Tasso

[el Ducko]

...anybody have a good recipe for making tasso? Here's one from Emeril Legasse's book, "Louisiana Real & Rustic." He's a good cook, but is he authentic? These days, the Food Channel Cajun expert is from Boston, the Food Channel southwestern expert is from Brooklyn... (Yeah. Right.) How about YOUR comments? ...anyone have a good family recipe?

TASSO
2 Tbsp salt
4 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 Tbsp cayenne
5 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1-1/2 tsp onion powder
2-1/2 lbs lean pork butt, cut into 1 inch thick slices (strips), 4 to 5 oz. each

(1) Combine everything but the pork in a bowl. Dredge each pork slice in the spice mix. Press the spices into the meat with your fingers. Pack in plastic wrap, about four to a pack. Wrap securely. Refrigerate 3 to 7 days to allow spices to seep into the meat.
(2) Hot smoke at 300° degrees F for 15 minutes. Pack in 1/2 lb. packages. Freeze.

Seems to me that we need several changes:
(1) Add cure to 150 ppm.
(2) Smoke longer, at cooler temperature, raising temperature gradually over a two hour period, until Internal Meat Temperature reaches 154°F, then raising temperature until cooked.
(3) Seems like there should be a drying step.

Suggestions? Comments?
Use tasso by adding it to dishes that you would normally add salt pork or bacon to. (Green beans are incredible, cooked with tasso.)
"Diss gonna be good, I gaw-ron-ree."

[crustyo44]

Hi Duck,
You got me very interested about this Tasso. Let's hope we get some more information and recipes.
Cheers,
Jan.

[Cabonaia]

Hey Ducko - I don't know if he is "authentic." I think he claims the cred through his wife. But I have that book and it has been good for the recipes I've tried so far. I agree that he's a good cook. Always meant to try the tasso. Maybe now I will!

Jeff

[ssorllih]

Paul Prudhomme gives it two lines. Calls it heavily spiced and heavily smoked cajun ham.

[ssorllih]

Another recipe . This one confirms the spice but the smoking schedule is a smoke cooking method and I didn't copy that.
Tasso, a highly seasoned, intensely flavored smoked pork, adds a wonderful flavor to a variety of dishes, from soups to jambalaya to pastas and seafood dishes. Easily obtainable in Louisiana or by mail order (see my sources link), but fun to make yourself. Here is Chef Alex Patout's recipe:

8-10 pounds boneless pork butt
5 tablespoons salt
5 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons white pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons garlic powder or granulated garlic
Trim the pork of all excess fat and cut it into strips about 1 inch thick and at least 4 inches long. Mix together the seasonings and place in a shallow pan. Roll each strip of pork in the seasoning mixture and place on a tray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least overnight (preferable a couple of days).
Prepare your smoker. Place

[Chuckwagon]

Okay, okay... pull it over! Sausage sheriff here. I`m a-runnin` three "cookin` dudes" into the hoosgow! Legasse, Prudhomme, and Patout each get thirty days in the crowbar hotel BEFORE they see the judge! These boys are great chefs but forgot the number-one cardinal rule - Don`t smoke it if you don`t cure it! Or as Rytek used to say, "If it can`t be cured, don`t smoke it"!

Now, El Ducko gets a medal for writing:

Seems to me that we need several changes:
(1) Add cure to 150 ppm.
(2) Smoke longer, at cooler temperature, raising temperature gradually over a two hour period, until Internal Meat Temperature reaches 154°F, then raising temperature until cooked.
(3) Seems like there should be a drying step.

El QuackO, you just may save someone`s life with your concern and understanding. Too many people take this subject too lightly because indeed, botulinal poisoning is rare. But when it is present, it is inevitably fatal. In my opinion, these "experts" who write recipes for the masses, should have to be licensed. Someday, the food police will trace a "smoked" recipe to a death or deaths caused by clostridium botulinum.

I hope everyone takes a peek at Stan Marianski`s recipe for Tasso on page 506 of his book, "Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages". He has, of course, included 2.5 grams of Cure #1 to his 2.20 lbs. (1000 kg) recipe.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

[el Ducko]

Thanks, CW. Now we're quackin' ! Uhhh... cookin'.

