Pork Sausages

Beer & Cumin Sausage

These are tasty sausages.

We made them for a going-away party for Barry and Zuzanna, Montana bound. We par-boiled them a bit, then cooked on skewers with onions and bell peppers over an open wood fire.

Grinding meat and stuffing: I first started making sausage with my friend Joe in Cambridge, in the late 80′s, and have used a variety of techniques for grinding and stuffing, most of which have been frustrating at some level. I now like my current setup.

I use the meat grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer to grind the meat. I find that the 1/4″ plate works best. I used to cut the meat in bigger chunks and then had to force the chunks down the throat of the grinder. Now I cut them into chunks that will easily slide down the throat into the auger with little or no force applied. 

I attempted to use the sausage stuffer on the Kitchen Aid too, numerous times, and it was generally disastrous. Meat got hung up in the auger and it took a lot of force to actually get it into the casing. Based on my experience, I would never advise anyone to use the KA for stuffing.

Last summer I got a standalone stuffer like this one. What a dream! You can make 3 pounds of links in about 5 minutes. Clean up is kind of a drag because it doesn’t fit in the sink easily, but I manage somehow. I mounted it to an old cutting board and it sits on the counter. It doesn’t need clamping or anything.

It helps to have a helper. Ella, my daughter, helped with this batch. One person to plunge the meat and another to make the links. Have a toothpick handy to poke holes in the casing if air bubbles form. 

I generally make a pinch in the casing between links as it’s coming off the stuffer, to provide space in the casing, then twist them into links afterwards. I freeze them in conveniently-sized zipper bags.

Ingredients

1. 3 lbs ground pork shoulder
2. ½ lb bacon, chopped
3. 1 tbsp kosher salt
4. 1 tsp black pepper
5. 1 tbsp chopped garlic
6. 1 tbsp ground cumin
7. 1 tbsp chili powder
8. 1 tbsp smoked paprika
9. 1 tsp ground coriander
10. 2 tsp sugar
11. 1 cup beer
12. sheep casings

Method

1. Cut chunks of pork off the bone into about 1″ cubes. Don’t trim the fat away; you need a certain amount of fat to keep it from being too dry. I find that the pork shoulders I get around here have adequate fat. And don’t make the chunks too big or you may have trouble getting them into the grinder easily.

2. Chop fresh bacon into 1/2″ pieces

3. Mix dry ingredients together

4. Add dry ingredients to the meat, and mix thoroughly with your hand. Make sure to get the meat covered with spices. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

5. Run meat through 1/4 plate in meat grinder. Mix thoroughly again with the cup of beer.

6. Stuff into sheep casings, and make links whatever size you want.

7. Cook in any number of ways. For this batch, we intended to cook them on skewers over an open fire, so I par-boiled them for 10 minutes or so. That way, the cooking on the fire is mostly for char and flavor, and you don’t need to worry so much about cooking all the way through. You could cook them in a skillet, or over a charcoal grill.

Dark Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

This came about when I only had one egg in the house; it’s a variation on the Nestle’s Toll House recipe, which calls for 2 eggs.

I used all brown sugar (instead of half white/half brown) to increase the moisture and chew a bit. I also used 2 Tb canola oil in place of 2 Tb butter, to get a bit more moisture in the dough.

They’re good cookies. The brown sugar gives them a richer, more caramel-y flavor, and they have a bit more chew, too.

Ingredients

1. 12 tablespoons butter, softened
2. 1.5 cups dark brown sugar
3. 1 egg
4. 2 tablespoons canola oil
5. 1 tsp vanilla
6. 2.25 cups all-purpose flour
7. 1 tsp salt
8. 1 tsp baking soda
9. 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

Oven to 350º

Cream Butter and sugar, add egg, oil and vanilla.

 Mix until fluffy. (I beat on high in a stand mixer for a couple of minutes to beat some air in the mix.)

In a separate bowl, stir flour, salt and soda together. Add to wet bowl and mix until just blended.

Add chocolate chips.

Bake 9-10 minutes. Because of the brown sugar, they’re quite a bit darker than a normal chocolate chip cookie.

Potato Soup

This is a classic that I’ve cooked for years, modifying and experimenting all the time. I think the secret to this one is two-fold: 1) Bacon, and 2) evaporated milk. The evaporated milk gives you dairy richness, but without as much fat as you’d get from cream. I sprinkle the bacon right before serving so it maintains some of its crispness. I’ve done a vegetarian version that’s pretty good. I used vegetable stock to pump up the flavor, and it did some, but it’s impossible to beat the bacon if you choose to eat it.

Ingredients

1. 4 strips bacon, chopped
2. ½ medium onion, chopped
3. ¼ cup celery, sliced thin
4. 6 small potatoes, peeled and diced
5. 1 can chicken broth
6. 1 can evaporated milk
7. salt, pepper & other seasonings

Method
1. Brown bacon until crispy in a saucepan (or whatever pan you want to cook the soup in.

2. Remove the bacon, set it aside and pour off the fat.

3. Brown the onion and celery in the residual bacon fat until it’s soft.

4. Add potatoes to the pan, add chicken broth and add enough water to just cover the potatoes.

5. Bring to soft boil and simmer until the potatoes are soft (10 minutes or so, depending on the kind of potato.)

6. When the potatoes are done, add the evaporated milk and heat through. Season to taste.*

7. Sprinkle crispy bacon chunks to the soup right before serving.

* I use Penzey’s Turkish Seasoning as an all-purpose seasoning, in addition to kosher salt & pepper. Not many savory dishes come out of my kitchen without at least a pinch of it. I also use Cavender’s Greek Seasoning a lot. The soup shown here has a bit of each in it. Not a lot, just a sprinkle through the shaker top.

