Abra

Ok, I totally get it. Now, to actually do it. Since commercial sausages are always so plumply stuffed, I just assumed we should do that as well. I love it that they should look "a little sad." I'll refrain from any and all off-color analogies, but I know you know what I'm thinking.

I've only used the Grizzly once, and that was yesterday. My husband, who's picky about tools, thought it worked "way better than expected." We had no trouble with it at all, and it was pretty effortless to use. It cleaned up perfectly in the dishwasher, and I can't imagine that we'll ever have any problems with it, or even any way in which it's funky. I should say that it's the only one I've ever used or really looked at, so there might be better ones out there, but I think for the casual or occasional sausage maker, it's an excellent tool.

Ok, good advice! I did soak the casings for about 28 hours, and rinsed them through at the tap, although that was after they'd soaked. That's so interesting about the overstuffing. To avoid that, do you pull the stuffed sausage forward as it stuffs, or what? They were stuffed to the "natural" level, i.e., no pressure in either direction except for what the nozzle itself provided. Large die next time for sure!

This seems to be the week for Sausage Issues, and boy, do I have some. Let's see, where to begin? Those casings are worse to work with than a kitten-snarled ball of yarn. I was really unprepared for a) how much of a hassle it is to free enough to stuff 3 lbs of meat from a coil made for 100 lbs. Grrr. Then, getting it started on the stuffer nozzle was hard too, even though we had it wet. But then, miraculously, after laboriously inching a foot or so over the nozzle, the rest slid right on. Should the nozzle maybe be oiled, rather than watered, to make the start easier? Our new vertical stuffer worked a treat, easy to use beyond even my pessimistic husband's expectations. The Italian sausages looked pretty normal except that, as you can see, there were lots of little air pockets. I'd smooshed the mixture down into the stuffer pretty hard - what else could I have done to avoid the bubble effect? The twisting instructions were ingenious, but I think we did something wrong. Although the sausages looked normal when raw, when cooked they splorted out of the casings at the ends like this Sorry for the crummy pictures. The light was bad, the plate kept steaming up the lense, and I was grumpy because of the stuffing excursion. Did I need more twists to get greater length of casing between each sausage? But now that I think of it, I don't really understand what does hold the stuffing in the casing. Once you snip between the sausages, what is supposed to keep the stuffing from exploding out, as mine did? The flavor was very good, although I found them on the edge of being too salty. And I love salt, so this was pretty surprising. I did sub fennel pollen for fennel seed, and used dried rather than fresh herbs. One thing I'd do differently is do a coarser grind next time. I followed the instructions and used the fine die but as you can kind of see in this picture, it was finer than a commercial Italian sausage. The mouth-feel was a bit too melting. Now I had added about 3-4 oz of extra back fat, since I'd read comments on the leanness of the Niman butts, and mine didn't seem to be over 20% fat, so that probably contributed to the melting sensation, but I think the grind was also part of the problem. So, all in all, we learned a lot, but weren't entirely happy with the results. I'm looking forward to your tips, so we can do better next time. And notice how I keep saying "we," whereas my usual posts on this thread are all just me, doing my thing? That's because it sure goes better with four hands than two, alhtough I'm sure that with experience it's possible to go it alone.

I'd use a bit of roasted Asian sesame oil in the cream. A small amount delivers a lot of flavor and really tastes like sesame. Maybe make a little sesame brittle for the garnish. The soak is more problematic. You could go for either a neutral or complimentary flavor, perhaps a matcha syrup, or an orange liqueur.

I have smoked butts both brined and unbrined. I prefer them brined, as I like that all-through seasoning effect, but I've made some devilishly good smoked pork unbrined too. Dessert could be a good ice cream, topped with some grilled or caramelized fruit. Maybe on a slice of poundcake, with a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Now that I'm making so much charcuterie, I'm starting to get itchy for paper-thin sliced meat. A home meat slicer seems like a hopeless extravagance, not to mention a counter-space hog. But I know that if anyone would talk me into needing one, it would be you guys. What say you? And if you vote for getting one, which one?

I'm also very tempted by the boar, especially the shoulder, which is just crying out to be made into sausage. And the rabbit liver, for pate.

Ok, I finally get it, thanks! Some of that stuff really is amazingly cheap. On the Wagyu, I'm remembering that Rosengarten did a big Wagyu review a while ago and said some cuts were worth it, others not so much. Does anyone have recommendations for that, or other stuff in the Freezer section?

Lovely pizza, Marlene, and a lovely story to go with it. You're kind of confirming my upthread musings, that on a gas grill it might be more trouble than it's worth, since you don't get any smoke. Do you have a charcoal grill, or only gas? I don't get why you refrigerated the dough after rolling it out. I always let it rise a little - maybe because I like a slightly thicker crust. I have my newly cured tasso and a bunch of chicken thighs on the smoker now, in solidarity with you all. But for a minute there it actually did rain right on my smoker, and I was thinking that you guys were very powerful, to have sent your weather my way in total contravention of the forecast.

Marlene, that's a really interesting barbecue sauce. Will you share the recipe? And yes, pre-cook toppings. I think it's best if they're even a bit warm, that way you only have one thing to worry about, and that's getting the dough done right. And Susan, that's some lust-inducing tofu you had. And it's not often one associates tofu with lust, I must say. Mike, if you ever sully a caipirinha with Splenda, I don't want to know about it!

