ronnie_suburban

Loosely related, very fun piece -- including quotes from Brian Polcyn -- in today's NYT by Julia Moskin (free registration required): Dry-Cured Sausages: Kissed by Air, Never by Fire I think Charcuterie is the new culinary black. =R=

According to Nationmaster.com, Findlay's population was 40,175 at the time of the 2004 census. You can click on the above link for more details. =R= ← Thanks. I suppose I could have looked it up. 40,000 is small - I think of Bloomington as small but it's closer to 75,000, I think. ← Well, the numbers hardly ever tell the whole story. I'll bet that there are a lot of nuances about which, I hope, Michael can provide additional details. =R=

Susan, here's my recipe for breakfast sausage, as best I can remember it . . . 5 pounds fatty pork butt 3 T dried sage (I prefer dried and use very high-quality material but obviously fresh is ok if you prefer it) 3 T morton kosher salt 2 T minced garlic 2 T granulated sugar* 1 T red pepper flakes 1 T freshly-ground black pepper 1 T ancho chile powder 2 t cayenne pepper 1 C ice water casings, optional This is a pretty close approximation, iirc. And, in spite of how it may appear, this was not overly spicy. My 9-year-old gobbled it without complaint. Good luck! =R= *Edited to add: I think I included granulated sugar, but I'm not 100% certain.

According to Nationmaster.com, Findlay's population was 40,175 at the time of the 2004 census. You can click on the above link for more details. =R=

Don't you just hate it when that happens ? My wife was out for a meeting one night a while back, and I decided to experiment with duck stock, shrimp and a few veggies (scallions, maybe some spinach, etc.). I ended up with a delicious soup, and I'll be damned if I can find that recipe now . ← Yes . . . absolutely hate it and even though my wife wasn't home when I created it, I still teasingly blame her for it. Because, of course, if she had been home at the time, she wouldn't have let me lose it. How dare she leave the house during sausage making! =R=

There's a blurb about Sarah's new line of customized confections in today's Chicago Tribune: Off The Shelf by Renee Enna =R=

May 17, 2006... From today's Chicago Tribune - Good Eating section: Celebrating ramps, for good reason...Robin Mather Jenkins reports from Timo Restaurant's recently-completed Rampfest, signifying the unofficial start of produce season in Chicago. Elevated flavors...Bill Daley explores the positive effects that growing at high altitude can have on grapes and the wines which are made from them. Many nominees, just a few winners...Stevenson Swanson reports from the recently-completed, NY-centric Beard awards, where most of the Chicago restaurant nominees were passed over. Reflections of a culture...the Tribune's foreign correspondent, Hugh Dellios, visits Mexico City's bustling La Merced market and examines how its diversity reflects the vast and varied influences on Mexican culture. Kohlrabi...Renee Enna with a useful guide. Turning a home pantry into a well-oiled machine...Test Kitchen director Donna Pierce provides some useful tips. Off The Shelf...in this week's installment, Renee Enna gives a shout out to the Gold Coast's Sarah's Pastries and Candies, which is now offering customized treats. When fats are good...Janet Helm discusses the nutritional benefits of some fats in our diets. Some additional information is provided in this sidebar: A matter of balance. ===== From today's Chicago Sun Times - Food section: Controversy on the menu...Sandy Thorn Clark recaps Chicago's foie gras skirmish, exposes alderman Joe Moore as the ignoramus that he is and reports on what some local chefs are doing to "fight the power." Foie gras ban unites chefs against politicians...Janet Rausa Fuller details the political battle taking place in the wake of the city's recently-passed Foie Gras ban. 'Pure passion' fuels chef's winning drive...Janet Rausa Fuller profiles Chicago chef John Gresh who will be competing in the Bocuse d'Or USA National Selection, which is part of the National Restaurant Association show taking place in town, beginning on Saturday. Tastings around town...Celeste Busk previews upcoming events at Bella Lounge, Mas, O'Donovan's Pub, Motel Bar and Knightsbridge Wine Shoppe. Country singer launches chicken products line... from the land of the bizarre . . . Denise I. O'Neal takes at country music star Dwight Yoakam's new line of Chicken snacks. Food news...Denise I. O'Neal previews an upcoming appearance by food network 'celebrity' Cat Cora of whom Anthony Bourdain recently said "would hump a fire hydrant" to get herself on tv. ===== From today's Daily Herald - Food section: Food and wine classes...a comprehensive listing of upcoming area food events, tastings and classes; broken out by day. ===== The May 12 edition of the Chicago Reader's Restauants section identifies 2 dozen great spots for brunch. Note: .pdf pages at the Reader's web site load slowly but they do eventually load. ===== In this week's installment of Chicago Magazine's Dish, Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby report that after 3 1/2 years, Lincoln Park's Menagerie will soon from morph from contemporary American to neighborhood. ==== =R= <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some Chicago media outlets, which do not 'go to press' on Wednesday mornings, will be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or digester who will be happy to do it for you. <><><><><>

