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Mary's "Rodent-Sausage-and-Slovowitz Fruit Cake" recipe if you want to. (However, reading and saving the dang thang is another matter.)
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Pickled Polish Sausage
ReplyDelete2lbs smoked polish sausage cut into 2" lengths
1 med onion, sliced
1 cup water
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 cups white vinegar
2 tsp or more crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
Place the sausage and sliced onion into a large jar.
Place the rest of the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, then reduce
heat and simmer for five minutes.
Let the mixture cool and pour into jar with sausage and onions, cover and let sit in fridge
for at least a week before trying these....I know...I know..this is the hard part
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This is a terrific recipe Wayne. Can I put a hot pepper in the bottle too?
DeleteBest Wishes,
Chuckwagon
P.S. I'm still trying to find out where your photo went? What a mystery. Maybe Google sent it into sausagecyberspace!
A few hot peppers would be great. I buy large jars of green olives and add some herbs, garlic, and hot peppers to the jar and let it sit for a few weeks. Good stuff !
DeleteTisk Tisk on the photo philching. I thought you guys were running a respectable joint .
** filching
Delete
ReplyDeleteMazzafegati
3 lbs/1360 grams pork butt, cut into large dice
1.5 lbs/680 grams pork back fat, cut into large dice
1 lb/450 grams pork liver, outer membrane and veins
removed, cut into large dice
1.5 ounces/42 grams sea salt
2 Tbs/28 grams sugar
1 Tbs/6 grams black pepper
2 Tbs/15 grams coriander seed, toasted and ground
1/4 tsp/1 gram mace
3 garlic cloves, minced
Grated zest of 3 oranges
1/3 cup/56 grams pine nuts
1 cup/250 milliliters sweet white wine, such as Muscato
10 feet ( + or - ) hog casings
1. Combine the pork, fat, liver, salt, sugar, pepper, coriander, mace, garlic, and orange zest and toss together. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Grind the pork mixture through an 1/8 - inch plate. Mix for a minute or two and then add pine nuts and wine. Mix until you have a sticky mass.
3. Stuff the sausage into hog casings and twist or tie off into 6 inch links.
Wow! What an unusual recipe! Any sausage with liver, lots of garlic, orange zest, muscato, and especially pine nuts in it has GOT to be good.
ReplyDeleteI'll be right over, before that pesky Chuckwagon gets word of this. WooHoo!
What's the best way to serve Mazzafegati? ...atop rice or noodles or veggies or...??? ...sauce? ...sure looks tasty. I looked it up in Wikipedia, but they don't talk about it much. ...would love to know more.
ReplyDeleteDuk
I am going to treat it as an Entree sausage served over wide noodles with a white sauce. Some fresh veggies on the side and a good wine.
ReplyDeleteThat looks real good. I am going to try that soon.
ReplyDeleteNow that's what I call a great-lookin' beard!
DeleteMazzafegati What? Whaaaat? Gray Goat my dear man, that's not a sausage. Mazzafegati is a musical term and it means "grab a meatball and strum faster"! Shucks, where did you go to school? My teacher always told me that 2 plus 2 equals twenty-two!
ReplyDeleteBest Wishes,
Chuckwagon
I am amazed at the things you can learn around here. I also forgot to give the recipe credit to Brian Polcyn
DeleteCrumbling, Dry, Hamburgers? Try “Hip Shot” Burgers
ReplyDeleteHave you ever wondered why the burgers down at “Al’s Malt Shop” always keep their shape as well as their juices? And just where does that particular special flavor come from? Whenever many people make a burger at home, it crumbles and shrinks and the juices remain upon the griddle as the burger is removed from the heat. The secret for making the best burgers is the addition of the natural “binding” power of soy protein concentrate. The product is natural and, as its name implies, it is simply concentrated soy bean protein. Soy protein binds comminuted (ground) meat together, and for that reason, it helps in retaining its natural juices. This of course, keeps it from shrinking.
It has one shortcoming only - the meat becomes a little more difficult to “sear” or brown while cooking. However, adding a little powdered dextrose or corn syrup solids, adding their own flavors as well, easily solves this problem. Please note these products are also “natural” and used in most commercial sausage kitchens today. Don’t be hesitant to use these products in your cooking as they are completely safe and contain no additives, preservatives, or foreign chemicals. Powdered dextrose is only 70% sweet as sugar and its weight forces itself into the cells of the meat more readily than other types of sugars, for complete distribution.
