Chris Hennes

They had no particular purpose, I just like making things. I usually send them into my wife's office. Today at the BBQ people ate their way through about half of them, so only about 70 left . I am just sizing the images on my computer so they are small (250 pixels wide) and the using the IMG tags with no spaces between the end of one and the beginning of the other. This just kinda lines them up. I make a few stir-fry type things that she really likes, and tacos are a perennial favorite. that's what comes to mind at the moment... OK, the deal is this: I built a new lid for the hot smoker that pipes the smoke over into the rubbermaid box. So the rubbermaid only gets the smoke in it, none of the heat, and is the "cold smoking chamber," if you will. And the tomatoes were pretty mediocre, though I doctored them up as best I could. Oh well... summer is just around the corner. My last guests just departed: the BBQ was a tremendous success, and the pork and PB&Js were a hit. Pork and chocolate, together at last . I guess it's time to start posting the remaining photos before my blog comes to a close. Thank you all for your kind words and supporting comments. I hope to see you all at next week's foodblog!

David: I am using natural casings I bought I while ago at Butcher and Packer: they are preserved in a very salty brine (not dried---I've never seen that). I flush them out with water, then soak for at least 30 minutes before stuffing. I haven't been making sausages for very long, so I can't give a lot of advice, except to say that the Butcher and Packer are working fine for me. I used some I bought at my grocery store one time: they were fine as well, though a bit more expensive.

Today I am going to try to post the images as I go, so I don't have to do it all at the end. This will give you all a chance to ask me questions (or give me advice!) as we go along... So, a few days ago I took a Niman Ranch pork butt, seasoned it up, and stuck it in the fridge. Check out that fat cap! Those folks at Niman Ranch sure do have nice butts! (sorry, couldn't resist!) This morning, I got up early (for me, anyway...) and put the butt in the smoker. I'm using hickory chips today... In addition to the pork, I've got a few other items planned. First priority was to get the cabbage sliced up and salted for the cole slaw: Next up I think I will make the BBQ sauce. I'm going to make two kinds today: one a mustard-based and the other a ketchup-based.

The only abnormalities to the week are the constant photography of everything, and the fact that I did both confections and charcuterie: in a normal week I will do one or the other, but not both . I am, after all, supposed to be working on my dissertation... You did: I used three grams in the Andouille, to 1.25 kg pork, as per Ruhlman's recipe. I believe this is partially for the flavor it imparts, and partially to be just on the safe side, since they do sit out at room temperature for a couple hours prior to smoking.

If you saw this in "Top Chef" you would cringe at the overt product placement: I am sort of embarrassed by this: not because I am eating Quaker instant oatmeal for breakfast (I could make up some excuse about being busy...), but because I actually like it! It's not like I don't have "real" oatmeal in my cabinets: I do. But really, between this and their "Simple Harvest" line, I am happy with Quaker. P.S. to folks at Quaker. Make check out to "Chris Hennes." Thanks.

I tried molding with one of the recipes from Shotts' book, but they didn't turn out very well (and they didn't taste good, which was a bigger problem). I need to keep working on that, but I want to pick up a dome-style mold to learn on: they were out when I originally ordered, so I got an octagonal one instead, but the sharp edges make it hard to learn on. I guess I'm not quite sure what you mean by "keep it flat"... I used a Silpat in place of the parchment, on what was to become the top when they were inverted, but I was using a frame, so I just leveled the gianduja with a scraper to the top of the frame. As for the taste: fantastic (as long as you like peanut butter and jelly!). These are a definite favorite, and I think they will be a crowd-pleaser at my BBQ later today. I'll report back on the crowd's reaction, but I think they are a home run.

OK, an update on the PB&Js: the gianduja firmed up fine, and lightened in color as it did so, so I'm pretty close to the photo in Greweling now. Note for the future: jelly is sticky! I ignored his advice to grease the parchment because when I tried that last time I couldn't get my frame to stay in place. This was a mistake, getting the jelly off the silpat I was using was messy and pulled away some of the jelly. Then, the trick seemed to be to let the jelly sit out for a few hours between steps, so that the freshly-cut edges could develop a skin. I was worried that they would be hard to dip, but they weren't too bad. You can see the whole photo sequence at my foodblog: here is the money shot

I'm just grasping at straws here... looking for anything you might do differently than I do. Do you rinse the casings out well before stuffing? When you cook them, do you go until the internal temp hits 150F? High heat? I find that when sautéing I have to use medium-high heat to get the exterior to the color and texture I want and get the interior up to temp. I take them pretty dark on the outside, till parts of the exterior are charred, usually.

Well, at the risk of sounding too cheesy, "if I can do it, you can do it, too!" I've only been making sausages for a year, and chocolates for six months. The real "skill" is patience! And despite the pretty pictures, I am nowhere near as accomplished at either of these things and many of the folks here. But everything still tastes good, and it's fun! I hope not! I love reading people's foodblogs... I just take a lot of pictures, and figured I may as well put them up! When Susan asked me to do this, she wanted "just a normal week." I have to admit, I don't usually make sausage and chocolate all in the same week. Sorry if I got carried away, but it's fun talking to all of you . Well, it's 7am here, and I just put the pork butt in the smoker. Now I'm hungry, and I don't think I should have PB&Js for breakfast...

