WD Daily Chat - Talk about anything You Like

Talk about anything here as long as it is not against the rules.
ssorllih
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Post by ssorllih » Sat Sep 07, 2013 19:45

I have a Garmin 72 but it is just good for marine use.
I made good use of it this week with an overnighter to the Sassafras River. Breakfast with smoked butt bacon and eggs.
Ross- tightwad home cook
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been a slow day

Post by ssorllih » Mon Sep 09, 2013 03:53

Where is everybody???
Ross- tightwad home cook
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tazplas
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Post by tazplas » Mon Sep 09, 2013 05:19

Some of us have to work :sad:
And then there's the time zone thing as well.
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Mon Sep 09, 2013 05:34

tazplas wrote:Some of us have to work :sad:
And then there's the time zone thing as well.
Work? What is that?

I'm currently in Whistler, hiking and cycling. Beautiful weather in the mid 20's.

Will start on a few sausage projects in a week or so since the larder is low on provisions. :lol:
crustyo44
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Post by crustyo44 » Mon Sep 09, 2013 06:17

Ross,
I am just back from a well earned holiday and catching up on all the jobs that were waiting for me. No time even to make some csabai!!!!!!
Cheers,
Jan.
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Post by sawhorseray » Mon Sep 09, 2013 19:38

Yesterday was the first big Sunday of solid NFL action! I was parked on the couch in front of the seventy incher for ten solid hours of prime NFL entertainment. I took a break after the mighty Niner victory to fire up the weber, cooked five chicken sausages for four minutes a side, then did the same with five wild hog Italian sausages. Tonight I'll be back at it starting at four this afternoon, everything will be all set for a nice salami-sausage pizza to go into the oven between games. Life is good! RAY
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.”
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Post by Cabonaia » Tue Sep 10, 2013 00:08

Well I raised a couple pigs, and on Tuesday had one slaughtered. 3 guys worked on it for an hour, scalding and scraping till it was beautiful. They cut it into 4 pieces (I should have asked for 6) and charged me 30 bucks and I drove it home. No kidding - $30. So I've been hacking that up a quarter at a time.

Yesterday I cooked the head and made head cheese, and also made sausage out of the liver, lungs, heart, and kidneys. Head cheese came out very tasty - my first try though and a learning experience. The liver 'n offal sausage tastes really good but I didn't use enough fat for my likes.

This morning was up at 5 to finish wrapping and freezing the meat before leaving for work.

And there is another pig out there, waiting his turn.

So yeah, quiet cuz I'm so darn busy! But having fun.

Cheers,
Jeff
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Tue Sep 10, 2013 02:30

Head cheese? Where are the pics?
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Post by redzed » Wed Sep 11, 2013 06:36

Finally! A bunch of Kings!

While on a day long hike today I managed to gather a nice collection of king boletes (Boletus Edulis), probably one of the best mushrooms there is. In addition, I found about 15 nice specimens of the Admirable boletes (Boletus Mirabilis), also choice and tasty. Had a great day because I did not anticipate this!

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Cabonaia
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Post by Cabonaia » Thu Sep 12, 2013 01:11

redzed wrote:Head cheese? Where are the pics?
Here it is:
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I used head meat (except jowl), tongue, snout, ears, brain....well, everything but the jowls because I want those for bacon. Boiled the head with bay leaf, onions, carrots, celery, black peppercorns, and salt. (No cure.) Then picked the head apart and added more salt and pepper, marjoram, caraway, and garlic. Pretty much your recipe, except with a head. Added enough of the strained broth to make a loose stew and poured it into a casing. Poached that to an internal temp of 165+ and refrigerated it with a weight on it.

The leftover stock was incredibly tasty! There was a lot and my wife made some lovely soup.

Honestly, I didn't think it would gel so well, because I could have cooked the stock down a lot more. But it is nice and firm and I am loving it. Next time I will use more salt. Even though the "stew" tasted quite salty, the final product is less so. Not sure why. Also, I want to try it with cure next time.

Here is a picture of the liver sausage:

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This was pretty much Marianski's liver and onion recipe, http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... age-onions

...but cold smoked, and with some spice adjustments and a lot less fat. It contains all the liver and lungs from the pig, as well as the kidneys and the heart. No meat. Some soft fat, but not much. I used salt, cure #1, white pepper, red pepper, marjoram garlic, allspice, nutmeg, and 2 onions. Ground up the offal and onions 3 times, semi-freezing between grinds, and using with a very fine plate for grinds 2 and 3. Stuffed and poached. I had a couple blow-outs because I stuffed too firm and didn't pin prick the casings. Scooped that out of the water and made pate with it...and it came out good. Lucky!

The next evening I lightly cold smoked the links for 3-4 hours. I'm really happy with the results. I was concerned that the low fat content would make it grainy, but that didn't happen. The texture is very nice. But next time I will load them up with a lot more fat, because I want to try a spreadable liver sausage.

Thanks for having a look!

Jeff
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Thu Sep 12, 2013 03:27

Jeff, congrats, beautiful products! And you even used the lungs in the liver sausage, now that is commendable! I will be making some liver sausge (with mushrooms) soon and will remember not to stuff too tightly.

Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Thu Sep 12, 2013 08:03

Jeff, you've done a wonderful job on both projects. I was concerned about the texture of your liver sausage being grainy, but you stated that it came out very well. Congrats pard. It looks lovely. Lots of work eh? :wink:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by Cabonaia » Thu Sep 12, 2013 14:32

Thank you Red and Chuck! Yeah, lots of work. Making two different products at the same time is somewhat harrowing for me. I feel like I fell on my feet because I've never made either of these before, or anything like them, and I made several mistakes along the way. It really helped to have this site so I could see how Redzed, Butterbean, and IdaKraut went about it. I also got some advice from Doug. I've read their posts many many times. It seems that when you are making stuff from offal you are much more in the range of judgment and technique than recipe because the ingredients are what you happen to have in front of you, weighing whatever they do. I was surprised at how much lung and liver there is in one pig!

That was just the guts of pig #1. I've got all the meat in the freezer, and his brother on the hoof. Expecting to try a lot of new things and will post them here!

Jeff
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Post by ursula » Mon Sep 16, 2013 08:07

Hi Red and CW,
I have just caught up on some threads and reread others that I have missed. I have been offline for a couple of weeks, because it is spring here and I have a huge garden to prepare for the spring plantings. There are 200 tomato seedlings to pot up (mostly for people in town here) and lots of digging, mulching etc to do. It's always a really busy time here.
I haven't done sausages for a while, and I have to put the construction of my curing/fermenting chamber on hold for now. It's also meant I have had some time to catch up on consumption. I love making the stuff - but I'm not a big meat eater!
Having said that I am having withdrawal symptoms so tomorrow I am remaking mettwurst and teewurst, with some modifications.
Red, my apology: you asked me which PH meter I bought. It was the Lutron PH 212 from Heatmiser in UK. I bought an extra sensor too. Will be able to use it tomorrow.
And CW, the leberkaese was terrific - much better texture and the taste, I am told, is terrific.
I am not a big fan of leberkaese myself, but my parents loved it. They won't buy the commercial stuff they were so keen on before anymore. So it was a hit.
Best wishes Ursula
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Mon Sep 16, 2013 08:15

Hey CW! Are you related to this guy? Sure is strong family resemblence and you sound so much alike! :lol:
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