Years ago, the best burgers were charred outside and barely pink inside. People would then - and still do – judge the “doneness” of a burger by its color. That “technology” is old stuff and went out with Betty Boop and running-boards! Today, we must protect our guests against possible salmonella, listeria, e-coli, and a host of other bacteria, by cooking the burgers until their inside temperatures register 150 F. or thereabouts, allowing the “carryover” to finish bringing it up to a preferred temperature – regardless of the color or char on the outside. Burgers are “medium” at this point. A professional always uses a thermometer. The “baby-dial” is perfect for grilling burgers. The combination of beef and pork along with the listed ingredients make a burger most folks rave about. Why not give them a try. Here’s a good recipe for tasty non-shrinkin’ burgers that hold their juices and won’t fall apart on you:
Chuckwagon’s “Hip Shot” Hamburgers
2 lbs. pork shoulder
3 lbs beef chuck
1 tblspn. powdered dextrose
3 tblspns. soy protein concentrate
1-½ tblspns. un-iodized salt
1 tblspn. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tspn. coriander
1/2 tspn. nutmeg
1/2 cup ice cold whole milk
Trim the shoulder and chuck and cut it into inch squares. Grind the nearly-frozen meat with its fat through a 3/8" plate. Mix all the other ingredients into the meat and distribute them thoroughly as you develop the actin and myocin. When pulled apart, the meat should be slightly sticky with soft peaks. Be careful not to over-mix the meat. Form 1/2 pound patties, flattening them evenly with a rolling pin. If you prefer burgers “griddle-fried in smoke”, simply place your portable griddle (or cast iron black skillet) on top of the grilling bars of your gas or charcoal grill using plenty of dampened hickory or other hardwood to provide the smudge. Try apple, mesquite, alder, and oak. Don’t even think about pressing the patties down while they’re cooking! Put them on the griddle and allow them to sear before turning them over. You should only have to turn them once.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
These burgers have become a staple in my house, they are the best! Don't be afraid to dress them up with some sharp cheddar cheese, a couple of pieces of thick-sliced bacon, and some nice BBQ sauce in place of ketchup. You'll be livin' large! RAY
DeleteI wonder if photos work?
Delete[URL=http://s229.photobucket.com/user/sawhorseray/media/1d5e48a4-2bd8-410c-9422-078246d1c1a2_zpsa5ab96be.jpg.html][IMG]http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee209/sawhorseray/1d5e48a4-2bd8-410c-9422-078246d1c1a2_zpsa5ab96be.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
DeleteThese are a staple in our house also. The wife loves them too.
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Also posted as instructional material.
Beginners! … Make Your Own “Boiled” Cured Ham
ReplyDelete“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” by Chuckwagon
For years, brine-soaking whole-muscle meats to preserve them was just about the only method used by home hobbyists. Often their centers would begin to spoil before the salt-cure penetrated the meat sufficiently, especially if the cut contained a bone. Worse, the unquestionable barriers of skin and fat allow only slow penetration of the curing agent. For smaller cuts of meat, simple brine soaking arguably may be sufficient and remains a widely used practice today by hobbyists. However, in curing larger hams or cuts of meat, the curing brine must be forced or injected into the cells of the meat to provide complete penetration within the short time allotted before spoilage occurs. Traditionally this has been done by curing solution being introduced through the main artery of a leg or ham and this “nature's pipeline” literally distributes curing pickle to every cell including bone marrow. Perhaps you’ve purchased a brine injector having two different needles. The one with a slanted, sharpened end is the one to use for injecting an artery. The needle is usually 5-3/8 inches in length, 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and is made of chrome-plated brass.
Don’t confuse arteries (carrying blood to the animal's cells) with veins, which return blood to the heart. Pumping a vein will simply not work as it collapses the vein and will not carry the brine solution. How will you know the difference? Veins are larger than and not as flexible as arteries. Because an artery is sometimes hard to locate after an animal has been butchered, and since time equals money in a commercial operation, these days most often a curing solution is injected quickly into the flesh using a gang of smaller needles. A variety of "stitch pumping" gang needles are available to commercial processors, but generally, we home hobbyists are “stuck” (no pun intended) with the second type “perforated” single needle that comes with your brine injector. It is usually 5-1/2 inches long, 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and contains a dozen perforations. This needle is withdrawn slowly as the cure is distributed throughout the meat. Care must be taken not to "overpump" the meat as it may become mushy since salt removes some protein. For this reason, only six to twelve percent of the meat’s weight is injected and then it is left to soak in the remaining refrigerated brine. Recipe instructions usually carefully indicate the exact amount of brine to be used and the recommended amount of time for soaking. Anyone can "give a piggy a shot" and injection pumping a ham before soaking, is by far, preferred over simple brine soaking alone. Weighing brine cure is simple. Simply move the decimal point left one place as you weigh the meat. This gives you the 10% brine weight. If the item contains a shank or bone, be sure to inject sufficient cure along the bone.
