I decided to make a kielbasa, since I know that my father in law likes it so much. I used a recipe that I found online, but I made a few adjustments to it. For one, I halved the recipe because ten pounds of sausage is a lot to make at once, especially if you’ve never made it before. For another, I reduced
the water by a quarter of a cup and substituted a few ounces of brandy. I also added a few tablespoons of paprika and I used collagen casings instead of natural casings so that my wife wouldn’t vomit when she saw them. Also, Alton brown says that they are easier to work with, and what AB says is gospel in this house.
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making sausage for a while now. I even put a Kitchenaid meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachment on my wedding registry, much to the bemusement of my wife. Whatever, she got a waffle maker and the Kitchenaid ice cream maker attachment, and I do 99% of the cooking. I finally got around to actually making a batch of sausage today. I promised my father in law and all of the other guys that I am going snowshoeing with next weekend that I would make some to go with the Belgian Dubbel I made, so I was committed to it.
The Kitchenaid grinder attachment and sausage worked pretty well. I did have a problem with the grinder plates getting clogged up. I’m thinking that they clogged up with the connective tissue from the fat and rind. I made a special effort to mix the fatty pieces in with the meat more thoroughly so that the meat could push the fatty pieces through, thus clearing the grinder plate. It seemed to work pretty well, as I had no more clogs.
Now there is just one more step to the sausage saga and that is smoking. I got a stovetop smoker for X-mas and intend to use it to smoke the sausages on the trip this weekend. I have not used the smoker yet so hopefully it works well. The little bit of sausage that I fried up and tasted today was damn good, so smoking it sure as hell can’t hurt.
2 comments:
Good grief, that sounds so good! Collagen even sounds tasty. You wouldn't mind bringing some in to work?
Might not be in tomorrow if the storm is as bad as they claim.
Would be stupid to die doing something like going to work.
MMMmmm, collagen... the sausage is REALLY garlicy, but I like garlic so that certainly doesn't bother me. I think that it will taste awesome when smoked. I didn't really make enough to bring some into work, but I'm debating making some more with the elk and deer that I got from Ivar. I'll probably do an Italian or German style sausage for that though as they seem to be a better fit for red meat. Maybe I can find the time to make some this week so that I can bring some to Maine with me and have a bit of both to bring to work.
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