justpigs

September 22, 2010

Homemade Duck Sausage and Polenta

A great many things have been cooked in my kitchen over the past few days. I bought three ducks last week and spent about three days getting them broken down, prepped, and cooked in various ways. I rendered fat, made stock, made duck proscuitto, confited the gizzards and four legs, and--a first for me--made duck sausage (I also made merguez and short rib ravioli last week! phew!).

I have wanted to try making duck sausage for a long time. I looked through my cookbooks for a recipe, hoping that Paul Bertolli or Judy Rodgers would have something fabulous I could steal. I was out of luck. What I ended up finding were a couple of recipes in Home Sausage Making that were not particularly inspiring. Consequently, I made something up. We were delighted with the results (if I do say so...).

Here's the rough recipe (I wasn't particularly exact during the process, so some measurements are approximations):

Homemade Duck Sausage with Orange and Shallot

4 lbs. duck meat and skin (approx. 1 1/2 large ducks, boned with skin on the breast and legs/thighs), cut into roughly 1" pieces

4 tsp kosher salt (1 tsp per lb)

1-1/2 to 2 tsp pepper

pinch of ground clove

1 TBS fresh thyme, stemmed and coarsely chopped

grated zest of one large navel orange

3 TBS shallot, minced

1-2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1/4 cup pinot noir, chilled

sheep casing (I'm not sure how much I actually used--8ft+?)

Season the duck meat and skin with the salt, pepper, clove, and thyme. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Add the minced shallot, ginger, and orange zest to the seasoned meat. Mix to distribute the seasonings.

Using chilled implements, grind the chilled, seasoned meat through a small dye (Kitchen Aid small dye--I can't find the exact measurement at this moment of course!) and into a bowl set in ice water. (It's helpful to grind into the Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, if you are using a Kitchen Aid grinder. Then you can use it for the mixing step as well.)

Add the chilled wine and mix in a stand mixer on a low setting for 1-2 minutes, or until the wine is distributed and the meat mixture just becomes sticky.

Make a test patty and taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Stuff meat into casings and twist off at desired length, or form into patties.

Gently sauté or grill to an internal temperature of 165F.

NOTE: Duck fat melts pretty quickly so keep everything as cold as possible while you are working.

These sausages are great grilled. We also made a couple of patties and ate them like burgers in pita bread. Tonight I served them over polenta with a simple sauce made of 1/2 a minced onion, 1 small minced carrot, 1 minced roma tomato, 1 cup of duck stock, roughly half a cup of red wine, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper (cooked down). I think they would be fabulous with french green lentils OR for breakfast with fried potatoes, fried tomatoes, and runny eggs. Hm. I might just have to do that tomorrow!

Filed under // duck sausage

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March 2, 2010

Making Cassoulet on a Weekday

Crazy you say? I had my duck leg confit and fresh garlic sausages all ready to go, how could I NOT do it?!?!

I have a little crush on duck at the moment. It smells nice. And the fat on that bird. Intoxicating. Glorious. I feel like I haven't even begun to explore all of the wonderful ways to prepare duck. But how can I make anything without first making Cassoulet?

I quick soaked the beans this morning before taking Anya out to play. I returned to them in the afternoon and cooked them in duck stock and aromatics. How much warmer this rainy day became after I could smell the stock simmering away! I pulled the meat from the bones of the duck legs and added the bones to the simmering beans. I used a bit of the duck fat to brown the sausages and then to sauté some garlic-y bread crumbs. Fresh bread crumbs in duck fat. oh yes. I combined the meat and beans (removing the bones), topped the beans and meat with the toasted bread, and baked the whole thing for an hour.

I can't speak for the authenticity of this dish. I've never had cassoulet in France. But I have had it here. Recently, in fact, at a good restaurant. Their cassoulet does not hold a candle to this. The beans in the recipe hold their shape and do not become starchy mush. It is a little bit brothy and rich, but without making you feel bloat-y (or like you're going to have a heart-attack) after eating it. One smallish portion is satisfying, which means there will be leftovers tomorrow. Lucky me!

While the recipe requires a greater time investment than the average dinner, it is well worth it. And, to be honest it is an "easy" cassoulet recipe, so it takes much less time than others you will find.

Added bonus: Kids devoured it!

