simplicity...

[vagreys]

Is it just me, or do others find that their simplest sausages get the most comments? I think it is so odd.

I was asked to cook for a small gathering, about 100 people, and I made fresh sausage for the event. I used a recipe for butifarra crua, which was very simple, basically working out to about a level teaspoon each of salt and black pepper per pound of ground pork. That's it. I grilled them over charcoal, and people were raving about them. Best sausages they had ever had. This was several years ago, and I STILL get unsolicited comments about that sausage.

The recipe isn't the point. I have the recipe by weight at home, and will gladly share it. The simplicity of the preparation, ground pork shoulder, a little back fat, salt, pepper, a little water and medium hog casings, and something magical happens. That's why I love sausagemaking. Each batch, you have a chance to make a tiny gastronomic miracle.

[roseway]

I think that for a simple recipe like that to be successful you've got to start of with good quality well-flavoured meat. I tend to use stronger flavourings because they can turn cheaper meat into a delicious sausage. If I had a reasonably priced source of good quality pork I would probably make simpler sausages.

Eric

[Spuddy]

Agreed.
It's often said that good quality ingredients speak for themselves. In my opinion they should be allowed to. It's almost sacrilegious to take a good quality rare breed free range meat and overpower it with strong flavours.


However there is another factor; simplicity.

My Italian Grandmother always made a tomato sauce for pasta that was absolutely amazing. Nobody could replicate it, they tried adding this and that; garlic, onions, all sorts of herbs and spices and never came close. Before she died she shared her secret with us: Olive oil (obviously), tomatoes, a few fresh basil leaves and a pinch of salt all cooked very gently for an hour or so, simple as that.

My favourite accompaniment for pasta is simply garlic and a little chilli with a sprinkling of fresh parsley sauteed briefly in some olive oil; again so simple but it would be a "desert island" food for me.

Most modern chefs agree that simplicity is best, less is more, it's not what you put in it's what you leave out etc. In reality too many ingredients (unless VERY carefully blended) just confuses the palate whereas just a few carefully selected ingredients (no more than 5 or 6) in the right ratios can be SO memorable that you get the kind of response that Vagreys had even years later.

[Patricia Thornton]

I think this is a very interesting and important topic.

My thoughts only relate to the UK, where I lived for the first 60 odds years of my life but where I believe there is every necessary resource to breed and rear the best cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. to provide good quality, well flavoured meat for the table. So, can someone please tell me why is it now virtually impossible to buy good quality, well flavoured meat, without paying a premium price and finding a trained butcher who knows how to cut/hang/store the same?

I mostly agree with the replies but to my mind, the important comment, made by Spuddy 'less is more', is the one that is mostly forgotten today.

There has always been cheaper cuts of meat, after all, what would one use for a good Irish stew if it wasn't scrag end? That it's cheaper shouldn't mean it doesn't taste good when cooked well.

That I couldn't afford to buy a 3 or 4 lb joint of sirloin every week and (perhaps) had to wait until Christmas, wouldn't worry me if I knew the taste would be as heavenly as it can be.

And that's the problem, taste, or rather lack of it. Again I ask the question, why must one pay a premium for meat that tastes as it should?

Is it all caused by supermarkets? Is it caused by the people who produce plates the size of half a dining table? Or is it caused be people who think that if one has a plate the size of half a dining table it has to be covered with a steak half the size of the plate and as cheap as a coffee as Starbucks or a night at the cinema?

Does any of this make sense to you or have I lost the plot?

[pokerpete]

The supermarkets are largely to blame for the lack of meat quality. This is due to using a hot boning line. Basically this means that the meat is processed pre rigor, and not hung and matured like a traditional butcher used to do.

[saucisson]

Is it caused by the people who produce plates the size of half a dining table? Or is it caused be people who think that if one has a plate the size of half a dining table it has to be covered with a steak half the size of the plate and as cheap as a coffee at Starbucks or a night at the cinema?

You've been in my local pub, haven't you

You haven't lost the plot at all, that was a very good post.

20 odd years ago I paid 25p for a pint of beer, 70p for a gallon of petrol, �25,000 for my first house and 12p for a can of tomatoes. Today it's �2.50 for a pint of beer, �4.00 a gallon for petrol, that house is allegedly worth �120,000 and a can of tomatoes still costs 12p... Something isn't right.

Dave

[BBQer]

I think that loss of flavor in meats, in the US at least, comes from the speed growing that's done here. All in the name of the almighty dollar.

[vagreys]

I think that loss of flavor in meats, in the US at least, comes from the speed growing that's done here. All in the name of the almighty dollar.

That and consumer pressure for lower fat content. We can complain about the markets, and rightly so, because the markets to push the consumer toward the least cost product at the highest possible price. BUT, the markets also respond to consumer demand. In the end, if the consumer is willing to settle for less, that's what we get. If the consumer demands more pre-processed foods, full of cheap protein, that's what the market will try to provide.

