menuinprogress

In general, I agree with you (that's exactly how we smoke andouille, for example). This particular style is more of a hot cook, though. At the places I've had it, it is served hot out of the smoker. When you bite into the sausage, it is nice and juicy from the rendered fat.

We recently made a batch of beef sausages in the style of Lockhart, TX using pretty much the ingredients suggested earlier in this thread by HKDave. The meat was 85% beef chuck and 15% pork shoulder: Here are the stuffed sausages ready for the smoker: They were smoked with oak for about an hour at approx. 235°C. Here is the result: We aren't going to be putting Kreuz and Smitty's out of business any time soon, but it was very successful first attempt. My only real complaint was that they could be a bit smokier and the fat wasn't completely rendered - I think they would have benefited from a longer cooking time. We pulled them at 165°, but I think the sausage with the probe in it was hotter than the rest.

Pappa al Pomodoro from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook:

Thanks HKDave! That is exactly the info I was looking for. I will definitely report back with the results.

In Texas on a recent road-trip I had some fantastic smoked beef sausages that I would like to try to replicate. More specifically, the sausages came from Kreuz Market and Smitty's Market in Lockhart, TX. Here's what I have been able to dig up so far: - use 15% pork for added fat content - grind chuck for the beef - salt / pepper / garlic Has anyone else familiar with this style of sausage? Any suggestions? Thanks!

That looks absolutely fantastic!

We just got back from a brief camping trip where we did all of our cooking over the campfire. This was breakfast - thick slices of homemade applewood-smoked bacon, eggs cooked sunny-side-up in the drippings (of course), and tin-pan-oven baked biscuits: Biscuits and bacon cooking on the fire:

Thanks for the info - I do remember the andouille I had in Louisiana being a more coarse grind. We'll give that a try next time around.

That looks great! Given that anything involving pork belly is fantastic, I bet it tastes great, too...

I'm jumping on board the egg-and-curry breakfast bandwagon. In this case the curry is left-over Khima (recipe from My Bombay Kitchen):

We wondered about that as well, but couldn't find any info suggesting one way or another. Skin side down work just fine, though.

We've been getting really fantastic corn lately from our local farmers market. Last night we rubbed some with powdered chile and cooked them on the grill. We grilled up some shark as well, but the corn was definitely the star - as it always is when it is at its best.

Definitely! We used some in a cassoulet the other day.

That looks really, really good. I love both soft scrambled eggs and a good curry, so the combination of the two is really appealing.

We did our first batch of bacon recently, so I thought I would share some pictures. It all starts with the pork belly, of course. We got this one from our local butcher: We cured it based on the savory recipe from Charcuterie. Here it is at the start of curing: After a week, it was time to put it on the WSM: Smoked using apple wood to an internal temp just under 140. It took about 5 1/2 hours. Here it is hot off the smoker: Cutting off the skin: Sliced: And the payoff - the first BLT: I'm a convert. I won't be buying bacon again...

We haven't done any fish yet, but hot-smoking some salmon is high up on our todo list. I don't see any reason that and eel wouldn't work. You could only hang it if it wasn't too long (i.e. no more than about 8 inches - unless you maybe rigged something to hang from the top vent - and then you are looking at about 16 inches), but you could always curl it up on a grill rack.

Glad you liked the andouille, PopsicleToze and Prawncrackers! The smoker has been a revelation and we have an ever-growing list of items that just *need* to be smoked. Prawncrackers - I am in awe of your cured meats. We haven't yet attempted anything beyond pancetta (temperatures here in Southern California can make curing difficult). Regarding the pig's head - don't skip it next time and use it to make head cheese. Fantastic stuff! Also try to get the trotters, as you'll need some of them, too.

Corn Chowder with Andouille: The sweetness of the corn went really well with the smokiness of the andouille. The andouille was our first attempt at smoking sausage (details on the Charcuterie thread).

We just got a Weber Smokey Mountain and have really been enjoying using it. This weekend we did our first smoked sausages. Smoked Andouille: We made the recipe (the hot smoked version) from Charcuterie unaltered. Here are the spices getting mixed in: Improvised drying rack in our dining room: Sausages hanging in the WSM: Just out of the smoker: The final result: We couldn't be happier with how these guys turned out. They taste fantastic.

We got a new toy yesterday - a Weber Smokey Mountain - and broke it in with some smoked flank steak, smoked portobellos and smoked tomatoes: This is the first time we've had a smoker, and we're really digging it so far.

Very fun read - thanks for sharing!

Really nice looking sandwich, Bruce! I'm generally not a fan of the slaw on pulled pork, but your picture makes me want to give it another try...

We were very happy with the taste - the flavors came together really well. The recipe is from a cooking class we did in Oaxaca with Susana Trilling. She has a cookbook that it might be in, though. We still have some mole paste that we brought back from Oaxaca, so we're going to do a taste-off between that and our from-scratch version.

Roast chicken with Mole Coloradito: We've made mole from mole paste before, but this was our first mole from scratch. Tons of ingredients! Here is a picture of some of them:

Cod with spicy red lentils and yellow split peas: The red lentils meld into an almost soup-like base while the split peas keep some texture. The flavor profile is Indian with lots of aromatic spices.