snowangel

Chris, that's one magnificent sausage. My mouth is watering and I've gone weak at the knees. Save me from scrolling up endless pages -- how (if) did you modify the recipe? And, how cold was the meat during the primary bind? My last venison sausage was almost frozen when I did the bind, and it just flat didn't want to bind.

Anyone who's interested should PM djsexyb directly!

Pam, quite frankly, we don't really care if the weather is good or not. So we stay inside and play games and nap, we'll be at the cabin. I think I've fleshed out a menu. Friday evening: picnicky foods. I have a ton of eggs in the fridge, so deviled eggs. I'll do the thing where I boil and peel the eggs here, slice them and carry them up separately from the filling which I can pipe in up there. Some raw veggies, perhaps a salad. Some salami, some bread and some cheese. Breakfasts. Waffles and home-smoked bacon one morning, the rest of the bread for french toast with sausages or bacon the next morning. Saturday night steak and veggies on the grill. I'll take some potatoes and perhaps bake them. If not, the potatoes will be fine up there until we make our next trip two weeks later. The list has been made of the staples that I need to bring up. Peter has packed his bag, and although it won't be swimmably (is that a word) warm, we will take suits, and I just bet that Peter and I at least dip toes. Can you tell we're excited? There are already some cabin provisions in the back of my Bronco! Next task is to unload the camera and make sure I have extra batteries!

It has been a very warm spring, and they had a record-breaking ice out up north. We can't stand it any longer, so we leave this friday. Even pulling kids (including a high schooler) early from school. So, my aim is to not cook on Friday, nor eat McDonald's in Cook on Friday on our way up. Suggestions about something simple which can be hauled up and not even reheated. The kids are twitching already.

So, I am taking advice. We forage, I embroider dish towels, and we head north this Friday (even pulling kids from school) for a premarture Cabin opening. Thinking perhaps we need food for the soul more than food for the bod.

It's been a really tough week in the kitchen. A quiche that was way more work that it should have been (which also included a near oven fire from some pie weights that went flying). A sausage-making expedition which turned out to be very intense, and although the sausages were mighty tasty, the texture was off. A roasted chicken dinner last night that was the antithesis of pretty. Let's add to it the three cuts on various fingers. Oh! Let's not forget four burns. And that can that fell on my foot. I can't find my kitchen shears, and something under the sink leaked (been repaired). I've forgotten half of the stuff on my grocery lists. Even my trust Weber has needed surgery (part has been ordered). I didn't even offer to cook dinner tonight, and left the family to themselves. I am normally very competent and efficient in the kitchen. I'm afraid to touch anything sharp or hot. How do I get my "mojo" back?

If you are eating with kids that aren't big enough to cut their own meat, you sit right by them. When Paul and I dine alone, we want to sit facing each other. We can look each other in the eye and it's easier to play footsie.

It sure tasted better than it looked: The first time I've ever roasted a chicken where the skin didn't turn out brown and crispy. Same method as I've always used (Marcella's method). A ramp and potato gratin that separated and anything that wasn't potato or ramp separated and got glumpy. There was all sorts of clear liquid and a bunch of curds. And, the ramps were very purple, which did not provide for good color. The salad was simply OK. A dressing I've made a million times before just didn't have it.

If it's pork, yes. Beef or veal don't brine.

I don't put anything in when I make smoked turkey stock. Makes it much for versatile to use later.

Another stupid question. With the old fridge curing chamber, do you keep the door closed while you are curing?

My in-laws were over this afternoon, and we gave them a small package of the venison sausages. THey had many questions about my sausage making, and the one thing Diana and I have agreed upon is that we will definitely be looking into a different stuffer. The KA is a pain in the blanking butt for stuffing.

I don't know, but I'd sure like to have a better idea about a curing chamber. We have one room in the house which is always cold, but it's not dark (and I think that's essential, but I'm not sure). I'm actually loathe to finish this room -- not that I mind drywalling and wiring the room -- but because I'm thinking Curing Chamber somewhere in this room. This topic is getting so long that we just might need a separate "curing chamber" topic.

