FlashJack

Store them on a hand cart near the door, cat included.

How do you save Google if the house is on fire?

The best reference cookbook is not a cookbook: Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. To my mind, the only indispensable reference. Almost every answer lies within.

John, I have some experience. It's probably easier than you think. Caveat: I make southern Italian style sausages using pork. I assume you refer to beef. Even so, it's a great idea to have two different cuts (I use 2 parts shoulder, one part leg). Remove off any silver skin, cartilage, nasty bits etc before grinding. Grind it a little coarser than you think. I don't use curing salt but 3% fine table salt by weight is crucial. Spicing entirely your choice. I use only black pepper and a chilli powder to taste. Parsley never goes astray in anything but I don't use it in my sausages, which are primarily for slow drying to make sopressa style. They are also good fresh. Mix all thoroughly in tub of appropriate size. If so inclined give it a healthy splash of wine (nature's best tasting antiseptic). Leave at (cool) room temperature over night covered with a towel or similar. In hot weather prudent to refrigerate but I make my sausages in mid winter. Before stuffing in casings take a small portion and fry so you know whether seasoning needs adjustment. Good luck. It's fun.

Having spent time in the bush and eaten in many an Aussie pub I'd be very happy with that riff on surf and turf. My only complaint is that there's clearly nowhere one can get away from just too much carrot with a few other token bits of salad. I know it's cheap, stores well, takes almost zero prep (hence ubiquitous) but enough is quickly enough. Still the pub is a great advance on the mess. Happy days.

I note your black pudding sausage in a further post. Is the Stornaway version local? I can't figure the address. Black pudding isn't easy to come by in Melbourne. I get it occasionally from a Spanish delicatessen. This whole post has me drooling. Horse, camel, yak ... YAY! Only slightly off-topic: I used to make liver sausage with an old Italian friend. It's now impossible to buy pork lights. I trust you have no trouble with that.

That is a fine paragraph. Nicely punctuated. Euphonious. Thank you.

@Robenco15 I'm thinking of increasing the diastatic malt in the artisan. Have you played with that or have thoughts?

That is a beautiful loaf. Congratulations.

That is super. Congratulations. I can't get an edge that high but agree direct artisan is great: simple, quick.

Apols for the delay. About 1/4 inch (~6mm). A little thicker is fine because you're going to give it a gentle hammering. These work with surprisingly thin slices -- the whole point is to make a little protein go a long way. But they are better if a little more generous.

Right there is a fabulous basis for a pudding

I think a lot of people still way overcook pork today as a legacy of the then well-founded fear of Trichinosis in grandma's day. With Trichinosis now almost non-existent (at least in my part of the world) I've realised that pork can be juicy and slightly pink rather than incinerated.

That's a good hunk of meat. If you don't need it all, consider taking off a few slices to use as 'schnitzel'. I use mostly top round to make the Italian version, coteletta. I make coteletti in sizeable batches because, crumbed and ready to go, they freeze well, don't take long to defrost and are a simple meal on a busy night. Just a thought.

@scott123You might be interested in a brief discussion of nutritional yeast as a reducing agent in this week's episode of Good Food on KCRW. It's pretty much just in passing (and in reference to noodles). It's about five minutes in.

If I may chime in here, I've been making the direct artisan with good results. It's simple, reliable and fast. It actually takes me back pretty much to the dough I was making 20 years ago (except for the addition of diastatic malt).

Thanks Jo. I think that menu has been there for some time but I've been wary of it. Look forward to your report.

From Melbourne, Australia. I'd call it a giro/gyro and expect the meat to be thinly sliced (not shaved) to make a souva (souvalaki). Melbourne has a large Greek population. Traditionally only lamb but a lot of places here have a second spit of chicken and you can ask for "mixed souva with the lot" (lamb or lamb/chicken, onion, shredded lettuce, tomato and garlicky yoghurt sauce wrapped in pita bread that is warmed on a grill before being filled and rolled).

Scott, thanks again for your thoughtfulness and thoroughness. I followed the links -- some went over my head but I'm grateful. Do try the Polessi Super if you have a chance. I'd be very interested in your thoughts. As to my original question, I'll make identical batches to the best extent possible with osmotolerant and non-osmotolerant yeast and see if I can identify any difference.

Thank you @scott123. Your replies are always thoughtful and generous. I take your point that it's best to send a specialist on a specialist mission but I do wonder what is the volume of dead yeast in a given batch of dough. It's measurable but ... Re flour: I have used many different 'baker's flours' with good results. These around ~12-13%. I've switched to a flour that claims 16%. It has revolutionised my dough.

That's it. I've enjoyed a glass of nothing-special in a nothing-special glass. Nice glasses are nice but a very very small part of the occasion. My favourite: drinking grapa from a coffee glass in the early morning with my almost father as we made liver sausage on the coldest day of winter.

Indeed. It's always a bit risky but if it's within your pocket, looks credible, buy it.

I see some after-market mods coming on. All good fun. Its v1. You buy or don't. Worth a go in my book.

I'm in. But a bit resentful of that 'discounted' cashflow.

@rotuts I believe Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote a gloomy poem on a similar theme. It was early morning. He descended to an empty kitchen and cried out: 'No wurst, there is none ...'