Boiled Ham Is Never Boiled
Generally, only hams of 14 pounds or less are selected for this type of water-cooked ham. Following the curing process, the ham is smoked then prep-cooked in water until the IMT (internal meat temperature) reaches about 150° F. (66°C.) before it is finally baked and served. This “preparatory cooking” ensures protection against all sorts of pathogenic bacteria as well as microbial parasites such as trichinella spiralis. “Boiled Ham” is by far, the most common type of ham made worldwide. But “boiled ham” is never boiled. Preparatory cooking in heated water has undoubtedly given this ham its name. Please note that a water temperature of only 170°F. (77°C.) is required to safely prep-cook the ham by reaching 150°F.(66°C.) IMT. (Water boils at 212° (100° C.).
(Continued in next post)
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” by Chuckwagon (Part 2)
ReplyDeleteSelecting The Meat
Whenever referring to any meat, the term “fresh” simply means not cured. Ask your butcher for a "fresh ham" (uncured rear leg) or "fresh picnic" (uncured front leg). A “fresh” ham or picnic must be either fully cooked (with leftovers being refrigerated and consumed within a few days), or fully cured using sodium nitrite (Cure #1) and salt. Whenever it is cooked, “fresh ham” becomes roasted pork - perfect for a weekend barbeque! However, when fresh hams cured with sodium nitrite and brined in saltwater “pickle”, they take on an entirely different taste and texture we know as “cured ham”. For your first project, you may wish to use a smaller “picnic” of only about 12 or 13 pounds. Leave the bone in place and leave the skin on. Both these items help the meat retain moisture. Be sure to keep the meat refrigerated until you are ready to inject it and place it into the brine.
Making A Brining Solution Using Salt
(1.) How much brine is needed?
We must consider three separate qualities in the brine we are about to make. First, the volume of liquid must be determined. Second, we must note the strength of the nitrite “pickup” in parts per million. Third, the amount of salt in the pickling solution will partially determine how quickly the pork will turn to ham.
Begin making a brine-curing solution by determining how much water is going to be needed. The liquid must cover the meat yet it is important to use a container that is not too large. The size and shape of the container should definitely be taken into account in order to use a minimum volume of brine. When the volume has been determined, the weight of that volume will be used in a formula to determine the salinity strength of the liquid. There’s a simple ol’ timer’s adage that reads, “The amount (weight) of brine should equal about forty or fifty percent of the weight of the meat being cured”. In other words, you don’t need a barrel-full of brining cure to baptize one duck! Simply use enough brine to equal forty percent of the duck’s weight. I like to get a “ballpark” figure by placing the ham into the receptacle used for brining and cover it with cold water with just a little to spare. This gives me 100%. It’s simple to divide it in half and weigh it. Once this volume of water is determined, it is weighed to use the sum in a mathematical formula.
Remember to pat the ham completely dry and place it back into the refrigerator. And remember to record both the volume and weight of the water in your notes. For reference, one U.S. gallon weighs 8.33 lbs.
Let’s say you wanted to cure 20 pounds and 12 ounces of ham using enough brine to equal 40% of the weight of the meat. (20 pounds and 12 ounces is 20.75 lbs.). Twenty and three quarters pounds multiplied by .40 is 8.3 pounds. That is how many pounds of water you’ll need. That happens to be the weight of one gallon of water. That means if you cure ten pounds of ham, you’ll only need half a gallon of water, which weighs 4.1 pounds. If one gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds, then we can simply divide 5.6 by 8.33 to get .67 or simply gallons of water.
Remember, we’re just measuring an “adequate” amount of liquid at this point. A rough estimate. I like to use 50% of the weight of the meat being cured for a formula because it makes the math easier! For instance, if I am going to brine 14 pounds of meat, I know I’ll have to use 7 pounds of water – or just a little less than a gallon. The amount of brine is wholly determined by your own judgment. We’ll determine the amount of salinity later. Right now be concerned with making enough brine to cover the meat.
Now, test yourself! You’d like to brine a ten pound ham and you’ve found a snug container for the brine, so you’ve decided to use 0.40% of the weight of the meat. How much water will you need? Grab a pencil and figure it out. Next compare your math with mine. Ten pounds of ham multiplied by 0.40 equals 4 pounds. That’s the weight of half-a-gallon of water.
