tristar

Hi Abra, sorry the link didn't work, thanks MarkinHouston for copying and pasting the recipe. If you just click on "Nungkysman: Food for the Body and the Soul." on the bottom of my post it will take you to my Blog and you should be able to find the recipe under the 'Sausages' category.

Hi Abra, You should give this one a try as well if you are looking for asian flavours, however this one doesn't seem to sour at all! I made some recently and the dried version was produced without starter cultures or cures other than the salt and spices in the recipe. Urutan Bali

Well, I did try it and the results were superb, the dried sausage was not at all sour as is the case in some Thai fermented sausages, but they were very hot and spicy, super as an addition to fried rice. And all without the addition of starter culture. I am assuming that the combination of spices acted as an anti bacterial and anti fungal. Well at least I lived to tell the tale! Urutan Bali

I may be something of a Luddite, but what is wrong with our inbuilt tools, our senses? If I cannot find good food in a new town by asking a local, seeing the restaurant with my own eyes and/or smelling the aromas of good food, it would be a very sad day for me! Just drive around until you find a restaurant with a full carpark or lots of customers

Leaving my wife at home three weeks ago with instructions to look after my Sourdough Starter, she emailed me yesterday to tell me that she had knocked it off the shelf and deposited it all over herself and the floor, she told me that it was the worst smelling thing she has ever encountered. I replied asking her if she had remembered to feed it daily and was told, Oh! no, sorry I forgot! She ended up with a four week old sludge over her clothes and the kitchen floor! How do you all manage when you have to go away?

And just to be different, here is a non culinary use! If you are bitten by any flying insect, mosquito etc or suffer a rash from hairy caterpillars or even from nettles etc in the garden, just cut one end of the rhizome flat across, then using a paring knife, cut shallow cross cuts in the open face about 2mm or 1/16" deep, as many as you can without the end falling apart, use this to stipple the itchy area on your skin and within less than one minute all the itching will disappear!

Hi Jenny, I can't get fresh salmon in Indonesia so all of my cured salmon has been from frozen, can't say that I have had any problems, as long as the flesh is still firm to the touch.

The foodsaver is how I cure my bacon. Just put the belly in the bag, sprinkle half the cure on each side, seal, then massage and turn it each day until it starts to feel stiff. The liquid starts to com out quite quickly. ← Yes, I do the same. My main recommendation with this method is to not remove all the air from the bag. Leave a little room (for the run-off) and seal it. You'll be golden. =R= ← I just use the freely available Ziploc type bags, they seem to be liquid and air tight, and they are re-usable after thorough cleaning and sterilising with a little diluted bleach. Have to think of the environment you know!

My question would be: Is it still the same strain after 160 years? With the wide variety of natural wild yeasts in the environment, all of them evolving to suit their particular climatic and environmental conditions, unless the starter had been held in laboratory standard sterile conditions it is quite likely that there has been contamination by other local yeasts many many times over during that 160 years.

Jenny, I use no pork at all in my sausages, so I don't really know if it would make a difference using belly or back fat. However graininess is normally caused by not binding the fats in a protein coating, rather than the type of fat. Did you mix the forcemeat sufficiently to achieve the primary bind?

I think this debate all boils down to the use or definition of one word "Gourmet". If we take it to have the old fashioned meaning of 'a person who appreciates good food', it doesn't really seem to matter if sugar is added to balance, finish or highlight the food, if we take the more modern meaning of a 'food snob' it does seem to. I have to say that I am in the first group, and have been known to add a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to fresh minted peas!

I am not familiar with Szechwan Sausage, but am assuming it is the same as the generic Dried Chinese Sausage known variously as làcháng (臘腸/腊肠), Lop Cheong, Lap Chung, Lap Chong, Lap Cheong, Lap Cheung, Lap Xuong, or Thuong Hang. If so here is a link which should get you started:Lop Chong On Len Poli's incredible sausage making site. Found this after the original post which may be of some assistance from The Peoples Daily

Has this seperation happened in the US yet? I see many Americans abroad, eating fried egg, crispy bacon, and pancakes with syrup all on the same breakfast plate. Is this just the people I get to see or is this a common thing?

I started my first here in Jakarta, it was active and very lively after 3 days and I made my first Sourdough Bread on the fourth! just equal quantities of water and plain white bread flour, twice a day, throw half and make up the loss with the same ration of flour and water again. Best bread I have ever tasted! No berries, fruit, or love involved, just flour, water, local airborne yeast.

And such lovely rosy cheeks, it's your first is it? ............ Do you think he takes after his father?