My "recipe" for the vension sausages: 3.5 lb. venison 1.5 lb. back fat 1/4 cup minced fresh sage (packed) 2 generous T of fennel seeds (toasted) 1 cup dried cherries (these had sugar in them) soaked for a while in 1/2 cup of wine. (Drained the wine and reserved when I did the mix with the diced stuff and spices in a bowl) 2 generous teaspoons of cracked black pepper. Ground reasonably fine 2 (or was it 3) T of kosher salt 4 minced cloves of garlic I probably could have gone with a higher percentabe of back fat, and I could have paddled it longer, or paddled it when it wasn't so cold. It was really, really cold. When I paddled it, I ended up adding another 3/4 c or so of water.

We ate some venison sausages for dinner last night, done on the Weber. The flavor of these was divine, and the seasonings were so different than the sausages that my FIL has had processed by local meat markets. I'll dig out my notes and post those. Although the sausages were crumbly, they were very juicy. I'm curious why they were so crumbly. As I noted above, this stuff was really, really cold when I paddled it, and it just seemed stiff. I noted also in the book that the venison sausage recipe is an emulsified. Perhaps I should have just kept mixing it so it was emulsified. Comments? Unfortunately, I won't be making any more venison sausages until next fall. The two deer that were in my freezer has gone very fast -- I only have about 1/2 a milk crate remaining!

Beautiful, Chris! But, I'm a bit disappointed that you chose to inaugurate the slicer with somethine roasted, and not cured or smoked... I'm thinking your Hobart could make fast work of the 6 pounds of cured and ssoked bacon I have on hand...

I, too, will extoll the virtues of the Weber Kettle. Get the big one (21-1/2 griill, and do get the grill thing that has the hinged things so you can easily add charcoal and wood for smoking meat ) We've had our for somewhere between 20 and 25 years. At one point, the handle came off, and we riveted it back on. This grill has been a trusty and faithful companion for these many years, and with some practice, and once the grill gets old and heavy, is capable of doing some mighty fine meat smoking, as well as grilling (as I have attested to on may meat smoking topics on the Cooking forum). It will lasst you many, many years, as mine has. And mine has many, many more miles to go. I love the fact that I am not reliant on a gas tank; charcoal is usually more available, and as I've discovered up at our cabin, wood can work just fine. The vents get a bit loose, which means you can smoke with some ventilation with the vents fully shut. Over the last year, I've thought about getting something that is a dedicated smoker, but I balk every time because it seems like I would betry such a good and trustworthy friend. Weber Kettle. Word.

All of us at the Society are so pleased that Rochelle has had a healthy baby, and no longer has her cast. Knowing how much I appreciated well-wishes when I had my babies, please PM her with the congratualatory notes! Time to return this topic to all about cooking one-handed!

Dave, was the chipotle overwhelming? Were they tremendously spicey?

Braise them?

Still, those look great! Did you use a recipe from the book? If not, recipe, please? Susan, these sound delicious and the links look good. I can't wait to hear how they turn out. Will you cook them on the weber? Around here in north-suburban Chicago, I can generally get grocery-grade pork butt for anywhere between $0.99 - $1.29/# and good, co-op pork for about $3.00/#. Speaking of pork butt, last night when I was recording a recipe, I wrote down on a note card "5# fatty pork butt." Moments later I couldn't find the card, so I started over on a new card. I never knew what happened to that first card (figured it probably ended up in the garbage) . . . until tonight. Somehow, that card found its way into my son's backpack. When he got to school this morning, he found it in there, took it out, and read it. Apparently, it was quite the moment when the words "fatty pork butt" were uttered in his 3rd-grade classroom. According to my son, his teacher said something along the lines of "well, that's certainly not good," as the class burst into laughter =R= ← Yes, Ron, the sausages on the trusty old Weber. To the recipe card. Should you go to the last two pages of the Behold My Butt topic, you will find endless amounts of laughter for all, especially 3rd and 4th grade boys. Peter delights in talking about "mom smoking butt" and "my mom's butt stalled" in school to endless rolling on the floor of all kids. The girls pretend not to be amused, but they are!