The Marianski recipe looks great. (Duh.... obviously. Expect nothing less that great in Stan's book.) It also answers the question that I forgot to add: what about salt? Stan sez 18 grams of salt, plus the 2.5 grams of cure #1, per 1000 kg meat.

Hey! Wait! A thousand kilograms? A whole tonne? Yikes! Uh... we'll call that a typo, Stan ol' buddy. 1.7 percent salt. (That's better)

The note at the bottom of the page answers my last unwritten question- - what about brining? I think I'll do it in strips, as suggested. That looks like a traditional method, both Cajun and Polish.
...old school.
...gonna be great.

[sausagemaneric]

There is an excellent recipe for Tasso in Bruce Aidell's sausage book. I have made it and I thought it was great, like everything else in his book.

V465

[el Ducko]

There is an excellent recipe for Tasso in Bruce Aidell's sausage book. I have made it and I thought it was great, like everything else in his book.

...mind sharing it? I'd be interested in comparing the various recipes. (...infinite variety, I bet.) Thanks.

[markjass]

How did it turn out?

Mark

[sawhorseray]

There is an excellent recipe for Tasso in Bruce Aidell's sausage book. I have made it and I thought it was great, like everything else in his book.

...mind sharing it? I'd be interested in comparing the various recipes. (...infinite variety, I bet.) Thanks.

Does the Aidell's book give exact breakdowns of the ingredients used in the making of his sausage, salt, spices, liquids, etc? I had some of their sausage at a BBQ years back and was impressed. I can't imagine that he gives out the recipes to the sausage products he sells. RAY

[Chuckwagon]

Hey Guys,
Some of the best tasso I've ever tasted came out of Jason Story's "Three Little Pigs" Shop in Washington D.C.
He is "Story28" on this forum. He just might share his recipe if you ask him nicely.

[Chuckwagon]

Tumbleweed Tasso

Pork shoulder - wet cured, cold-smoked, and unmistakably Cajun. Spiced with cayenne, sage, thyme, and something called "Cajun pork seasoning", this recipe is hard to find outside the state of Louisiana. What is it? It`s Tasso of course - Cajun ham. The recipe has been kept secret long enough. I`m spillin` the beans! I`ll share the secret with you only if you promise not to alter or substitute anything. Please keep it original. Here`s how to make your own.

10 lbs. (4.5 kg.) pork butt
1 lb. (450 g.) canning salt
10 oz. (284 g.) sugar
1 Tblspn. (4.5 g.) cayenne pepper
2 oz. (57 g. ) Cure #1 (Prague Powder)
1 gallon (3.8 L.) water

Tumbleweed Seasoning:
8 oz. (227 g.) *Cajun Pork Seasoning™ (commercial product)
2 Tblspns. (6 g.) dried sage
2 Tblspns. (6 g.) dried thyme
1 Tblspns. (7 g.) Hungarian paprika

Make a brine by combining the salt, sugar, cayenne pepper, Cure #1, and the water. Stir all the ingredients well then pour out one pound of the brine into a measuring cup. Use a brine injector to inject the pound of brine to several places in the meat, distributing it equally as possible. Finally, add the pork to the remaining brine, submerged and covered for one full week. Turn the meat over daily.

After 7 days, dry the pieces of pork on an oven rack eight hours. Rub the seasoning into the meat with your hands and then hang the pork and cold smoke it 24 hours. Tasso may be kept in the refrigerator for a week but loses flavor when frozen.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

[el Ducko]

Tasso may be kept in the refrigerator for a week but loses flavor when frozen.

Uh oh! I keep some in the freezer for when I make red beans and rice, or for emergency use when I run out of chorizo for my eggs...... like this morning.

Just whack apart (dice are fer gamblin') some tasso, fry it in a bit of butter (origins of the amount of butter in a "bit" are obscure, so use as much as you want), then pop in a couple of eggs and stir to scramble.

"Pop in" means, in our house, put on a show for the grandkids. Hold an egg over the skillet, throw it up in the air about six inches (with appropriate noises), let it splat into the pan, then fish out the shell. It's usually in two or three pieces, so it's not as bad as it sounds. The kids love it, and it's not nearly as messy as when we toss pancakes to flip 'em. (Now THAT's a mess! )

...great with a little Louisiana-style hot sauce, Ah gaw-ron-tee.