Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 2)

[snowangel]

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.

[Anna N]

Just a side note here on the cost of pink salt to those of us north of the border. 

After many attempts to source the salt in Canada I cried uncle and ordered it from "The Sausage Maker".  Service was prompt, efficient and accurate and I have no complaints about the company.  But here's a breakdown of my cost:

1lb insta cure #1 8.99 USF

1lb insta cure #2 8.99 USF

Shipping and handling $11.80 USF

Brokerage fees and GST (a Canadian tax) $21.43 Cdn!

By the time I factor in the exchange rate I will have paid at least $60 Cdn. for 2 lbs of salt!

So much for free trade.

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What are Brokerage Fees and GST? Do you have to pay them because it's being sent to Canada, or because you're a Canadian buyer? Do the fees apply if someone in the US buys it and then sends it to you, or buys it and has it sent directly to you? FYI, Butcher-Packer sells #1 and #2 for $1.50 lb. each....

Phil

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Brokerage fees are what the shipping company charges to clear customs as I understand it. GST is a Goods and Services Tax that we Canadians seem to pay on EVERYTHING we buy. Gifts under a certain amount are usually allowed without tax. My point in even mentioning this was only to alert any Canadians anxious to get involved that it can be costly if things need to be imported. I am very happy to have the stuff and I know it will go a long way so I don't really mean to sound as if I am whining - but I am!

[Anna N]

1lb insta cure #1 8.99 USF

1lb insta cure #2 8.99 USF

Shipping and handling $11.80 USF

Brokerage fees and GST (a Canadian tax) $21.43 Cdn!

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Anna

This isn't going to help you now...but as Michael has suggested in the past, Butcher-Packer.com is a much better resource for supplies, as far as costs go.

Dave

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I must have missed that part as the seller was one of the one's mentioned in Charcuterie - and I am not by any means blaming Michael or anyone else. Now I am done my whining and will move on to sausage and bacon making.

[hwilson41]

Now I am done my whining and will move on to sausage and bacon making. 

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Anna, my prediction is that once you taste some homemade sausage and bacon, you'll forget all about how much the pink salt cost . Best of luck with the new venture. I'm sure it will turn out great.

[ronnie_suburban]

Hello, my name is Ronnie and I am a linkaholic

Inspired by Dave's (aka Bombdog's) foray into lamb sausage, I decided to give it a whirl too. I picked up 5# of lamb trimmings at my butcher and winged the following recipe:

5# fatty lamb trimmings

3 T kosher salt

2 T dry oregano

2 T dry thyme

2 T dry rosemary, freshly ground

1 T black pepper, freshly ground

4 T garlic minced

2 t fresh lemon zest

2 T roasted garlic

1 C feta cheese, crumbled

1 C roasted red bell pepper, diced

1 C ice-cold red wine

I applied the standard Ruhlman-Polcyn method for fresh sausage but saved the feta, bell pepper and roasted garlic for the mixing stage (along with the iced red wine) and did not run those ingredients through the grinder. Before that, I sent the seasoned meat through the small die on my KA once.

A couple of pics . . .

All told, with meat, peppers, cheese and liquid, this was close to 7 pounds of lamb sausage.

Some detail. You can see the feta and red pepper under the casings.

These were quite tasty with the feta just a bit melty after they came off the grill.

One thing I'd do differently next time is include a bit more fat. The lamb trimmings from the butcher looked fatty enough but the final result was a tiny bit crumbly as you can probably see in the 3rd picture. I think I got the proportions of feta, peppers and lamb just about right. I put a very coarse chop on the peppers, assuming that they'd break down further during the mixing. This turned out to be the case, so it was a good guess. Ditto for the feta, which I simply broke into large chunks and added right before mixing. I might cut the wine back to around a 1/2 cup next time too, because the peppers seemed to give up a bit of moisture during the mixing phase.

But, for a first effort with no real recipe, these sausages were quite delicious. My son, who is not a big lamb fan, absolutely loved them. All in all, not baaaad.

=R=

[maggiethecat]

Ronnie, there's no twelve step programme that can help you!

I love the idea of just winging it although sometimes charcuterie is as finicky as pastry. I think it's important to remember that sausage was a way to use odd bits of stuff. We're old-time sausage makers -- a hand cranked meat grinder is sitting in the garage-- and sometimes our projects got better results than others. But the product was always edible.

I just love the feta and pepper sleeping under the skin, and the way the cheese melted when you grilled it. Oh, yum!

[Abra]

Ron, those sausages are really enticing. Evidently I need a much bigger family, or a lot more friends! Are you guys managing to eat all that you're making?

[ronnie_suburban]

Ron, those sausages are really enticing. Evidently I need a much bigger family, or a lot more friends!  Are you guys managing to eat all that you're making?

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We usually end up eating about 20% of each batch. The rest, I've been vacuum-sealing and distributing to friends, neighbors, slow-moving strangers, etc. One morning I took a bunch of bacon and sausage to the office and cooked breakfast for everyone in the kitchen there. That used up quite a bit of inventory.

So far, there's been very little surplus, especially with the bacon, which seems to go very, very fast.