To wrap up the day, a glass of Talisker:

Next, we have the Andouille sausages (hot-smoked variety):

As promised, here is the construction sequence for the PB&Js:

Oh, yeah: and I just ate lunch (yes, at about 4pm: I've been busy today!). I had the Black and Blue bacon cheeseburger at Backyard Burgers. Sorry, no pictures, I was out running errands and didn't have my camera... I generally like BYB, although I think they overseason the burger to the point where you can't really taste the beef. But anything with bacon and blue cheese on it has to be good!

How are you cooking them? I saute usually, and arrive somewhere in between the two states: not exactly crispy, but not soggy either.

Sure: with hot smoking you are actually cooking the product, like in a low oven, but with smoke added. My smoker runs about 250 degrees F (~120 C), so I put the andouille sausages in the smoker and they will take about two hours to get to 150 degrees F, which is the target temp. With cold smoking, you use a burner to generate smoke, but then then you pipe that smoke over to another unheated chamber, keeping it around 50 degrees F, in my case (I use ice in the chamber to keep the temperature down). With cold smoking you are not cooking the product, just adding smoke flavor to it. This is the smoker setup I am using: So the red cylinder is the hot smoker, and I pipe the smoker over to the rubbermaid chamber, which is the cold smoker. Make sense?

OK, just finished stuffing the andouille: These need to rest for a couple hours to develop a pellicle, but they will get hot-smoked this evening. The Hungarian Paprika are resting in the fridge overnight, to get cold-smoked tomorrow. Once I have finished the hot-smoking tonight I'll post the whole assembly series, as usual. And while those are smoking, I will be dipping PB&Js like mad!

lol, I know! It is kinda intimidating, but it gives me something besides work to do this evening. While I am waiting for the skin to form on the jelly to make them easier to dip, I'm making sausages. First up is a Hungarian Paprika sausage... here is a teaser (seasoning sample before stuffing, which I am doing when I finish this post):

So far so good: here's a preview of what they look like before coating (each rectangle is 1" x 1/2" and there are 156 of them):

Yeah, Wegman's is a Northeastern U.S. chain: they are nice. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I didn't want to take the camera inside: (Aside: man, it's a perfect day out! I should have the BBQ today, tomorrow is going to be crappy!)

I have a question for the experts here about smoking possibilities... This is the smoker setup I am using: What I am wondering is, can I hot-smoke a pork shoulder in the hot chamber, and simultaneously cold-smoke some bacon in the cold chamber? Would I need to make any adjustments? The hot chamber smokes a little warmer than I would like, anyway, so I am hoping that adding the smoke vent at the top will help with that, as well. Do I need a lot more wood chips to do this?

Hey now! No Photoshoppery involved! When you take thousands of photos, one of them is bound to turn out OK... (As an aside, I do typically tweak the white balance and contrast, and sometimes play with the saturation. White balance and contrast seem to be the real keys to decent-looking food photography.) ETA: Yes, we would have had a great time---and it sounds like I would have picked up a lot of food trivia along the way! Philly remains one of my favorite cities, so I'm sure I will be around occasionally . And I will try to keep my KC Strip Steak terminology straight! Care to share the origins of the term?

It's a chuck roast---what you see there is about 3 lbs of beef. I had actually planned on making my own tortillas from scratch, but I hadn't done so in a few months, and my masa smelled a bit off, so plan "b" was, unfortunately, the store-bought variety. I love the CI suggestion of frying store-bought corn tortillas, it works beautifully, but I don't have any on hand right now. So, good morning! After a cup of coffee I am off to the Wegmans to pick up sausage and BBQ supplies. Then, a full day of pork extravaganza! (With some chocolate adventures on the side ).

Actually, that's the "Oh, god, she's got the camera again..." look... That picture made me laugh... I had to include it!

Welcome to now! It's now! The plan for the weekend is this: Saturday: 1) Grocery store for BBQ ingredients and last-minute sausage requirements 2) Start sausage prep so pork has time to chill down 3) Coat PB & Js 4) Grind the meat for the Hot-smoked andouille 5) Stuff the andouille 6) Smoke the andouille 7) Grind the meat for the Hungarian Paprika sausage 8) Stuff the paprika sausage Sunday 1) Smoke the shoulder and bacon 2) Make the cole slaw 3) Make the hors d'oeuvres 4) Make the potato salad 5) Party starts at 3!! Keep cooking!

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I have been working on the Gingerbread truffles from Shotts' book: I finished them last night (they took me three days to finish!). They taste better than they look, I promise!!! The basic mise en place for the ganache: I watched "Top Chef" while I coated: And some more action shots, courtesy of my wife: Finally, the finished truffles: I really need to work on how to coat them: the tempered white chocolate set up almost immediately, but I was hoping to roll them all in the puffed rice at one time, at the end. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. Doh! I need practice!