(Continued in next post)
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” by Chuckwagon (Part 3)
ReplyDelete(2.) How much cure #1 is needed?
How strong must the curing capability be? Note that for immersion, pumped, or massaged products, the legal maximum in-going nitrite limit is 200 part per million. (In comminuted sausage, the legal maximum is only 156 ppm.) In a brine-cure, 200 ppm pickup is achieved when 4.2 ounces of Cure #1 is added to ONE GALLON of water. In other words, to achieve 200 parts per million, 8.33 pounds of water (1 gallon) must contain 4.2 ounces (120 grams) of Cure #1. This is much more cure than is added to comminuted sausage simply because after the sodium nitrite has worked its magic, the remaining brine is poured down the drain. This is not done in comminuted sausage where the nitrite remains in the sausage until it has been completely reduced to nitric oxide. Note the volume amount in 4.2 ounces is 20 teaspoons or a little more than 6 tablespoonsful!
In our recipe for brine-curing a ten pound ham, we need to use ½ gallon (0.5 gallons) of water, so we must multiply 120 (grams) by .5 which gives us 60 grams – the total amount of Cure #1 needed in half a gallon of water to cure our ten-pound ham at 200 parts per million sodium nitrite.
(Continued in next post)
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” by Chuckwagon (Part 4)
ReplyDelete(3.) How much salinity is recommended?
There is no all-inclusive, all-purpose brine. A solution’s strength is entirely up to the sausage maker. However, there are some practical applications with the use of salt and many recommended strengths have been made by experienced sausage makers for a variety of reasons. For instance, it has been found that generally, poultry is best when brined in a solution of only 21° to 25° SAL. On the other end of the scale, fish are usually brined in a solution of 70° to 80° SAL. What about pork and beef? Anywhere from about 40° to 70° SAL is effective. A brine of 40°SAL is most popular because the formula is so simple to remember (one pound of salt to one gallon of water). If you are racing the clock to cure a ham before it begins to sour, a brine of 75° SAL is not out of the question. All things considered, a stronger brine may be used for a shorter period of time, while a weaker brine takes longer to effect the same result. Why do we bother to measure the strength of the brine each time we make it? In a nutshell… consistency! We like to be able to predict the outcome and be sure of its unvarying success time after time.
If you study the brining tables below, you’ll see that the first column designates Salinometer Degrees in which water is measured from a point containing no salt whatsoever, to a point where it becomes totally “saturated” and cannot dissolve more added salt. The scale is divided into 100 degrees for convenience. Note that 14°SAL is the strength of seawater, while 100° represents saturated salt water brine. The second column indicates the percentage of salt by weight in the solution, while the third column specifies the number of pounds of salt (per gallon of water) needed to attain that particular degree of brine strength. It is this third column you’ll need to use to determine just how much salt (by weight) must be added to make the brine strength of your choice, indicated in the first column.
Let’s make a 40°SAL brine-cure solution for our ten-pound ham. That’s a lighter-end brine strength for pork and should require only about five day’s brining time to pickup 200 parts per million sodium nitrite providing we inject it also. Begin by looking in the left column of the brining chart (below) to find 40°SAL. In the third column we find that it corresponds with .98 (one pound) of salt for ONE GALLON of water. One pound equals 453.5 grams. We’ve already determined that our 10-pound ham needs 0.5 gallons of ice water, so we’ll multiply 453.5 grams by .5 to get 226.75 grams needed for a half-gallon of water. This is 8 ounces (½ lb.) of salt. However, at this point, it becomes necessary to take into consideration, the salt content in the Prague Powder Cure #1. As we are adding 60 grams of Cure #1to the brine, we must deduct that amount from the weight of the kosher salt we are about to add. With this adjustment, we are ready to proceed. The recipe is in the next post:
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” (Part 5)
ReplyDeleteThe Recipe
Hobble Creek Hog Leg
Brining Cure For 14 lbs. Of Boiled Ham
1/2 gallons ice water (32°F.)