Grilled Pork Loin

Ingredients

1. 1 Pork Loin, any size
2. for the marinade:
3. ½ cup soy sauce
4. ½ cup worcestershire sauce
5. 2 tbsp honey
6. 1 tbsp mustard
7. 2 tbsp olive oil
8. 2 cloves garlic

Method

Mix all marinade ingredients with blender (I use an immersion blender). The mustard emulsifies the marinade.

 Place in zip-lock bag with the meat for an hour or two. Refrigerate.

If you have a larger loin, you may need to increase the quantities of the marinade. [These are very loose measurements; I don't measure at all, but just eyeball quantities, so these quantities are guesses. I often vary the marinade ingredients and rarely do the same thing exactly twice. So use whatever you have on hand that seems like it would be good--it probably is.]

Cook on medium-hot grill until interior registers 140ºF. (Time is dependent on thickness.) Don’t overcook or it will dry out.

Keep a close eye on it, and turn frequently, or the surface can burn easily. I use a gas grill with 3 longitudinal burners, and cook it in the middle, with just the outside burners going, so it has indirect heat coming from the 2 sides. If I were using a charcoal grill, I would push the coals to one side and cook indirectly.

The pictures here show a perfectly done loin. Perfect. This was a relatively small loin and cooked for maybe 15-20 minutes total.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ bacon & cranberries

Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ bacon and cranberries

Inspired by Mark Bittman, PLUS some sprouts we had at Pizza Bella in the Crossroads District in KC.

Ingredients

1. approx. ⅔ quarts brussel sprouts, (a panful)
2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
3. 2 slices bacon, chopped into small bits
4. salt & pepper
5. 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
6. 3 tablespoons butter
7. 3 cloves garlic
8. 3 tablespoons dried cranberries

Method

1. Heat oven to 400º.
2. Heat iron skillet with olive oil on stovetop.
3. Slice sprouts in two and place face down in oil til browned; 3 or 4 minutes. S&P.
4. Place in oven, add bacon on top and let brown without stirring for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, melt butter on stovetop, add chopped garlic and cranberries. Soften garlic and cranberries a minute.
6. Add almonds to pan o’ sprouts. Pour butter mixture over top and let brown in oven for 15 or 20 more minutes.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits

This was adapted from a recipe by James Beard, and has slowly evolved over many years of cooking by me. Our friend Jeffrey, from Montgomery, Alabama, calls them “cat head” biscuits. [Update:  Jeffrey writes to say: "Cat-head is the name for the biscuits that ARE NOT cut out with a biscuit cutter or snuff can.  They are formed by pushing the dough off a spoon or finger___ and well, you know how they look... more like a fat-headed cat that lives under a bridge."

I use 1/4 whole wheat flour to make them seem slightly healthier.

If you don't have buttermilk, use regular milk and 3 tsps of baking powder (no baking soda). The buttermilk makes them a little tenderer and a more beautiful golden color, but the sweet milk is a completely acceptable substitute.

[Yield: For our family of four (2 adults and 2 kids), if this is pretty much all we’re having for breakfast, I multiply by 1.5. If we’re having other stuff as well, I’ll just make it as is.]

Ingredients
1.5 cups all purpose white flour
.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 stick unsalted butter, (1/2 cup or 4 oz.)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
buttermilk

Directions
Oven to 425º.

1. Mix dry ingredients.

2. Cut in butter w/ a pastry blender, until the mix is crumbly.

3. Add enough buttermilk so that it sticks together easily, without being too sticky. Don’t overmix.

4. Turn out onto floured board. Without overworking it, pat it into a disc with your fingers. Make the disc about 3/4″ to 1″ thick. (Roll it with a rolling pin if you care to, but it’s not necessary as far as I’m concerned.)

5. Cut with a big glass/cookie cutter/tuna fish can/whatever. I have a commercial grade biscuit cutter that I got many years ago in a commercial kitchen supply store.

6. When you place them on the cookie sheet, mash them up close to each other. I contend that this makes them rise higher (instead of flattening out.)

7. Cook 10-12 minutes or so, until they’re browned on the bottom and the top. Serve immediately with butter, honey, jam, sorghum, sausage gravy, etc.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Adapted from Alton Brown, Good Eats.  This is a southern-style cake, with a healthy dose of cornmeal in the crust.

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal

10 tsp butter
10 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 can pineapple tidbits in juice

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

3 whole eggs
¾ cup sugar
½ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

This will make 10 individual ramekins for 10 people.

Heat the buttermilk in a large, microwave-proof bowl for about 2
minutes, til hot. Add cornmeal, stir and let it soak in the warm buttermilk for 30 minutes or so.

Put a teaspoon of butter in the bottom of each ramekin. Place in oven
until the butter is melted in the bottom; just a couple of minutes. Add a
Tb of brown sugar in the bottom of each, and stir around til the brown
sugar is moistened by the melted butter. Place again in oven and let the
sugar caramelize a touch and get a little bubbly.

Place a big spoonful of the pineapple bits in the bottom of each ramekin.
I imagine you could use crushed pineapple as well.

For the cake batter, mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet
ingredients, along with the cornmeal/buttermilk mix together and add to
the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed. Apportion batter evenly to the
ramekins.

Bake until brown, and toothpick comes out clean; 15-20 minutes.
Let cool a few minutes and turn out onto a dessert plate or a bowl.
(Serve with ice cream if that’s the way you roll.)