On the "help, I'm curing and I can't stop" front, today I put up, using all Charcuterie recipes: the diced and seasoned mix to make Italian sausage tomorrow (yay, my first sausage at last!) tasso - now curing briefly, to be smoked later this afternoon with a mess of chicken thighs lardo - I really can't wait for this one! pork confit - curing until tomorrow before its oil bath Actually, it was easier to do all of this at once than doing the individual items at separate times. Having one 7 lb Niman butt and about 6 pounds of back fat out, plus, the curing salts, made doing all four projects pretty easy. It took me about 2 hours to get all of them squared away, and that included dicing the meat for the sausage. Now they're all resting peacefully in the fridge, along with the soaking casings, and 4 lbs of back fat, properly divided and bagged up, is back in the freezer. Tomorrow we stuff!

Susan, I have my back fat thawing right now, also not having had the foresight to divide it into smaller poertions before freezing. I'm sure it'll be fine. It's the water content in food that is affected by freezing, so I think fat should be fine. I freeze duck fat and pork lard all the time with no ill effects. Mike, 160 for the pork? Shoe leather! I take mine out between 135-138, if I can catch it. It'll be 145 by the time you slice it, and that's plenty done enough.

Somehow I managed to miss that pizza cook-off altogether - nice grilled pizza there! I'm not totally sure that grilling a pizza on a gas grill would make it taste better than on a stone, but grilling it over wood definitely gives it a nice, smoky flavor. Those are some good-looking dinners you all had. I keep meaning to try those peanut butter burgers. They sound so totally improbable, but I love peanut butter, so I'm destined to try them. I had to laugh at the idea of grilling two (2!) stalks of asparagus. Me, I do a pound, and usually eat all/most of it myself. I love asparagus. Hmmm, is that back fat in the plastic bag?

Thank you, Ruth! That's a very helpful demo, pictures being so valuable when you're talking about subtle differences in texture.

Well, my guanciale has been hanging for just about 4 weeks now. I'm going by the poke test, and I think it needs a little more time. I'll be cutting a slice off it pretty soon to check it out. My pancetta hung for a full 4 weeks, and the duck prosciutto, a much smaller piece, took about 2 1/2 weeks. Now the lamb prosciutto, having been double-cured in the fridge for 3 weeks, already looks farther after only hanging for a week along than the guanciale does after 4. I finally wised up and weighed the lamb, though, so this time I can actually report on weight loss. Chris, I haven't seen the least sign of any mold on anything so far, and this is Seattle. If there's mildew/spores/algae/weird microorganisms to be had, we have 'em. I say go for it.

Susan, I do grilled pizza. Here's how I do it. The grill has to be not too hot, and well-oiled. When your dough is rolled or tossed out to a round, oil one side, and flip the oiled side onto the grill. Stand over it until it's lightly browned but not burnt - you'll be amazed how fast this happens. As soon as it's lightly browned, remove from the grill to a pizza peel, dusted with cornmeal or polenta and flip over, so the raw side is down and the done side is up and ready for toppings. Be sure all your toppings are fully cooked, as this baby won't be on the grill for long. The fire should be nice and low now, top your pizza and slide it gently onto the grill. Cover the grill and watch it like a hawk, removing as soon as the dough is done through. And that's it.

Ah, three of my favorite smokers. Cool! It's not supposed to rain here this week, so I'm sure to be doing some smoking myself. Maybe we can have a smoke-along one day?

That bread looks beautiful! I don't understand the picture of the tanoor. It looks like there's a dark, reflective liquid in the center...or is that some kind of illusion? Lacking a tanoor, could you bake this bread on a hot stone?

Sounds great, and I'm looking forward to your pictures, Marc. I think the salt on the meat may have caused your bean problems. You really don't want to salt your beans until they're almost done, or they seem to stay hard forever. In fact, with a little bean like lentils, it's good to salt them immediately excactly so they don't get all soft and mushy. edited to say: And now that you've posted your pictures, I've got to say: it looks just super. Beautiful cassole, too. I've been trying to talk myself into getting one. If only I had twice the cupboard space!

Wow Dave, what do you mean by "hand stuffing?" As in, you pushed the stuffing in with your fingers, or a chopstick? Ron, I don't think you have to be too nervous about tasting your jowls. I'm pretty sure that bad meat always smells terrible, so you'd know right away. If I'm wrong, though, somebody please save Ron's life by speaking up! I wonder how old that PSE info is. I wonder because it describes a pig as "thrifty," not a word we'd normally associate with swine in this day and age. It greatly improves my vocabulary, however, to be able to denounce someone as pale, soft, and exudative, and unthrifty into the bargain! I wonder whether I'll still be able to see any glands after my guanciale finishes curing, which should be later this week. If so, I'll remove them, but I'm imagining that they've all shrunk up by now. Will they taste vile?

Jeez, either that's the worst website I've ever seen, or I'm a complete moron. Where does it even say there's a freezer sale?

Fresh favas are just coming in here, and in another couple of weeks they should be perfect. But I've never seen them frozen, and see no reason why frozen wouldn't make a perfect ragout. Never seen them shucked either. I just used up the last of my 6 month-old duck confit, so I guess it's time to get some more started. Of course, then it won't be ready until favas are long out of season, but if they come frozen, no problem!

Ron, those pictures of your jowls are scary. How're they doing now? I find it even more scary that I didn't even KNOW about glands. I did my guanciale from the Babbo recipe, and unless I'm losing it, no glands were mentioned. Is my guanciale now doomed? Do I have to join Ron in the Jowls of Infamy club? My jowls never looked or leaked green, though.

Holy smokes. Peeled frozen favas? That exists? Year-round favas? Wow.