A few years ago, I had to eliminate all beef and bovine dairy products from my diet. Try to do that, and see how many of the grocery aisles you no longer visit! I have to make most of my food from scratch, to avoid cross-contamination. It almost feels like that, what I don't have to make from scratch, I do anyway, because I'm already in the kitchen so much! As a result, I no longer accept insipid produce, mediocre meat, and half-dead herbs and spices. Don't settle for less! Tell the supermarkets why you no longer buy from them. Take the time to seek out quality foods and demand reasonable prices for the quality (but you must also be willing to pay the reasonable price).

[Lance Yeoh]

I've never been to England so I won't know, but you guys make it sound like you can't get freshly butchered pork. Do you mean that you get most of your meat from the supermarket and not directly from the butcher?

[Patricia Thornton]

In my opinion Lance, the brief answer to your question is proably yes; the vast majority of people (I only know about the UK) buy all of their meat from supermarkets and some have probably never eaten a really tasty piece of meat in their lives. I have read that in London some local authorities have 'Open Farms' so children are able to see that real live animals supply the food they eat.

I know of many towns without a butcher shop, one might even say that a 'real' butcher is now getting to be a rare breed.

Eighteen years ago we moved just outside Newton Stewart, a small market town in south west Scotland. At that time, there were of five butchers shops within 5 miles of us, two of which were really excellent, and there were also two very small supermarkets selling the usual pre-packed 'fresh' meat.

Then about seven years ago, Safeway built a new shop in the town, perhaps 4 or 5 times the size of their existing outlet. When we left the area three years ago, all but two of the butchers shops had closed, along with two hardware shops, a florists shop, the only greengrocers, a deli/specialist grocer and a newsagents.

Now why would that be I ask myself? Surely, the answer can only be that Safeway were selling top quality meat, much better pots and pans, wonderfully fresh vegetables and flowers and their papers only full of good news! Or could the secret be the car park? It allows us lazy, harried shoppers to get everything from one place, stick it all in the boot of the car and get back to the TV before the next soap comes on.

Cynic, me a cynic?

[Lance Yeoh]

Patty,
I guess that's the price to pay for development. I've seen city kids here that have never seen a life cattle, hog or chicken. I myself grew up in a 'kampung' (something like a small village away from the city) and I'm used to these animals roaming the streets in the old days but not anymore.
We have 'wet markets' here, something like a collection of stalls selling everything from cooked food, fresh vegetables, fruits to fresh meat. It may look dirty but I guess we're used to it. It's open everyday, 7 days a week and fresh meat is avialable 6 days a week. The butchers take a day off every week since the abbatoirs are closed once a week. Maybe I'll take some pics of it tomorrow and post it here next week. So I guess I'm lucky in that sense that I'm able to get fresh meat less than 5 minutes away from my house for all my sausage making needs.

[Patricia Thornton]

Now that's what I call progress!

[welsh wizard]

Hi all, I read with interest your comments on supermarket meat and I suppose we are sooooooo lucky where I live that my local village has no less than 5, yes 5 real butchers, all of whom vie for the top of the butcher ladder so to speak. This lends itself not only to excellent quality but reasonable prices that the majority can afford. Of course there will always be people who either through ignorance or necessity need to use the supermarkets, the nearest one being some 6 miles away, but in the main, the local butchers are supported.

Having lost some weight over the last few months I too am learning that little and excellent is better than lots and good and interestingly one of the local pubs here about has started to actually reduce its steak size from 10oz to 8oz and offset the reduction by increasing the quality of the meat. This initially met with some derision but the landlord has told me that he is now busier than he was before!

However in saying all that I am with Roseway with regard to sausage meat. When you consider the strength of the herbs and spices that I put into my sausage all I need is a good basic quality meat and personally I would prefer to keep the best stuff joined together............

Cheers WW..................

[Patricia Thornton]

How lucky you are to have five good butchers in one village. Is it a big village? Are house prices resonable?

I'm not against supermarkets, they have their place and in some ways have done a reasonable job in offering a wider variety of goods than many of the old fashioned grocery shops could stock. However, when a new supermarket opens it does seem to me that they are a death knell to all types of smaller shops in that area.

[welsh wizard]

Hi PT

Re the village - yes is quite large and we do not have a whole lot of veggies here about. It is very rural and people are proud of the local Hereford beef and seem to consume it in belly distending quantities

House prices - dont get me started! Far too expensive which means a lot of the younger element cannot afford to buy which pushes them out into the cheaper areas - and then in come the rich and buy the thatched cottages for holiday second homes which in turn knocks the village trade. But hey, I am not going to get on my soap box, we can still support the butchers! I am amazed at the comments about how difficult it is to get proper meat from some of our friends in the old US of A, we are extreemly fortunate I think...........

Cheers WW