Susan, the first time out, I made the breakfast sausage almost directly from the recipe in the book and even though it was delicious, it didn't quite scratch the itch for me. For example, I cut the ginger in half, but it was still too much for me and the sausage tasted more like potsticker filling than breakfast sausage (btw, I chopped the garlic and the ginger into a fine mince in my mini cuisinart). I eventually created a recipe for breakfast sausage that I really liked but somehow I've managed to lose it Still, it was fairly similar to the recipe in the book with the main difference being that I removed the ginger entirely. I'd suggest starting 'by the book' and tweaking the recipe from there, based on how you feel about the first batch. And, if I can find or re-create my recipe, I'll post it asap. =R=

I too have a vacuum sealer and using it most of the stuff I've turned out has lasted at least a month under refrigeration. It probably would keep even longer but that's as long as any of it has lasted. I'll bet that with vacuum sealing and frozen storage, you could probably go up to at least 2 months without too much deterioration. =R=

I want this!! I must take my first shot at the peperone this weekend . . . nothing can stand in my way! =R=

Abra, here's a pic of mine from way back upthread. The sausages from this batch had a very tight definition, although I didn't tube them off, just cooked them bulk. I hope it helps you get to the bottom of it . . . =R=

Abra - I'd guess that they were overcooked - the fat renders at about 160+ deg. Next time try for internal finished temp of 150 deg. ← Abra, I was going to suggest the same thing but knowing that you're a very experienced cook, I figured that you'd already thought about this aspect. =R=

Sounds great, Michael. I think most of us who hang around here would be very interested in such reports. Where in Ohio will Revolver be located? Can you give us some background on how the project came to be and some general details about the restaurant's 'theme,' etc? Thanks! =R=

Way to go, mdbasile!! That picture is simply glorious. About how long did that take you? I'd love to run that many batches back to back but I don't know if I have the capacity to do so. Can you describe the process a bit? I'm in awe! =R=

Based on my experiences and something I think I remember reading way upthread, this is normal. There's something about using maple syrup that ultimately produces a lot more liquid in the curing vessel. Without that component, the liquid output during curing seems consistently smaller. =R=

Are you sure it's not lurking under your bed? I have quite a nice stash there! ← LOL! I looked there . . . and everywhere else for that matter. I do lend them out fairly often and I can't always remember to whom. Maybe that's the case here. If not, at least it's a relatively inexpensive paperback. =R=

Maggie! Your eloquent write-up reminds me all over again of just what a terrific meal we had Custom House. I agree about Shawn McClain too. I think his recent Beard award win in the 'Best Chef - Midwest' category was wholly earned and well-deserved. When a chef can lay down such a distinctive footprint in a market like Chicago, you know he's something special. I'm glad you all had such a great experience. And thanks for momentarily 'bringing me back' to ours as well. =R=

It appears that someone has "run off" with my copy of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson. Please deduct one from the list until I replace it or find the bastage who took it!! =R=