=R=

[snowangel]

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

[hwilson41]

One morning I took a bunch of bacon and sausage to the office and cooked breakfast for everyone in the kitchen there.  That used up quite a bit of inventory.

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Uhhh...are you accepting job applications right now ?

So far, there's been very little surplus, especially with the bacon, which seems to go very, very fast.

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Ain't it the truth! We visited our daughter and family over the weekend, and I took a pound or a bit more of the second batch of maple cured, apple smoked bacon with me. It was gone by Sunday morning after a batch of bacon, egg and cheese biscuits cooked by yours truly. As we were getting ready to leave, my daughter said "Dad, why don't you freeze another pound or two of that bacon and send it to us." That bacon vanishes faster than luck at a roulette wheel .

Edited April 11, 2006 by hwilson41 (log)

[jmolinari]

Dave, what size casing did you use for that Tuscan salame?

thanks

jason

[snowangel]

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!

[ronnie_suburban]

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!

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Susan,

Once you grind that meat, you should tube it off fairly soon (within 10-15 minutes). Once ground, the salted mixture can sieze up a bit in the fridge, which can make the stuffing process a bit more difficult.

I usually tube off the entire coil (slightly underfilling) and then twist off the links, one by one, at the end. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of different approaches which all work equally well. I've just found that method to be the most comfortable one for me. When you spin those links, just remember to alternate the direction of the spin. If the first spin is toward you, the next one should be away, etc.

=R=

[snowangel]

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!

[ronnie_suburban]

Susan,

You're a natural! You don't need any hand-holding. Those look wonderful. Do you have a recipe you can share with us?

=R=

[Chris Amirault]

Great job, Susan! I second Ron's request for the recipe. I'll be interested in particular how you feel about the fat ratio.

[snowangel]

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.

[Pallee]

Susan, Keep your unused casings in a container of water in the refrigerator. I've kept them a few weeks and they are fine. Just run cold water in the container for a few minutes to rinse them before using next time. Beautiful sausage, BTW. It is so easy, you kind of wonder why it took so long to do it, eh?

Some of my chicken sausage recipes use olive oil instead of fat back. I've also used the real fatty part of bacon for a bit of smokey goodness.

[jmcgrath]

I'll be using a KA meat grinder and stuffer.  Any tips, hints and potential pitfalls welcome.

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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. I just noticed upthread that someone called it the die.

Jim

Edited April 11, 2006 by jmcgrath (log)

[snowangel]

I'll be using a KA meat grinder and stuffer.  Any tips, hints and potential pitfalls welcome.

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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

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I did remember the winged plastic thing once I'd gotten everything assembled, but before I'd started!

[hwilson41]

Susan, soon you'll be an old pro. We're all anxious to hear how the flavor turned out. Based on earlier reports, I'm sure it will be delicious. And congrats on remembering the plastic thing. Life is such a drag without a plastic thing .

[Bombdog]

Dave, what size casing did you use for that Tuscan salame?

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Jason,

I just used the standard hog casings...not sure of the mm size, about 1 1/4-1/2 in diameter.

Dave

[Bombdog]

Susan and Ron

Those things look awesome!

Sorry I've been away for a few hours guys...we were enjoying the pool and 80 degree weather here today. <dig>

Anyway, I too am a link-a-holic. I paid a visit to the butcher yesterday and came away with 10 lbs of fresh shoulder, 5 lbs of fat back and 13 lbs of belly. Can you say fresh? When I asked if they had any belly available, she said, "Let me see if they have started cutting up the hogs yet?"

So, other than the pool today we have cubed up 5 lbs of beef for peperone, 10 lbs of shoulder for more Tuscan salame and Linguica, and separated and put 3 sections of belly into cure for bacon. We're getting ready to stuff the peperone and linguica. Tomorrow we'll finish up the Tuscan salame and some turkey sausage of our own design.

Yesterday, when Beth got off graveyards, we had a charcuterie plate of bresaola, duck breast proscuitto, and Tuscan salame with pecorino. For dinner we had pasta carbonara with homemade panceta...

Is this a great new hobby or what!?

Dave

[Abra]

It's beyond a new hobby, it's a new life.

Susan, beautiful sausages. how did you know what to do with the plastic thingy? I don't understand from the description here (have I read the instructions yet? Why, no.)

But I do have my grinder and stuffer now, so as soon as I get my taxes done (wish I could stuff them!) I'll be playing catch-up. I do have a piece of lamb to start for prosciutto tonight, so I'm not being a total slug, but I want to make sausages like everybody else!

[ronnie_suburban]

Yesterday, when Beth got off graveyards, we had a charcuterie plate of bresaola, duck breast proscuitto, and Tuscan salame with pecorino.  For dinner we had pasta carbonara with homemade panceta...

Is this a great new hobby or what!?

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Awesome! That must have been one helluva satisfying meal.

And to take it one step futher, as Abra mentioned some pages back, I can't wait to host a Charcuterie party. Being able to offer a group of my most appreciative friends plates full of hand-crafted tastes -- meats, pickles, breads -- along with some wine and cheese -- would be so much fun. In fact, the only thing that could possibly be better would be receiving an invite to someone else's Charcuterie party.

=R=