60 grams Cure #1 (also called Prague Powder #1, Instacure #1 or “pink salt” #1)
226.7 grams (1/2 pound) of salt (not iodized)
2/3 cup powdered dextrose
Make the brine by adding the Cure #1 and the salt to the icewater and stirring it until the salt becomes dissolved. Many people have attempted to cure a ham by simply soaking it in salt brine before it spoils. The truth is that in using brine soaking only, the cure will not penetrate the innermost flesh, bone, and marrow of the leg, by the time it begins to spoil. - the very reason we must render a little assistance with a brining needle and give the piggy a shot in several places. You may find a large hypodermic called a “brining needle” in your kitchen supply store or at your favorite sausage supply store. We are going to inject 10% of the meat’s weight in brine so the next step is to weigh out 1 pound of brine. That’s 453.5 grams (16 ounces) of solution. Pour it into a plastic cup and weigh it. Next, inject it in several places throughout the entire ham, but only into meaty muscle. Don’t worry about injecting the fat as it cannot be cured using sodium nitrite. Having injected the ham, submerge it in the remaining brine, (called a “pickle”), for 4 to 5 days at near as 38° F. as possible. Longer brining will produce a more salty product. This step removes the threat of some notoriously dreadful bugs including such micro-organisms as clostridium botulinum, campylobacter jejuni, escherichia coli O157:H7, listeria, cyclospora cayetanensis, staphylococcus aureus, clostridium perfringens, and three pathogens in particular responsible for 1,500 deaths annually - salmonella, listeria monocytogenes, and toxoplasma. Following a week’s brining, the ham should be ready to cook. Generally, this type of ham is not smoked. However, it is your choice and may be done at this point. DO NOT soak the ham in fresh water before smoking or cooking it. Simply rinse it off, pat it dry, and begin smoking it (if desired) by preheating your smoker to 140° F. and introducing smoke for several hours.
(Continued in next post)
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Also added as instructional material.
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” (Part 6)
ReplyDeleteImmediately following this step, place the ham into a suitable cooking utensil whereby it may be covered with 170° water and maintained at that temperature until the internal meat temperature reaches 150°F. Again, most hams of this type are never smoked. Lots of people mistakenly believe that smoking a ham cures it. Smoking meat absolutely does NOT cure it. This “preparatory” cooking is part of the curing process, and may take some time. Be patient and don’t try to rush the cooking. Use a probe type thermometer with a timing alarm to alert you when the meat has cooked. Note that as the temperature surpasses 138°F. (59°C.), any possibly existing trichinella spiralis are destroyed. At 150°F. (66°C.), the ham becomes fully “prep cooked” and the threat of “crypto” has been removed. Next, cool the ham with cold running water, pat it dry, and then refrigerate it until it is finally cooked by any number of means to a finishing-serving temperature of 160° F.
Most people would be astonished if they realized how easy it is to actually re-introduce staphyloccous aureus at this point, having destroyed any trace of it previously by the cooking-curing step. Unfortunately, when re-introduced, staph may develop toxins which are not destroyed by further cooking! Ouch! So, if you smoke the ham, please get it into a refrigerator as soon afterward as possible until you reheat it for serving. Use sterile plastic gloves to handle it, and make sure the shelves in your smoker are clean too, or simply hang it while smoking. Remember, in order to smoke the ham, it must be dry to the touch. Use your smokehouse to maintain the ham’s IMT at 140°F., the upper edge of the bacterial “danger zone”.
When preparing the ham for dinner, please note that the FSIS suggests using a minimum 325°F. oven and serving it when the IMT reaches 160°F. For a moister ham, some folks even re-introduce it into boiling water before serving it. Of course microwaves or countertop appliances may be used as well. This ham is actually best having rested a couple of days. Be sure to wrap the ham tightly in butcher paper and keep it refrigerated. As this is a fully-cooked and cured product, it is perfectly safe to slice cold for sandwiches.
What about sweetener? In ham, it’s just like my banjo pickin’ - a little goes a long way! Powdered dextrose is only 70% as sweet as sugar but it forces itself into meat cells more readily. If you don’t have it on hand, dissolve regular sugar into the brine. Technically, adding sugar will increase the strength of the brine. Many people say that it “counteracts” the harshness of salt, but I disagree. I believe it simply “balances” flavors. Please make your first ham simply as possible, using a minimum of added sweetener, without additional flavorings or seasonings. Don’t expect it to be as strongly-flavored as “country ham”. The pros simply do not add a variety of other flavoring ingredients to “boiled ham”. The taste of properly cured ham is exquisite. The two most common mistakes by beginners are over-spicing and overcooking good ham.
(Continued in next post)
“Hobble Creek Hog Leg” (Part 7)
ReplyDeleteA Few Notes About Injecting The Ham:
Some folks prefer not to inject the flesh with a perforated brining needle. Instead, the leg’s main artery (if intact), may be used as “nature’s irrigation system” to distribute brine to all parts of the meat. In this case, use a large, single-orifice needle to inject the artery. Don’t use a vein… its like me - just won’t work! How do you tell the difference? An artery is pliable. A vein is hardened, smaller, and darker.