One piece of advice is to get a 10-pound unit instead of a smaller one. It won't cost much more, won't take up a whole lot more room but you'll be able to more easily handle over-sized batches and you can grow into it as well. Sometimes, even with a 5# recipe, the 5# capacity stuffer isn't quite roomy enough. This is especially true with recipes that call for cheese, roasted peppers and other additional ingredients. In those cases, you have to backcrank and recrank the 5# unit (with the casings still on the horn) if you want to tube everything off. Otherwise, you'll often have a portion of bulk sausage available after you're done tubing it. In some cases (especially with fresh sausages) that's not really a problem but for cured or smoked sausages it can be somewhat annoying to end up with extra output. =R=

I think that you can't really go by the fill rate of the stuffer. You want to have the sausages filling the casings so that they're, I dunno, 80-90% full. Basically, they should look a little sad, not fat and plump. If that makes any sense whatsoever. ← I agree with this. It makes the "linking" much easier and (usually) incident-free. And as Chris posted upthread, air pockets -- which seem to be the only undesireable by-product of this filling method -- can be easily dispatched. I just grip the casing a little less tightly as it's coming of the horn and let it coil out a bit faster. That seems to do the trick. =R=

Dayum, Eliot! I'm getting that sick/full feeling all over again just looking at the pictures. A few comments . . . I have, over the past few years, gone back and forth between Al's and Mr. Beef as my favorite. On this day, Al's reigned supreme for me. I liked the sandwich at Mr. Beef quite a bit but their jus just didn't quite 'do it' for me. It was very 'one note' and tasted more like broth or bouillon than anything else. Al's, otoh, was much spicier than I remember it usually being. I'm going to chalk that up to an over-application of the "light hot" peppers we requested. But still, there was a depth and complexity of flavor there that was absent in the other 2 sandwiches. I also thought their beef was a bit more tender but that can go either way on any given day. I appreciate the way in which Al's slices their gardeniera into thin, uniform strips. That's how Johnnie's slices their sweet peppers and I think that's a good thing because the flavor gets distributed more evenly throughout the sandwich and the sandwich is also easier to eat that way. I also like the more traditional "Chicago-style" gardeniera served at Mr. Beef and Johnnie's but not as much as the uniquely treated version served at Al's. As for Johnny's, I know this is the wrong thread, but I think they may have the best Italian sausage of the 3 joints we hit that day. Their beef is very good but unless you're already in the area, I don't really think it's worth the trip to Elmwood Park. I know that Eliot felt that Johnnie's was a bit "off their game" that day. I can't really say because I've only been there twice in the last 5 years and both those times were in 2006. That said, it's a very tasty sandwich which is unquestionably representative of the genre. I just don't view the place as a "must-hit" destination. As for fries, it wasn't even close. The fries served at Al's were superior in every way to the other 2 places. I'm a big fan of hand-cut fries and the ones served at Al's were exemplary. They were everything a french fry should be -- hot, salty, crispy and tasty. At both Mr. Beef and Johnnie's the pre-cut, foodservice fries are nothing more than an afterthought. That was a fun time and a much better lunch than what I had planned that day. For all our "work," I still think the issue remains unsettled and further research -- perhaps with a larger group and more stops -- should definitely follow. =R=

And if you go to Alinea with yellow truffle, all bets are off. As was suggested last weekend, if you take him out of the mix, that average probably drops to about 2 hours and 40 minutes =R=

Only 1 reason . . . it isn't in NYC. =R=

Nice work, Pallee. What a great idea to stuff those garlic cloves in there! Chris, hang in there. Just look at this run as the one you had to get under your belt before everything starts going perfectly. And I'll bet this batch turns out better than you're expecting it to. Your comments remind me of that quote from Fergus Henderson about the ingredients misbehaving when they sense your aprehension (or something to that effect). I bet you'll look back on this 'catastrophe' not too far from now and have a good chuckle over it. =R=

Beautiful stuff, George. Where to even start? It all looks so amazingly delicious. I know you don't normally photograph your meals. These must have really inspired you. Thanks for sharing the images. =R=