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Posts
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Everything posted by Bombdog
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Susan, STOP IT! You're in my head. I'm making pork with roasted poblano and chipolte in adobe sausages tomorrow. I've got that smoked fat and fresh cilanto I'm going to add also.
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Ron Those look FABULOUS! I think you got this sausage thing down... Time for some salame
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Had some of my chicken sausages with sun dried tomato and basil tonite....they actually had better definition than these pictures show. I was very happy with the flavor and the texture.
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I've been freezing all this skin for later use. The only thing I can come up with right now is cassoulet. Bourdain's recipe calls for 1 lb. I'm sure I'll come up with other uses. I smoked 2 slabs of bacon yesterday, along with another herb brined turkey breast. YUMMY.... My 28 year old son was having a Chris event with the skin of the turkey breast until I threatened to smoke him (in a totally different manner)
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My EX and I did a 30K remodel of our kitchen 10 years ago. We were divorced a year later. I miss that kitchen alot more than I do her.
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Once caveat Dave. I trimmed my first offerings to the bacon God too, and then put a fairly good size irregular piece in the cure also. Just don't leave it in near as long as the others (normal slabs) It was almost unbearably salty. I only trim to fit the ziplock now and square it away after the smoking is done. I don't know why I bother, unless I'm afraid Martha Stewart is going to come in and check them out. I hate the thought of being gigged for irregular bacon slabs.
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HEY, not fair! That's not what I said! I didn't make the Chef Milo's venison sausage, I made the Hungarian paprika sausage, substituting venison for the beef. I like it fine, it just didn't have the gamy flavor I had presupposed it would.
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I had a PM discussion about this very thing with Michael several months ago. It was my belief that if you freeze the meat for at least 3 weeks prior to curing that you would be okay.
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Susan, I did the Hungarian smoked sausage from the book, where I substituted venison for the beef. It's nearly done (been hanging for about 5 weeks) and it's quite tasty. However, it doesn't have near the gamy flavor of venison that I wanted. That's why I was asking for recipe ideas last week. I ended up making a venison salame that I incubated yesterday and hung today. My thought was that a dry cured version would have more of the gamy venison flavor I was looking for. I really have little experience with game, so compatible flavors are a mystery to me. I suppose I'll have to wait a few weeks to see how this project turns out. If Michael can get Brian to respond perhaps we can get some ideas from him.
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I use a digital one that I swiped from an unused cigar humidor and it works fine for me. I mean, all you are really trying to do is find out what the RH is. The books gives you a 20 percent variation, I believe, so nothing fantastically acurate is necessary. My box (an unused refrigerator) stays at about 48-53 degrees and the RH is anywhere from 50 to 70 percent. I have a container of salted water in the box to help keep the humidity up.
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Sounds like a consensus to me. I should have tried it on the chicken sausages I made earlier today. I'll think on it for a couple of days and try it towards the weekend. At the moment I'm thinking of chicken with perhaps some chilpotle...something that the smoke would complement. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Now this whole question has me wondering. I trimmed about 1/4 lb or more of totally unnecessary fat from one of the last slabs of bacon that I smoked. My thought was saving it to add to some future sausage project for the smoke flavor without going through the smoking process. I wasn't considering totally substituting the fat back in the recipe, just adding some of the smoked fat. What is the consensus here? Or do I just do it and report back? I'm getting ready to tube out 5 lbs of a venison salame...I'll be reporting back in about 4 weeks or so. Dave
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Anyway, I thought it was at least worth mentioning that, according to one very seasoned voice, whether one ends up with them or not, isn't a function of the sausage-making, per se. =R= ← That was my first thought when I read your post, that at least we all knew now that we were not screwing something up in the process that caused the lines.
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My thanks too Chris. I'm making some chicken sausages this week and I'm going to make use of the instant read thermometer also. Thus far I've not had any luck with this project, all turning out tasty but crumbly. Ronnie, I've noticed that some of my casing have the spider lines and some don't and haven't really given it much thought. Dave
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Thanks Tracey....do you mean like crushed berries? Dave
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Thanks Abra...any ideas from anyone on spicing? Dave
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I have 2 lbs of ground venison and I'd like to make some sort of dry cured salame. Any ideas?
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Who told you I drink "heavy doses of red wine?" If that's all it takes I'm GOLDEN!
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Abra, that looks wonderful! Congrats! You got a nice tight roll on that puppy too! My long term project box is getting pretty full too. There's Tuscan salame, peperone, proscuitto of lamb and pork and Hungarian paprika sausage in there. My butcher says jowl is readily available, so I think I'll start some guanciale next week. There is another bresaola in curing in the refrigerator along with 3 slabs of bacon, all with another week to go. I think I've got it bad. Help, I'm curing and I can't stop. Dave
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Jason I love the flavor. There is the hint of sour from the fermentation, and the fat is just lovely, buttery and smooth. I guess I left them in the oven for about 18-20 hours. I just hung the next batch yesterday. Dave
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Susan, I couldn't agree with you more. This is THE most rewarding thing I have every done. As far as the texture of the sausages...I think you're right about the amount of fat. I had nearly the exact results with my first batch of chicken sausages. I had reduced the fat for the same reasons. I also think that I did not keep everything as ice cold as I should. Remember Jason's recommendation..."frost biting finger cold". My supplier is the same...a meat market attached to a slaughter house. What more can you ask for? Dave
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Jason, I do it pretty much as Michael says in the book...I cube the fat back and pork, chill it, then grind it together. Then I paddle it with all of the above for about a minute and a half (or so). As suggested upthread, I am now using the oven with the light on to incubate. I did the peperone that way last night and used an instant read to check. 78 degrees. Perhaps not ideal...but not bad. Dave
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Lots of stuff going on around here the last two days. We got the peperone into the curing box today and hot smoked some linguica Getting ready to grind some more meat for Tuscan salame. That stuff is gonna go fast and I feel a need for replacements. Dave