Note About Cures:
Don’t be afraid to use meat cures, but use them while exercising common sense - having learned how to measure them properly. They generally come with simple instructions. You may purchase sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite cures very cheaply from any sausage supply company. My favorite is The Sausagemaker™ in Buffalo, New York. Their staff is most courteous and I knew the founder (Rytek Kutas) many years ago in Las Vegas, Nevada when he owned the Hickory Shoppe. You may receive a free catalog and order the ham cure (Instacure #1) at www.sausagemaker.com or call on the phone: 1-888-490-8525. These folks even have a staff to answer all your questions. Other good outfits include: Allied-Kenco Products in Houston, Texas 1-800-356-5189 (http://www.alliedkenco.com/catalog) and Lem Products at:http://www.lemproducts.com/ or Butcher Packer Supply Co. in Detroit, Mich. at:http://www.butcher-packer.com/
Note the difference between sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and sodium nitrite (NaNO2). Modern science has not produced a substitute for either cure used as agents to preserve meat and destroy clostridium botulinum. As these salts are poisonous used in proportionately greater amounts, companies have continually tried to improve upon them although their efforts have been unsuccessful. In the United States, the formulas are mixed precisely, uniformly, and in specific weight-by-volume amounts determined by the Food And Drug Administration. Griffith Laboratories manufactures TWO cures. They may NOT be substituted one for the other, nor may they be mixed.
Cure #1, also called Prague Powder #1 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium chloride (salt). It is also known as Instacure #1 or simply Cure #1, and is made specifically for use in smoked and cooked sausages, fish, ham, and jerky.
Cure #2, also called Prague Powder # 2 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite, plus 4% sodium nitrate, and 89.75 sodium chloride (salt). It is also known as Instacure #2. This formula is used for dry-cured sausages and meats whenever curing time allows the nitrate to gradually break down into nitrite. (It is actually the nitrite further reducing to nitric oxide that cures meat).
Notice that formula #1 contains nitrite while formula #2 contains both nitrite and nitrate. Again, one curing agent must never be confused with the other within any recipe and one certainly must not be substituted for the other. If you mix, cure, and smoke sausage, or cure and smoke hams, it becomes your responsibility to follow directions mixing exactly four ounces Prague Powder with one hundred pounds of meat, or for us home consumers, precisely two level teaspoons mixed with a little water for even distribution, for each ten pound batch of sausage. If you are mixing only five pounds of sausage, add just one level teaspoon of curing salt. If you are wondering why the brine for ham contains so much cure (compared to sausage), it's because after it works its magic in ham, most of it goes straight down the drain! Always remember that any recklessness in mixing these salts may potentially injure someone. Measure twice - mix once! Incidentally, the Morton product known as Tender Quick* contains 0.5 sodium nitrite, 0.5 sodium nitrate, salt, sugar, and propylene glycol (for brined meats). Please follow the directions carefully.
Please note: The formulas used in the United States are much stronger than those found in other countries. If you are not sure how much sodium nitrite is allowed in your country, please ask us for some assistance.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
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Saddle Bum’s Smoky Beef Stick
ReplyDeleteBy Chuckwagon
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
trimmed beef chuck 900g
pork back fat 100g
F-LC culture 0.53g
Cure #1 2.5g
salt 23g
non-fat powdered milk 22g
powdered dextrose 5.3g
corn syrup solids 15.4g
soy protein concentrate 3.3g
paprika 2.9g
garlic powder 2.2g
white pepper 2g
crushed mustard seed 0.7g
celery seed 0.44g
ground coriander 0.44g
ground nutmeg 0.31g
liquid smoke 7ml
ice water 100ml
Partially freeze the beef and pork fat. Prepare the F-LC culture with distilled water according to the directions on the package. Allow a “lag phase” for the bacteria to wake up while you trim any excess fat from the beef and discard it. Cube the beef (1” dice) and frozen pork fat in preparation for grinding. Grind the meat and the fat through a ¼” plate. Place them into the freezer twenty minutes, then grind them again using a 3/16”plate. Mix the cure, salt, (and phosphate if used) together with a cup of icewater and mix it with the meat until it starts to develop a sticky meat paste. Add the remaining dry ingredients and the liquid smoke and continue mixing for 30 seconds more. Finally, add the F-LC culture and mix 30 seconds more. When the mixture shows soft peaks, stuff it into 76 mm. fibrous casings and hang them to dry half an hour.