Cassoulet

--adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

Will feed 6 or more as a main course

2-1/2 cups dried white beans

7 cups cold water

3 cups duck stock

2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large onion)

2 TBS finely chopped garlic

Two 1-1/2 inch slices from the green part of a leek

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

3 whole cloves

3 fresh sprigs of flat leaf parsley

a half dozen black peppercorns

1 - 14 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped

4 legs of duck confit, at room temperature

1 lb fresh garlic sausages

Bread Crumb Topping

1 TBS chopped garlic

2 cups fresh, coarse breadcrumbs, from a baguette

1/3 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Soak beans overnight or use quick soak method (cover beans with two inches of water, bring to a boil, turn off heat, put a cover over the beans and let them sit for 1 hour or more).

Drain the beans and put them back into a large cooking pot or dutch oven. Add duck stock, water, onions, garlic and bring to a boil. Make a bouquet garni of the leek, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley and peppercorns tied in a piece of cheesecloth. Turn the beans down to a simmer and add the bouquet garni to the pot. Continue cooking at a simmer (uncovered) until the beans are nearly tender: 45 minutes to an hour.

Add the tomatoes and simmer 15 minutes more.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Meanwhile, remove the duck legs from the fat they were cooked in, scrapping away excess fat. Spoon the fat into a saucepan and melt over low heat. Pull the meat off the bones and add the bones to the simmering beans. Deposit the meat in a medium bowl. When the fat has melted, ladle about 1/4 cup of it into a heavy frying pan and turn the heat to medium high. When the pan is hot at the sausages and brown them for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the sausages from the pan and add them to the bowl containing the duck meat.

Turn the pan down to medium and add the garlic for the bread crumb topping. Sauté for a moment and let the aroma release, add the bread crumbs and toast them in the pan, turning them over frequently so the small pieces don't burn. Remove the pan from the heat and add the parsley, salt, and pepper.

Remove the bones and the bouquet garni from the pot. Using a ladle or slotted spoon (do not drain! you will need the liquid!), transfer the beans to a deep ceramic (oven-safe) casserole or dutch oven, distribute the meats amidst the beans. Add the stock from the beans until it is just even with the top of the meat and bean mixture. Do not submerge the beans and meat. Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over the top. Bake, uncovered, for one hour.

NOTE: To make a day ahead, be sure to cook the sausages fully to 150F before adding them to the cassoulet. Combine the beans and meat and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Spread the bread crumb topping over the cooled casserole, cover and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking, then bake as directed at 350F for one hour.

Be sure to strain the melted duck fat back into jars when finished. You can use the fat at least a couple of times in confits (or for whatever you may need it for) before it goes bad.

Filed under // beans duck pork sausage

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March 1, 2010

Righteous Pork: Breaking Down a Hog

One early Saturday morning. Five women. Nine men. A brewery in an industrial part of San Jose. A pig. Some salt. A few spices. A lot of sharp knives. Some band-aids. These were the elements of one grand "Big Pig Day."

Periodically throughout the last nine months I have gathered with more or less a dozen people to learn the culinary art of charcuterie. It has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Our first class covered fresh sausages and terrines. We moved on to confits and salt cures (as in homemade bacon). In our third class we made dried and fermented salamis (and started a blog to discuss our success/failure/questions: www.meatclub.org). And finally on Saturday we came together again for the epic and extraordinary breaking down of a whole hog.

The pig was raised in Hollister by Sandy Dietzel, who joined us for the day. It weighted over 300 lbs (live weight). On Thursday the pig was slaughtered, scalded, bled, and gutted. It was sawn in half from nose to tail and delivered in two beautiful, clean, pristine pieces.

Our teacher, Peter Licht, gave a brief demonstration on the first half.

He removed the tenderloin (right above his left hand in the picture), part of which we made for lunch and the part of which was used for lonzino. Next Peter showed us how to extract the leg. Sandy noticed that the color of the meat was very rosy which is a good sign that the animal was humanly slaughtered. She explained to us that pale "white" pork is a sign--especially in Berkshire and Hampshire breeds, which have a "stress gene"--of anxiety and stress in the animal at the time of slaughter. "White" pork tends to be chewy and flavorless.

After the hind leg was removed we moved to the foreleg (picnic ham) and separated it from the midsection. Peter showed us the large belly area, while we stood drop-jawed dreaming of bacon.

At this point, we broke off into small groups or as individuals and began to tackle the finer tasks. Once the foot was removed, I prepped one of the hind legs for prosciutto. I removed the aitch bone and cleaned up the meat and fat around the ball joint. I was pretty focussed on my dream job, so I didn't get to see too much of what others were doing, but I know they were breaking down the other half of the pig; separating the lean meat and the fat for the sausage we were to make later in the day; cutting up chucks of belly to prep for bacon; cutting chunks of backfat up for lardo and smaller pieces of fat for sausage; removing jowls for guanciale; and putting aside ribs, head, skin, and feet to take home. The one other thing I helped with--no, I mean watched two other people do--was search for the elusive coppa. "Real" coppa is made with a whole muscle from the shoulder. It is difficult to find and remove intact. The process was one of the most hilarious mini-meat-adventures I've ever witnessed.