These prices sounds high to me (Minnesota). I'm getting bellies for $1.19 or $.99/lb (must buy two whole bellies, each weighing about 12 pounds) and butt and country ribs on sale for $1.29/pound. I haven't priced duck legs lately.

The most memorable: Sweet corn (picked after the water was boiling): 1961 (I was 4) Raw pork larb: 1966 Squid: 1967 Sushi: 1966 Steak tartare: 1965 These opened my taste buds such that the other revalations merely blended into each other.

Some other thoughts on why pie is so great. I have some peach pie filling in the freezer from last September that I need to use. So, we will have pie tomorrow night. When I roll out the crust, there will be all of that overhand that gets trimmed off which I will lay on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake and the kids and I will have a great after school snack. Cake crums and trimmings are not nearly as good. When I mentioned this debate, Peter automatically said pie. "Usually there's fruit, and that makes it healthier. Fruit has fibre, mom, and not as many carbs."

That peperone is absolutely stunning. Why don't you live just down the block? I stuffed my venison sausages, and will grill a few of them off tomorrow night. I hope that are as good as the amount of work these were. Add to it that my kitchen karma just has not been present this week. Anyway, it was well over an hour trimming the venison. This stuff has almost no fat (and what fat there is is very brittle and tallowy) and tons of sinew and tough silverskin. My efforts did pay off, as I had a "clean" grind. After whacking everything up. I used venison, back fat, sage, fennel seed, black pepper, garlic, and dried cherries that had been soaked in red wine. In my big wide bright yellow tupperware bowl. During my last (and first) sausage grinding and stuffing experience, Diana and I did not like having the KA on the counter. It was just too high (and we are 5'7" and 5'8" respectively). It's constant with one arm well above shoulder level, so this time, I grabbed a chair that was a baby gift for one of the kids and we did it on the floor. I got the little chair and she sat cross legged on the floor (age counts). The grind when just fine. I imagine it could have been a bit colder, and since my instant read was part of a science fair project, I could only guess. It was not quite hand numbingly cold. Here I am with half of it after beating it for the bind. This is where things got interesting. I stuck the stuff in the freezer after the grind because it needed to chill further. Then one kid got a bloody nose. Then there was yet another kid crisis. So, it was VERY cold when I did the bind. I loosely followed the proportions of the turkey sausage, which called for only the liquid of the reserved 1/2 cup of wine from soaking the cherries. It seemed to stiff, so I grabbed The Book and my reading glasses, and noted that Milo's Vension sausage called for 1 cup of water, so I started adding some water, which I didn't measure. Like I said, this stuff was really, really cold when I started to paddle it (in fact, it was like a cold facial sitting and looking at it), and it never did get fuzzy, and I started to worry after 2 minutes that perhaps I was overmixing it. Oh, well. Like I said, the kitchen gods have not been with me this week. And, then we stuffed. This stuff was much tougher to stuff than the chicken sausages. It seemed much tighter. I'm also not at all happy with stuffing with the KA. Diana used the plunger thing for me, and we kept having these "farts" which resulted in air in the sausages, and a lot of the time, the casing that was on the stuffing nozzel was burbled up with air. But, we "got her done." I had one that burst, and we just cut it off and re-fed the stuff through the attachment. Oh, and I didn't have quite enough casing, so there was an emergency soak in really hot water and flush with very hot water. We'll eat them tomorrow night. Cross your fingers. I need at least one kitchen sucess this week. (Oh, and I forgot to get fatty butt that is on sale this week, so I'm going shopping yet again tomorrow. I hope I remember to read the list and get the poblanos.) The kitchen gods better start shining on me again.