Sunday, May 15, 2011

CharcutePalooza: The Grinding


Sausage's partner in crime
Good Morning


  Oh the shame! It has been nearly one month since my last post! While I could say that my distractions have consisted of only work and chores, I did manage to sneak in a tiny bit of downtime. A short weekend in the North Georgia mountains can do wonders for the soul. Just look at those wonderful fresh eggs! Those on some crisp toast, a cold beer, and a babbling brook equal the perfect morning (What...you don't drink beer in the morning?).
  Yet one cannot live on beer eggs alone, at least I can't. So, I figured this would be as good a time as any to debut some homemade sausage. Before this challenge, I had never once attempted something as seemingly complicated as ground sausage. The funny things is, once you try it, you feel like a fool for thinking it would ever be hard. I can see how that way of thinking could hold anyone back from handmade cooking. But I can honestly say I have not had that much fun making food in the kitchen at midnight by myself before.
  I decided to take up both challenges and make breakfast sausage and Chorizo. I am very glad I did. I was also surprised to find that fresh sausage was easier than some of the previous tasks of this Year of Meat. It simply consisted of a fresh pork shoulder beautifully marbled with fat, diced and seasoned, thoroughly chilled, and then ground. For the breakfast sausage I added sage, lots of fresh garlic, and dried blueberries. The Chorizo included many different dried chilies, garlic, oregano, and tequila.



Soon to be Sausage
Ready for grinding


  The diced meat was then chilled very well, and ground using my new and magical Kitchenaid grinding attachment. It ground quickly and efficiently. So efficiently in fact, that I barely had time to snap a photo. And that was all there was too it. To make links, I could have stuffed the fresh sausage into casings, but this was strictly to test the water, nothing more. I made both sausages the night before leaving for the camping trip.


Grinding


 
After a night of rum and allergies, nothing was more satisfying than blueberry sausage, toast, and eggs. The Chorizo was reserved for a late night concoction of sausage, onions, garlic, celery, tomatoes, and rice stewed together into a rich improv gruel.


Blueberry Breakfast Sausage
Cure for the common hangover



Chorizo and veggies
Meal prior to common hangover



  Before now, I had not given much thought nor appreciation to sausage, as I have always been a bacon freak. But having experienced the joy in making it, as well as the comfort in consuming it, sausage has certainly been elevated to new heights in my book, and I cannot wait to construct my next grind.


campfire cooking


2 comments:

  1. Wow- the blueberries are an unexpected twist! How did i taste? I did the straight ginger sage recipe and loved it, now I'm intrigued about the idea of fruity sausage...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It turned out awesome, you should try it! The blueberries made it just a tad sweet, but still nice and salty and full of garlic. I want to play around with other fruit sausage ideas, esp. a chicken sausage. Wondering how fresh fruit would be...

    ReplyDelete