Here's Peter pointing out the general vicinity of the muscle in the shoulder.

Yep, it's somewhere in there.

In the end Jamie and Pierre identified 3 or 4 pieces that were "definitely" it. One of those was (accidentally?!) sliced in half.

Once everything was trimmed, we got busy seasoning the whole cuts that would be cured: prosciutto, lardo, bacon, and guanciale.

The prosciutto was weighed,

and salted.

We then put both legs in a big, lidded plastic tub covered in salt. To follow our prosciutto adventures go to The Meat Club Charcuterie site.

We bagged all the lardo, bacon, guanciale, and coppa. Then we took a lunch break. To describe our lunch would involve a whole post in and of itself. But briefly, it included lots of meaty delights, including bacon (raw & cooked), rillettes, pork terrine, poultry pâté, seven-year-old boar prosciutto, goat sausage, duck prosciutto and all manner of salads and side dishes. Of course we ate the fresh tenderloin, cooked to perfection, and drank Peter's awesome beer.

After lunch we made all of the sausages: 25 lbs of fresh garlic sausage, 25 lbs tuscan salami, and about 15 lbs of genoa salami. We bagged it all, cleaned up, and split the spoils! I came home with coppa, 2 large tuscans, a genoa, lardo, guanciale, bacon, garlic sausage, leaf lard (for pastry), and a pig's foot. When you can't find me in the closet under the stairs in my garage ogling salami, you'll find me at Jim's house volunteering to babysit prosciutto..and drinking one of Peter's beers.

Filed under // Righteous Pork bacon pork salami sausage

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February 15, 2010

MAKE IT! Longaniza

Longaniza is a pork sausage related to chorizo. The version I propose making (and there are many, from the Philippines, to South America, to Spain) is from Southeastern Mexico. Longaniza, like chorizo, comes in dry cured and fresh varieties. This is a fresh sausage.

Beyond my interest in charcuterie, I was delighted to find a recipe that features bitter (Seville) oranges, which I have been lately extremely excited about using. Seville oranges are now becoming more readily available in the United States. (If you don't think you can get your hands on Seville oranges there is a substitution you can make.)

Achiote (annatto seed) paste can be found in the Mexican aisle of your grocer or at Latino markets (or see link below). Hog casings can be ordered in advance from your local butcher in specified lengths at a per foot price or purchased online at Butcher & Packer or Sausage Maker (see link below for inexpensive purchase of a small quantity).

Longaniza Tabasqueña

--adapted from My Mexico by Diana Kennedy

2 lbs well-marbled pork shoulder

14 garlic cloves, chopped

1 TBS kosher salt

1 tsp black peppercorns

a heaping 1/4 tsp lightly roasted cumin seeds

1 TBS achiote paste

1/2 cup plus 2 TBS bitter orange juice*

approx 4 ft hog casings, soaked in tepid water for at least 30 minutes and rinsed

Trim the sinew from the meat and cut it into small cubes. Grind (or chop VERY fine) the meat, using the small dye of a meat grinder. Refrigerate the meat.

Grind the salt, peppercorns, and cumin seeds in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Smash the garlic to a paste and combine with the spice mixture and the achiote. Dilute with 2 TBS bitter orange juice. Take the meat from the refrigerator and gently mix it together with the garlic-achiote-spice paste. Add the rest of the bitter orange juice little by little. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, rinse then soak casings in tepid water for 30 minutes. Remove the meat from the refrigerator and stir the meat well to distribute the juices that have collected in the bowl. Stuff the meat into the casings, fairly loosely, making approx 11 inch lengths (You should get about 3 long sausages). Tie securely and hang to dry in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Typically this type of longaniza is grilled whole. It will keep in the fridge for approx 3 weeks, but will continue to dry out. You can coat it lightly with lard and freeze it after the first three days of drying if you want to keep it longer than that.

If you can't get your hands on Seville oranges, substitute their juice in the recipe with this:

2 TBS fresh grapefruit juice

2 TBS fresh orange juice

1 tsp finely grated grapefruit rind

1/4 fresh lime juice

Mix together about 1 hour before using.

As usual, send me your photos and impressions and I will post them in roughly a month's time.

Filed under // Seville oranges make it! pork sausage

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Homemade Duck Sausage and Polenta

Making Cassoulet on a Weekday

Righteous Pork: Breaking Down a Hog

MAKE IT! Longaniza