snowangel

I, too, could use some advice on how long I can plan for a 23-25 lb. bird. I'm going to have to time this very well. I'll get home from church at about 7:15 am, and want to have food on the table at about 2:00 pm. Now, I'm thinking that I want to start this low and slow to let the smoke do it's work, but it shouldn't be a problem to kick up the heat later on because I'm not dissolving connective tissues. Anyway, any more guidance on time would be appreciated.

This one takes the cake, or the sausage, or the bacon. No other topic has so inspired me!

Golly, gee, for all of the hand holding, I'm feeling pretty darned smart, because I stuck everything in the freezer last night (including the KA mixing bowl that I knew I'd be grinding into). And, did sharpen the blade using a plain old stone. ← Yep, that's where I've actually been storing my stuff. It goes into the freezer directly from the dishwasher, so it's always ready to go. =R= ← Saves valuable cupboard space, BTW. Tossed all sorts of odd freezer burned and unlabled things today to make room for a permanent freezer fixture!

Golly, gee, for all of the hand holding, I'm feeling pretty darned smart, because I stuck everything in the freezer last night (including the KA mixing bowl that I knew I'd be grinding into). And, did sharpen the blade using a plain old stone.

Uptopic some, Michael told me not to be so paranoid about the "silverskin" on the thighs. He was right. My first grinding ever...nary a clog! I know I will be much more careful with venison and pork. Now, to my next question. One fix and we (my kids and I) feel like junkies. We are looking at the recipes. We see a turkey with cherry sausage. We see a venison and cherry terrine. We see a smoked venison sausage. We are thinking of a venison and cherry sausage, not smoked. Michael, if you are out there, answer a question about the cherries. Every dried cherry I see is a tart cherry that has been sweetened. Is this appropriate? If you were to do what I'm thinking of, can you suggest some seasonings? I have the venison, and Thursday or Friday I will have the back fat. Who cares that I have 25-30 coming over on Easter and I need to clean the house? We need to stuff more sausages!

Dave, work up the courage. As you'll notice just up-topic, I wanted plenty of hand-holding, but sure didn't need much, and the rewards... We'll grill the sausages tomorrow (yes, I know I wanted to do them tonight, but not being sure of the outcome, I have something else in the hopper that needs to be used tonight). Courage, my friend! We are here to help, and I can honestly say it was much easier than I expected and a ton of fun. Call me an addict.

There is a small winged plastic thing who's use isn't obvious. It's a placeholder to replace the cutter when you are stuffing. Jim ← I did remember the winged plastic thing once I'd gotten everything assembled, but before I'd started!

I used the chicken with tomato and basil recipe from Charcuterie. I think my fat/meat ratio was right on, but I'll know better after we grill some up.

Ta Da! These are outstanding. We had the seasoning spot on when we did the test, and we cleaned out the KA attachments and had another patty. I couldn't find back fat, so I kept every smidgen is chicken fat and added some that I had in the freezer, so I'm not sure exactly what my ratio was. The KA worked like a charm, but I would do a couple of things differently next time: I would get the sausage mixture to the end of the nozzel before pulling out the couple of inches of casing to start the actual filling process. I wouldn't do it on the kitchen counter next time. It's pretty awkward to push that feeder plunger thing above shoulder height. I would do it on the floor, sitting on a stool, or perhaps move it to the kitchen table. My casings weren't quite long enough, and I would go ahead and feed however many casings I needed onto the feeder tube before starting. I was surprised how much longer the casings got when I soaked them. So, I have extra soaked casings. Should I just pitch them? Another round of sausages isn't in my future within the next couple of days. Finally, the kids had a blast helping me with this. They are home on spring break this week, and I bet they are the only kids who will respond with "we made sausages" when the teacher asks "what did you do for spring break?" I'm so pleased with myself!

I'm making the sausages today. The meat is in the freezer getting a final chill before I grind. I'm assuming that I can grind and paddle and then fridge and come back and stuff later on, right? And, when I stuff, do I twist links as I go? Or, stuff the whole thing and then twist? If the latter, what do I need to do to account for the portion of the casing that will get the twist? Hold my hands, please!

Mike, these dishes reheat beautifully. I've given this cookbook to two friends who work outside the home, and many weekends, they'll make two of the braises to serve later in the week. Paula Wolfert advocates separating the meat from the liquid, sealing the meat in a ziplock and storking the liquid in another container. Sometimes I do this, but more often, I just transfer the entire contents to a container and put it in the fridge. When especially lazy (no, I mean busy!) this past winter, I was known to just put the entire LC in the outdoor fridge (aka the deck). To reheat, I remove the fat from the dish (much easier done when cold than hot) and reheat it in a low oven. If I make a braise that will cover two meals, I've also frozen a portion. These long braises just improve with age!