Ferment the sausage at 86° F. 24 hours in 90% humidity dropping to 85% in one day. Preheat the smoker to 110°F. and introduce hickory smoke at least four hours in 70% humidity. Gradually, only a few degrees every twenty minutes, raise the temperature of the smoker until the internal meat temperature reaches 150°F. It is most important that this temperature is not surpassed. Remove the sausages and immediately rinse them in cold water until the meat temperature drops below 90°F. Dry the sausage three days at 60°F. in 70% humidity. Store them at 50-55°F in 75% humidity.
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“Saddlebum’s Canadian Bacon”
ReplyDeleteBrine Cured, Smoked, Pork Loin by Chuckwagon
Many meat products are soaked in saltwater brine with added nitrite. Often, up to fifteen percent of the meat’s weight in brine, is injected throughout the product to ensure complete distribution. One of the most popular meat products cured in this manner is Canadian Bacon which is not bacon at all... but delicious, tender “ham”! Pork loins are trimmed of their silver skin and excess fat, and cured in a strong saltwater solution containing Prague Powder #1. Ten percent of each loin’s weight is calculated and that much brine is injected into each loin. Very small “shots” are injected equally into several places in each loin. To determine the correct amount of brining solution to inject, simply weigh the meat. Move the decimal point one place to the left to determine the weight of ten per cent solution. In other words, if the meat weighs 15 pounds, inject 1.5 pounds of brine into the loins. Next, the loins are placed into the leftover brine and refrigerated. Note that it is most important to keep the temperature as near 38˚F. (3˚C.) as possible. Temperatures much above that point may enable the meat to begin spoiling; below that point, the cure’s effectiveness may be compromised.
10 lbs. pork loins
3 tblspns. Cure #1
4 qts. icewater
¾ cup powdered dextrose
1/2 cup salt
Following the fifth day brining, soak the loins in fresh, cold, water for an hour and then pat them dry with a paper towel. I like to roll Canadian Bacon in plenty of freshly cracked black peppercorns before they go into the smoker. The meat (and the pepper) is slowly smoke-roasted (about 5 hours) to an internal meat temperature of 150°F. (66°C.), making it one of the most delicious types of ham you may slide across your tongue!
“On the trail” without refrigeration, a portable cooler containing cubed ice or snow may be used to cover and keep the water and the loins as close to 38° F. (3° C.) as possible while the meat cures. As the ice melts, the solution becomes weaker and diluted as water is poured off each day. Compensation for the loss of salt and cure must be made by adding a teaspoon of Cure # 1 and two tablespoons salt, once a day on each of the last three days of curing. Be sure to completely dissolve the cure into the water just before adding more ice to the cooler to compensate for that which has melted. (If you are using snow, be sure to pack it inside a large, plastic, zip-lock type bag.) At the end of the fifth day, soak the loins in cold, clean, water for an hour. Dry the loins completely before smoking them. Lots of folks roll Canadian Bacon in yellow cornmeal rather than black pepper. They call it “peameal bacon”. Some misguided individuals and misunderstood souls even omit the smoking.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
“Bushwhacker’s Buckboard Bacon” (25 lbs.)
ReplyDelete(Hickory Smoked Pork Butt)
“Buckboard Bacon” is made from pork butt (shoulder), rather than pork belly. Many people prefer its texture and thick-sliced portions. Note that a ham is normally pumped with 10% brining solution. Because of its composition, pork butt (shoulder) loses about 4% more solution than ham during its curing period. To compensate for the loss, pork butt is usually “stitched” with 15% solution. (e.g. pump 4 lbs. of pork with 6 ounces of brine). A typical brine for use with pork butt may be made up with the following ingredients:
5 quarts ice water @ 38˚F.
¾ cup of salt
1 cup powdered dextrose
4 tblspns. Prague Powder #1
1 quart of ice cubes or chips
“butcher’s grind” (coarse) black pepper
Stir the salt, dextrose, and cure, into the ice water. Add the quart of ice to bring the temperature down. Weigh the appropriate amount of brine on a scale and inject it into each shoulder. Make several injections on each side with short shots of solution. Place the butts into the remaining solution (with ice) in large zip lock type plastic bags or a deep lug. The liquid must cover the meat. Allow 4 lb. butts to cure for three days and larger butts up to six days. Following curing, rinse the butts and place them in fresh, cold water for a few hours. Finally, hang them up and pat them dry. Using plastic gloves, rub the meat with fresh, cracked, black pepper.
