Category: Cooking

Sausage Fest!

Let the euphemisms fly!

I typically have several different types of sausage in the freezer. Smoked kielbasa is one of my favorite and most versatile. I’m using duck and pork here, but beef and pork is the standard.

I’m primarily Irish, so it’s easier for me to metric. It also comes in handy when you need to be precise on things like curing salts and such.

The animal parts:
2lbs duck breast
2lbs pork shoulder
1lb pork back fat

The other stuff:
40 gm kosher salt
5.5 gm Cure #1
10 gm sugar
3 gm marjoram
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup ice cold water

I’ll apologize for gearing this towards people that know how to make sausage. If I made it for the generic crowd, it would be a multi-part series.The one thing that I will put out there is that cleanliness is next to godliness. Just like the booze making series, everything has to be clean, clean, clean.

Cube the duck and pork, add the seasonings and leave in the fridge overnight. The water will be hand mixed in for two minutes after the second grind.

You want the meat to be close to freezing when you grind it for a proper texture. Let it sit in the freezer for awhile before the first and second grind. I did the first grind through the coarse plate and the second through the medium plate. I usually like kielbasa a little finer, but I’m gun shy after my last batch of breakfast sausage turned out gummy and tough. Duck can’t handle a lot of grinding.

It was below 60 degrees in the garage, so after stuffing, I was able to hang the links overnight on my custom drying rack/target stand. If your temps are above that, you will have to shorten the hang time. The purpose is to let the flavors meld and develop the pellicle the smoke will stick to. The different lengths are due to the craptacular casings I had on hand.

I smoked for four hours on cherry starting at 120 and slowly ramping up to 180. Final IT was 145. Into an ice bath to stop the cooking and then hung in the garage for a couple of hours. I’m pretty happy with this batch.

These sausages are fully cooked and ready to eat. Grill until hot, or in a 300 degree oven. Or split them and brown in a skillet. Or slice in rounds as an ingredient in another dish. You can even skip the casings and keep it as fresh, unsmoked sausage. As I said, this is a very versatile sausage.

Enjoy! Thanks for looking.

January 20, 2019
Vegan School: Random Chickpea Curryish
Happy New Year, Glibbies!

We are still settling into new Casa Dominatrix, and haven’t fully unpacked the kitchen, so this week’s recipe has only been made once, but it was delicious.

I am guessing on the spice measurements because my measuring spoons are still packed away, so adjust to taste.

Nutritional yeast is a core component of this recipe. I prefer the Anthony’s brand and you can get it on Amazon.

This dish tastes rich and meaty, yet uses no meat, or oils of any kind. I served it over white rice.
Random Curryish
2.5 cups red lentils

2 cans chick peas (drained, not rinsed)

1 lg carrot (diced)

2 tbsp red onion (minced)

1/5 cups nutritional yeast

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp Balti seasoning

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp smoked paprika

dash celery salt

salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)
In a pot over medium heat, add the lentils and cover with water. Cook until the lentils are cooked through. Skim off the froth as necessary.

Add the chick peas, carrots, onions, nutritional yeast. and enough water to cover. Plus 1/4″ in the pot. Stir.

Add the spices, adjusting to taste as needed.

Simmer, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking. It’s done when it’s slightly thicker than stew.
January 14, 2019
SP’s Biscotti Times Two

I had planned on a post of vegetarian Super Bowl apps for party planning. However, time being at a premium during this relocation process, you are getting my go-to biscotti recipes instead.

These are super easy to make and delicious, IIDSSM. Enjoy!

SP’s Biscotti Times Two

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter softened
4 eggs
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brandy
1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup almonds, slivered
1-2 tablespoons anise seed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper or silicone baking mats on two half sheet pans.

In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next.

In a measuring cup, combine brandy, anise extract and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.

With the mixer running, alternately add flour mixture and brandy mixture to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Stir in the almonds and anise seed.

Wet your hands with cold water. Using your hands, drop dough onto prepared half sheet pan, forming two 2-inch wide x 13-inch long strips on each sheet. Moisten your fingertips again as needed and smooth dough into logs. (Seriously, using your hands for this step is by far the most efficient method!)

Bake about 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.

Cool the sheet pans on racks until completely cool. Turn oven temp down to 300 degrees F.

Cut fully cooled logs on the diagonal into 3/4-inch thick slices using a super sharp knife. Place the slices cut sides down on the sheet pans.

Bake for about 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until cookies are dry and slightly brown. Remove to a rack and cool.

Variation: Apricot & Almond Biscotti

Substitute almond extract for the anise extract and omit the anise seed.

Stir in 1 cup chopped dried apricots. Continue the process as described.

After these biscotti are completely cooled, I like to dip one end in dark chocolate. White chocolate drizzle also goes well.

In place of the apricots, you could use dried cherries, or dried cranberries for a seasonal twist.

Print as a PDF

January 7, 2019