Bruce, glad you had success! Yes, that pork/mango dish is really one of the most unattractive dishes around. I garnished it with cilantro, which didn't help. But, it is soooo good. Country ribs are from the shoulder section. I get them bone in, and they are about 6-8" long a generous inch thick. They are much meatier. A better substitute would probably be hunks or strips of pork butt.

Abra, one guess as to what everyone is getting for gifts this year!

Since it was 75 degrees and the kids and I felt like playing outside (first time sine last September), we did not make sausage today. It will happen tomorrow or Wednesday. We have moved beyond spring fever to summer lust.

So far, no one has mentioned how unbelievably tedious it is to remove the silverskin and tendons. Is there an easier way? BTW, I'm doing the chicken sausage with tomatoes and basil, which is what the kids chose. I'm used to smoking whole cuts of meat, the process of which just leads these undesireables to simply dissolve. Back to work I go!

I'm in absolute awe of everything presented. So, my questions make me feel like well, a novice (which I am). I'm planning on making sausages tomorrow. The kids are home on spring break, and it seems like a good project. So, my questions: Can I dice up the meat and mix everything together today, stick in the fridge to grind tomorrow? (Peter's question) Can I grind and stuff on the same day? I'll be using a KA meat grinder and stuffer. Any tips, hints and potential pitfalls welcome. Should this be a successful and fun endeavor, I'll think about investing in more equipment, but a friend leant me the KA attachments, and I thought I should give this a go before I think about buying more stuff.

Abra, it's always butt season. I've done one when it was nearing zero. I don't de-bark my wood.

Bravo, Tammy! I love your notes, both the good and the not so good. And, thanks for photos. They just make the meal come alive!

Bruce, I use the dutch oven for all of the braises. Even the pork/mango and rendang ones. Yes, start at 250 and work up. Easier to up than down with the heat, I think. Good luck and enjoy. Don't forget to report!

I'm smoking turkey for Easter and am getting desperate for ideas for sides. I'm thinking roasted new potatoes, asparagus. But, what else? And, my husband thinks we can't have smoked turkey without cole slaw. And, he's worried that I'm not doing the typical ham and scalloped potato thing. But, Easter is late this year, so what I'm planning seems more appropriate. Help, please. Oh, and I suppose people will want dessert, too. I'm having 20 people. Need to keep things fairly simple since the kids are home next week for spring break, and Saturday is sort of a hit or miss day because the teen has a volleyball tourney on Saturday.

Easter is a week from Sunday, and I should probably start planning. We will be having 20 for Easter dinner, only one of whom is a little kid (there will be four teenagers in the bunch). How big a turkey should I get? I'm smoking on the Kettle, so I don't have two racks. One big ass turkey and fill in the gaps with some turkey thighs? Or, is that over kill? Ideas for sides welcome, too.

The outdoor freezer/fridge is no longer working. Spring is coming!

Gumbo tonight. I'm going to call this "accidental" gumbo. It started with me trying to figure out what to fix for dinner. Since the lid of the deep freeze was covered with folded clothes (it is in the laundry room), I resorted to the freezer part of my side-by-side. I must digress and say that this freezer needs to be cleaned out and organized. It is full of little packets of stuff that seem to tumble out, threatening to break a toe. Many a dinner has been born that way. So, out popped a package of about 4 boneless chicken thights. Then, I espied, just before it toppled out, a package of venison stew meat. And, then there was that smoked andouille in the fridge. My local meat market makes what is a very garlicky, quite spicy "andouille" except that they don't smoke it. So, when I smoked some ribs this last weekend, I put some of those on to smoke. This accidental dinner was absolutely outstanding. (And "soupier" than it looks in this photo.) BTW, I like lots and lots of green onions on my gumbo.

I don't know that I qualify as a pitmaster (OK, call me Kettle Queen), but I sort of go by feel and stick an old fashioned Taylor dial meat thermometer in when I think I'm getting close. But, I've done enough of them that I can tell by the bone wiggle, and sure enough, the trusty old Taylor (it was a wedding present and we'll celebrate a 25th this June) confirms what I know.

Ron, are those paperclips I espie? OK, gang, it's clear to me that I need to upgrade what I have. A friend has given me her KA grinder and sausage stuffer that she has never used, on the condition that I share some product. Time for me to finish my drywalling project and get to some sausages.