc)
4 lbs pork (ground with the course disc)
0.5 cup pine nuts, toasted then chopped
1.5 tb fresh mint
2 tb non-iodized salt
1 tb minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp thyme
Again, into large hog casings. I think I'm establishing a sausage-making ritual for my house. The sausage that is stuck in the stuffing tube when I'm done goes into the frying pan for tasting. I'm betting some of you do the same. I thought this recipe was pretty tasty.
Justin
augie oliver's italian sausage.......
10 # pork butt
4 oz salt
2 oz fennel seed
2 oz crushed red pepper
I made 5 pounds of this tonight. Ground the pork in the Kitchen Aid with the course disc. Mixed up the spices with some water first to get them evenly mixed into the meat. Stuffed them into large hog casings. First time I'd used those. They were a lot harder to get onto the large stuffer tube than the collagen breakfast casings had been on the small one. But I eventually got them done. After that was done, I blew one up trying to link them. That will take some practice. And I need to watch that video that got mentioned for the proper technique.
Anyway, the taste of the sausage:
It is pretty good. It has a pleasant spice from the crushed peppers, and the ingredients are indeed pretty well in balance with each other, to my taste. However, I'd probably add some other spices. The pepper, fennel and salt give a nice overall taste, but I'd like some subtler secondary flavors. The analogy that comes to mind is classical music. While the lead instruments are playing, there are others in the background. The non-musician (like me) can still appreciate the richer overall sound even if we can't pick out the other secondady instruments in the orchestra. They just make the leads sound better. So I'm of the opinion that the recipes needs a little work. It isn't at all bad, but my preference is for a fuller, more diverse flavor.
Then I made 6 pounds of a "Mediterranean" sausage. I used some ideas from the Merguez in the Kutas book, some ideas from a lamb sundried tomato recipe in the Adell book, and some random things that just came to me.
Mediterranean Sausage #1
2 lbs lamb (ground with the fine disc)
4 lbs pork (ground with the course disc)
0.5 cup pine nuts, toasted then chopped
1.5 tb fresh mint
2 tb non-iodized salt
1 tb minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp thyme
Again, into large hog casings. I think I'm establishing a sausage-making ritual for my house. The sausage that is stuck in the stuffing tube when I'm done goes into the frying pan for tasting. I'm betting some of you do the same. I thought this recipe was pretty tasty.
Justin
