Homemade Sausage Making

OK pards,
I'm getting flooded with letters and phone calls asking for Ross Hill's and Unclebuck's photos! How about some of you other kind folks? Don't be shy! How about a photo of you making your favorite sausage.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Yikes! Now that's what I call a sausage! Ursus americanus vancouveri or ursus americanus americanus! It 'tis one or t`other eh? Nice shootin' Ray! Does Michigan put all kinds of restrictions on blackies? If we shoot one these days, we have to fill out triplicate forms for a month, swear allegiance to the Wildlife Dept with a check, and wait in a long line for a platinum permit.
Hey, Toolhawk, as you know, I`m sure, most bear meat has trichinella spiralis in it - no problem if you follow the safety rules. Yell if you need any info. Beautiful photos - nice lookin sausage!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

this was up in Canada, Michigan has a great hunt ,it is a point system , get a permit every4-5 years , I just go to Canada every year , will make some GREAT STUFF !!

These are from this past weekend. We made up about 30ish pounds of brats and 20ish pounts of sweet italian. I'm the guy in the green shirt and Larry, my sous-chef for the day, wearing the apron of one of our friend's daughter.

Here's us prepping the first batch:



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And then grinding:



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Hey Jer,
You forgot to tell us how the brats turned out. I see you have several bars of white gold laying on the cutting board in front of you. What does it say on the front of your shirt? Judging by the grins, you guys look like you were enjoyin' every minute. Good on ya mate!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

P.S. Oh, did you realize you're cowboy hat lost its brim?

The taster patties of the brats tasted...um...tasty. We'll be poaching the batch tomorrow night in a turkey roaster a la NorCal Kid. Then they'll be grilled on Saturday, more pics to come in your bratwurst thread.

The shirt is for Krav Maga which is Israeli martial arts. Haven't taken any classes, just a distant interest.

I found when I wear my hat bill forward I have a tendency to want to adjust using the bill which doesn't play well with raw meat so backwards it goes.

JerBear wrote:

I found when I wear my hat bill forward I have a tendency to want to adjust using the bill which doesn't play well with raw meat so backwards it goes.

Now that's what I call, uh... "usin' your head"
Sounds great Jer. What recipe are you using for your Italian sweet? Good luck. Be sure and post those pics. Lookin' forward to it.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

The sweet Italian is based off of the Italian recipes in Ruhlman's charcuterie cookbook. Avoiding duplicates we used all the ingredients from both the sweet and spicy recipes, i.e. herbs, spices, salt, pepper, sugar, etc but because kids will also be eating them we skipped the cayenne and pepper flakes on this run. We mixed that with a 10:1 ratio of shoulder to fatback and substituted my buddy's homebrewed Irish Red for the water/red wine vinegar.

They're also likely to be cooked off tomorrow night with the brats. Here's a look at the final results (the bottom crisper drawers are also filled:



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I know I haven't been 'round in awhile...been occupied with life and such. If y'all really want to see a picture, here is the best I've got.


Me and my portable tacklebox


I've toned down a bit, as this is what I used to look like


Don't let the shirt and tie fool you-there is a lot of ink under there

Grrrreat photos! Hey tacklebox, how old is your portable tacklebox? He's gorgeous! Yup, so is Mrs. Tacklebox! You folks sure made a good lookin' kid!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks CW My little guy just turned 18 months the other day. He shows alot of interest when I am cooking, so there is hope for him. Of course, being that age, he shows alot of interest in a dust bunny also

Here's a blast from the past- my lovely bride & me on our honeymoon cruise a scant 27 years ago. Still the love-of-my-life...



More recent: The 80's style 'stash has migrated south & turned grey....



In the kitchen-a place where both my wife & i spend a lot of time feeding our three sons...

Ahhh... quit worryin' Kevin, You're still a fine figure of a man even without your moustache. Shucks, all of us can't resemble George Clooney like I do! (ahem... choke... gasp!).
And your wife... she is beautiful. Are your three sons "linebackers" with "pop" being such a fine cook?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

PS. Did you know that the growth of hair on yer' ol' upper lip can be spelled in either of two ways? Yep! Moustache or Mustache. It's a French word from the Italian "Mostaccio".
Hey, great photos pard!

Chuckwagon wrote:Did you know that the growth of hair on yer' ol' upper lip can be spelled in either of two ways? Yep! Moustache or Mustache. It's a French word from the Italian "Mostaccio".

Thanks, CW.
No, I did not know about the alternate spellings for the 'lip caterpillar.' Makes sense, I guess, if one is translating to English from French from Italian (!)....

AND did you know the patch of growth below my lower lip-often called a 'soul patch' by the younger gens, is also called a "Mouche," which, rather unfortunately, is French for "fly"?

- Kevin