Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 4)

[Chris Amirault]

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.

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Elie, I'm planning to use that exact recipe for the exact same purpose (cassoulet on New Years Day, in fact). Can you give precise details on your tweaks of the recipe?

[Bombdog]

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.

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Elie, I'm planning to use that exact recipe for the exact same purpose (cassoulet on New Years Day, in fact). Can you give precise details on your tweaks of the recipe?

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Yes Ellie, please share. I too am planning the same, but for Christmas Day. I made cassoulet from Les Halles last Christmas and it was immediately proclaimed "our new Christmas meal" by the family.

I am truly excited by my purchase of heirloom pork today from Caw Caw Creek Farms. I got about 10 lbs of belly (truly wonderful looking belly), 8 lbs of fatback, and about 30 lbs of shoulder. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get everything unpacked and ready for processing.

[jmolinari]

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.

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Elie, I'm planning to use that exact recipe for the exact same purpose (cassoulet on New Years Day, in fact). Can you give precise details on your tweaks of the recipe?

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Yes Ellie, please share. I too am planning the same, but for Christmas Day. I made cassoulet from Les Halles last Christmas and it was immediately proclaimed "our new Christmas meal" by the family.

I am truly excited by my purchase of heirloom pork today from Caw Caw Creek Farms. I got about 10 lbs of belly (truly wonderful looking belly), 8 lbs of fatback, and about 30 lbs of shoulder. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get everything unpacked and ready for processing.

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Caw Caw creek is the most amazing pork i've ever eaten. I've made pancetta from the belly, it is amazing.

But i can't see myself using their pork shoulder for sausages, it is just too expensive for that use (in my mind).

[Bombdog]

Caw Caw creek is the most amazing pork i've ever eaten. I've made pancetta from the belly, it is amazing.

But i can't see myself using their pork shoulder for sausages, it is just too expensive for that use (in my mind).

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I suppose being able to pick it up from the owner helps, but I only paid 150.00 for all that I got today. I mean it's easily 2 or 3 times the cost of the other stuff I can get, but I am expecting that it will be worth every penny.

[jmolinari]

Dave, the owner, Emile, seems like a great guy (i only know him though email).

Let us know if it is worth the extra cost...as i've wondered.

[Abra]

I just want to add a little report on making bacon without a smoker. Mine needed to get out of the cure and get cooked while I was down with a horrible cold right in the middle of a snow and ice storm, so I wussed out and decided to try the oven method. I'd used the maple syrup cure with a generous amount of added coarse black pepper.

The result is good, in a Canadian bacon sort of way, except that it's a Niman belly instead of a loin. I mention the Niman part because their bellies are about 50% lean. It doesn't "taste like bacon" but it does taste like a nice cured pork. In short, I'd only do it again this way in a smokerless emergency, but as it is it makes nice lardons, and will probably snuggle happily into a cassoulet with the duck confit and pork belly confit I have curing in the fridge. And I think it also has a future in that pot of split pea soup I've been inexplicably craving.

[Bombdog]

Dave, the owner, Emile, seems like a great guy (i only know him though email).

Let us know if it is worth the extra cost...as i've wondered.

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Yes he does. I met him for the first time yesterday.

I'm a bit under the weather myself today, so it might be a day or so before I get pictures posted. But I can almost promise you'll drool. These shoulders are just unbelievable!

[FoodMan]

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.

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Elie, I'm planning to use that exact recipe for the exact same purpose (cassoulet on New Years Day, in fact). Can you give precise details on your tweaks of the recipe?

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Simple tweaks really. I used the leaves from about a bunch of fresh thyme and added it to the mix (figuring thyme is usually an herb used in cassoulet). I also used white wine in there, not red. The use of white wine was inspired by Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages. She uses white wine in there. Other than that, The recipe was followed from the book.

edit: For nutmeg, I used about a 1/4 of a nut freshly grated.

[Rubashov]

One question though...I don't have a meat grinder.  I could have my butcher to do it but I'd like to do it myself and I think I would get continuing use out of a grinder.  It seems to me that most of the efforts here used the KA grinder attachment.  It is generally the consensus that is the way to go or is it worth investing in a manual grinder?  I know there are other meat grinder topics recently but they seem to be more about 'which type of manual' or 'which type of electric'.  My question is more 'which type of grinder'?  Show of hands anyone?

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Having started out on a manual #10 grinder and moved to the KA, I'm torn. Here's how I'd break it down:

Manual advantages:

Heavy duty - you can grind nearly frozen meat/fat. The limiting factor is your own "horsepower." This makes it easier when you're obsessed with keeping things cold, which you usually have to be with sausages (esp. emulsified): the colder the meat starts, the colder it stays. I've also found that near-frozen meat avoids most smearing problems, including when the meat is sinewy/membranous also. They also have the advantage of multiple grinding plate sizes.

Manual disadvantages:

Heavy, not as fast as an electric or KA, a little harder to clean, usually not stainless so they can rust if the tinning comes off. It's a little harder to use without a helper, but not that hard.

KA advantages:

Easier, faster, can do it easily by yourself. The height on the KA also lets you grind straight into a bowl, which can be set in ice if you're concerned about keeping things cold. Easier cleanup and storage.

KA disadvantages:

Not as powerful and doesn't handle tough things as well, like partially frozen meat. On some occasions if my KA is straining I'll start to notice black stuff coming through the drive shaft into the auger area. I don't know if this is from the rubber o-rings farther back, but I don't like it. It also tends to smear more because membranes can clog the knife more easily when they're warmer. Also doesn't allow for more than the 2 plate sizes that come with it.

So, I don't have a clear winner. I've held on to my manual just in case, but in the meantime I'm trying to be good about methods that keep my ground meat cold without straining the motor on the KA (like using the ice bowl, or separating my meat chunks into 3 smaller batches, only taking the batches out one at a time to grind). Maybe a big standalone combines the best of both worlds, but I don't have any experience with that.

