masturbacon » smallgoods

meatfest preparations

adam — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:05:14 +0000

The chicken’s brining, and the sausages are made.
They’re a little dry (partially due to their low fat content), but I think they’ll be fine as long as they’re cooked fast.
I’ll be skipping the smoked chicken breasts and, instead, lightly smoking the ginger-szechuan chicken.
Ribs will be made on-the-fly tomorrow.

I’ve scaled back on the spice, this time, as many of tomorrow’s guests aren’t nuts about spicy food.

Update: Just sauteed one of each type of sausage over medium-high heat, and they’re great! I think it was the griller that was drying them out.

I AM SAUSAGETRON

adam — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:39:09 +0000

Meet SAUSAGETRON, from planet chorizo:

As an aside, I used MUCH less cumin this time, and the result is a much more complex and subtle flavour.

meatfest 2008

adam — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:00:43 +0000

I’ll be hosting the annual masturbacon meatfest next Saturday.

Currently on the menu:

Mild italian pork sausage
Mexican-style chorizo
Ginger-szechuan brined chicken
Smoked chicken breasts with maple-pomegranate glaze
Satan ribs (if I can be arsed)

Boar sausage fail

adam — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:16:06 +0000

Unfortunately, I ruined the entire batch of 34 sausages at the last minute. Which was a pity; they were great (although a little dry).

I’ll be uploading the photos tomorrow – there were a LOT of sausages. And the smell was awesome (garlic, red wine, and gin).

Boar sausages

adam — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:56:53 +0000

I just picked up around 3.5kg of boned boar leg. This weekend, I’ll be making boar sausages!

Stay tuned…

Maple-bourbon cured ham

adam — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:44:24 +0000

I brewed up a batch of maple-bourbon brine, which I used to cure a couple of pork tenderloins.

Once cured (around 12 hours, since the tenderloins are quite thin), I dried them out in the fridge for 2 hours, and then smoked them. Since I hot-smoked the tenderloins, they’re basically cooked (much the same as bacon).

I added sodium nitrite to the brine (mainly, in this case, so I can watch cure penetration, due to the way nitrite binds myoglobin).
Note the faint ring on the cross-section; this indicates how far the cure had penetrated in 12 hours.
Based on this, I’ll be curing the next lot for around 36 hours (4 days, if it’s an entire loin).

So, how does it taste? It’s a slightly cider-like taste, balanced beautifully by the rosemary and chilli. The ground mustard seems to have disappeared in there, but I’m ok with that.

All in all, a qualified success.

Chorizo-that-was

adam — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:44:52 +0000

While my first attempt at Mexican-style chorizo was not entirely successful, their texture and flavour have vastly improved after being dried in the fridge overnight.

The flavour is definitely…intriguing. But the following flaws prevent this batch of sausages from being all they could be:

A little too much cumin (I suspect this may mellow a bit with age but, still, it kind of overwhelms the other flavours).
Not enough tequila (I’d say 30% more) for the flavour to really come through (although it may simply be swamped by the cumin).
I’m not happy with the ratio of Ancho to Chipotle to Paprika. I think I’d prefer less paprika, and more Ancho (and a little more Chipotle, too). Next time, I’ll try deriving the heat less from paprika and more from some fresh chilli.

Pictures to follow.

While the test-patty is a good indicator of rough flavour, be aware that the flavour will definitely mature in the day or two after the sausages were made.

Chorizo-to-be

adam — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:22:06 +0000

Tonight, I’m going to be trying out a new recipe for Mexican-style Chorizo sausage. It includes Ancho and Chipotle chillis, and tequila.

Stay tuned…

Sausages (spicy italian)

adam — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:46:05 +0000

I’m slowly refining the Spicy Italian Sausage recipe from Charcuterie.

I love the spiciness of the toasted coriander seeds, balanced with the sweetness of the toasted fennel seeds (and just a hint of chilli, of course).

This batch is a special request for mum; unfortunately, the meat I’ve been given for this batch has been frozen, so it didn’t grind so well. I had to stop and clear the grinder a couple of times, but the overall consistency’s acceptable (just).

The flavour is great – noticeably spicy, but not overwhelming.

Changes this time include:

Dried basil / oregano (just completely forgot to pick up fresh, and the herb garden’s not ready to harvest)
Spices mixed by weight, pro rata for amount of pork used
Marinating pork / fat strips in spices overnight
Around 5% more fat than the usual recipe (mum adores fatty sausages)
Aiming for a relatively moist sausage, to take the edge off the heat a bit

When the meat or connective tissue is too stringy, and gets wrapped around the blade, meat reaching the cutting surface / grill is torn, instead of cut. This results in mushy mince that, when cooked, resembles paper mache. When you first notice smear, stop the grinder, remove the grill, and remove any tissue wrapped around the blade.

Behind the scenes: Pyjama Party

adam — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:27:20 +0000

Some pictures of the curing process for Pyjama Party bacon.

This bacon came out quite well; it was cured for 8 days, and then smoked for several hours to 65C. Texture was good, as was fat-to-meat ratio. The extra curing time meant that there was less water in the bacon, which is good from a fry-up perspective.

Tip: vacuum-packing the bacon when curing ensures that the entire surface of the bacon cut is continuously in contact with the cure. It also helps to draw some initial liquid out of the meat to mix with the cure (and, thereby, kick-start the curing process). It also helps produce a drier bacon (which is more pleasant to fry).

I could have quite happily sold this bacon (if we were at the commercial stage yet).

Unfortunately, I lost the pictures of the finished product. But, trust me, it was delicious.