However, I would second the comment made above that you should avoid, if at all possible, sausage stuffing attachments to auger-style grinders, whether manual or electric. They result in smeared forcemeats, ruining the definition. The Grizzly stuffer is a great tool for about $60 I think.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[Mallet]

The dies on the Kitchenaid grinder seem pretty straightforward to duplicate, it should be possible to have a machine shop make some of a variety of desired sizes...

[BRM]

Rubashov,

Thanks for the thorough rundown. I think I am going to go with the KA attachment for now and see where that leads me. I have actually looked at some dedicated electric grinders and they aren't as pricey as I thought they might be. If I find myself doing a lot of sausage I may look into one of those.

I am going to have to clear a shelf in the basement for all of the toys that I am accumulating as part of following threads on eGullet. Let's see...there was the immersion circulator and vacuum sealer for sous vide, now the meat grinder and sausage stuffer...oh well.

Thanks again.

[Bombdog]

Sorry I took so long to get these pictures posted.

Here are several Boston Butts. Emile doesn't sell in primal cuts. You can only get shoulder this way. I couldn't believe the fat!

I tried to get a good shot of the marbling. Once again, amazing stuff.

Now my question. With what seems to be such a higher percentage of fat in these shoulder cuts, should I still use the 4lb of meat to 1lb of fat back ratio? These obviously contain much more fat than the stuff I have used in the past. However, I have been satisfied with the way the cured meats have turned out. If I add 1lb of fat back am I going to have too much fat? I'm not even sure if there is such a thing as too much pork fat , but am interested in any opinions.

[jmolinari]

Personally i'd reduce it a little bit.,..but the fat you'll get from the shoulder won't be in separate chunks like the fat from using fat back, it;'ll be in the meat, making it slightly different.

now, i'm taling for salame, not cooked sausage. For cooked suasage i would reduce hte fat by a lot more sincethe fat in the meat will melt into the suasage.

[Bombdog]

Personally i'd reduce it a little bit.,..but the fat you'll get from the shoulder won't be in separate chunks like the fat from using fat back, it;'ll be in the meat, making it slightly different.

now, i'm taling for salame, not cooked sausage. For cooked suasage i would reduce hte fat by a lot more sincethe fat in the meat will melt into the suasage.

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Thanks Jason

That's what I was thinking.

The only sausage project that will come from this is the garlic ones for cassoulet on Christmas Day. I'm planning on Tuscan, Sopressata, and Genoa for this batch.

[Mallet]

Dave, do you have a picture of the belly as well? (where's the drooling emoticon when you need it?)

[Bombdog]

Dave, do you have a picture of the belly as well? (where's the drooling emoticon when you need it?)

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I do. Sorry I didn't take any pics of it yet. I need to get it in a some bags for cure today or tomorrow. I'll get some posted then.

Like the shoulder, he only sells it in certain portions. For bacon I think it'll be just fine. They are rather small though, so rolling for pancetta will be impossible. Guess I'll just have to cure that flat.

I forgot to say earlier....when I was commenting on the fat back, Emile told me he could get me some that is 6 inches thick! I think my lardo is coming soon.

Edited December 16, 2006 by Bombdog (log)

[MelissaH]

My husband gave me a copy of the book for Hanukkah! I have a hand-crank meat grinder and a KA (without attachments). I have a Weber Bullet for smoking. We even have a slicer. So it sounds like the one big piece of equipment I don't yet have is a stuffer. (A special curing chamber isn't likely to happen. We don't have room, especially since the deal goes that if I get a curing chamber, my husband gets a beerolator.)

Is the Grizzly still the stuffer of choice? Those of you who have them, is there anything I should watch out for? Is there anything I should consider instead? I'm hoping to have my first go at something in early January, possibly breakfast sausage that won't necessarily need to be stuffed into casings.

Thanks,

MelissaH

[Chris Amirault]

Raves for the Grizzly can be found here. I have mine set up to stuff 3# of Toulouse sausages as soon as I get off eG Forums, in fact!

[A Patric]

I'm a Grizzly fan all the way. It works amazingly well, and is as inexpensive as they come.

[Bombdog]

I just finished stuffing 18 lbs of salami's today and without the Grizzly I'd still be cleaning clogs from the KA stuffer!

[dynamike]

here are some pitures of my pancetta which is a work in progrss . it has been drying for about five days

here it is curing

and here it is drying

i will post some pictures of the finished product in about a week

[FoodMan]

Raves for the Grizzly can be found here. I have mine set up to stuff 3# of Toulouse sausages as soon as I get off eG Forums, in fact!

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Chris- How did you end up making those Toulouse sausages?

On another note I recently recieved a Grizzly from my dear wife as a congrats gift on my new job! So, I am itching to give it a whirl. A Cotechino for the Emilia Romagna thread (in the Italy forum) is certainly in the works soon.

Very nice Pancetta Dynamike. I have some curing right now as well as some pork belly for bacon (brown sugar and pepper cure).

[BRM]

I went into Whole Foods near my house the other day to see if I could buy casings from them. They said no. I presume each store must be free to make its own decisions about stuff like that because others in this thread have gotten them there.

[Chris Amirault]

Elie, I went with a modified version of the Toulouse sausages in Paula Wolfert's book (I had a fatty Niman Ranch butt to use) and spiced it primarily with quatre epices and extra white pepper (no thyme this time).

BRM, I have bought casings from WF, but lately I've been using a salt-packed bag from Butcher Packer (see link up-topic) for months and am nowhere near done! I'd take the plunge and order from BP.

[Bombdog]

I'll second that Mike....that is one NICE rolled tight pancetta...