Preheat your smoker to 130˚F. (54˚C.) while you place the butts in cloth (not plastic) smoke-netting called “stockinettes”. Hang the butts in the smoker with the damper wide open, maintaining the smokehouse temperature for 3 to 3-1/2 hours without smoke. Increase the temperature to 170˚ F. (77˚ C.) and introduce hickory smoke while maintaining the smokehouse temperature until the internal meat temperature (IMT) reaches 140˚ F. (60˚ C.). Discontinue the heat and allow the meat to return to room temperature before placing it in a cooler overnight. This “prep cooking” IMT will ensure the destruction of any possible trichinella spiralis. The bacon will be “fully cooked” later as you cook it in your favorite black skillet or griddle.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Boot Jack’s “Barb Wire Bangers”
ReplyDelete(English Bangers Sausages)
Historically, the English have fried this sage-flavored sausage for breakfast. As the moisture inside a casing heats up and turns to steam, it often bursts the casing - thus the name “banger”. The great taste of sage with ginger has made this sausage one of the most popular in the world. Served with mashed potatoes, the English favorite becomes “Bangers & Mash”.
A “bootjack” is a pivoted plank of wood with a leather-lined notched “V” cut into one end where a cowboy places the heel of each boot to easily remove his footwear at the end of a hard day. Years ago, a drifter came to our ranch from western Canada and it had been rumored that his face appeared upon various wanted posters there. We didn’t ask, and he didn’t explain. We instantly liked the personable man as he proved himself to be an experienced and reliable ranch hand, and an outstanding cook. “Bootjack” tucked his pant legs inside his boots, buttoned his shirt collar, parted his slicked-down hair in the middle, and everyone teased him about the style that had gone out with the stagecoach to Tucson... that is, until he began making his wonderful English Bangers. Whenever the other ranch hands began combing their hair, buttoning their collars, and tuckin' in their pant cuffs, they could depend on Boot Jack’s “Barb Wire Bangers” for breakfast, knowing that his secrets of great English sausages would never go out of style. Bootjack’s favorite ol' sourdough tricks included cooking them in a medium-hot black-iron skillet in melted butter for half a minute, adding a half cup of water, covering them while they braised-steamed, and then finished turning them only once. Serving them with freshly mashed potatoes, ol’ Bootjack would often listen to the cooking sausages for something he called "necessary and imperative" – the telltale “bang” when the skillet had been heated just right. The ol' cow-cusser never used a fork to stick them; he preferred to turn them using “industrial-strength” chopsticks about eighteen inches long!
Boot Jack’s “Barb Wire Bangers”
(English Bangers)
3 lbs. pork butt (ground)
2 lbs. beef chuck (ground)
2 tblspns. un-iodized salt
2 tspns. rubbed sage
1 tspn. white pepper (ground)
½ tspn. ground ginger
½ tspn. mace
3 oz. rusk (toasted bread crumbs)
1 cup water
Chill the meat to 32 degrees then grind it through a ¼” plate. Mix all ingredients well. Some folks prefer to use pork stock in place of the water in this recipe. This breakfast sausage is traditionally stuffed into 32 m.m. hog casings. However, patties are tasty topped with a fried egg and served with a piece of toast.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
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"Hobble Creek Hot Dogs"
ReplyDelete(Ranch-Made All-Beef Frankfurters)
2 level. tspns. Prague Powder #1
4 tblspns. uniodized salt
10 lbs. lean beef chuck
1 pint icewater
4 tblspns. paprika
4 tblspns. dry powdered mustard
1 tspn. white pepper
1 tspn. black pepper
1-1/2 tspns. ground celery seeds
1 tblspn. coriander
2 tspn. garlic powder
1 cup soy protein concentrate
4 tblspns. powdered dextrose
To make all-beef frankfurters, cut nearly-frozen meat into inch chunks then grind them through a 3/8" plate using a little ice water to keep the plate and knives cool. Mix all the dry ingredients together with the Prague Powder then stir the mixture into some of the ice water for even distribution in the meat. Finally, mix every ingredient together, including the meat, making sure the curing agent is distributed entirely throughout the sausage. Emulsify the sausage in small batches inside a food processor, using ice water as needed to thin the mixture slightly and reduce the stress on the motor. Do not over process the meat. When a sticky paste develops, start another batch, refrigerating the last.
Stuff the sausage into 29-32 m.m. hog casings, 24-26 sheep casings, or plastic casings in desired lengths. Our gang always liked 22 m.m. "foot longs" in tender sheep casings. Hang the franks inside your kitchen thirty minutes or more, then cook them in 200° F. (93° C.) hot water until the internal meat temperature reaches 150° F. (66° C.). Use a probe-type thermometer with a cable and alarm. Immediately, immerse them in icewater, lowering the internal meat temperature to room temperature. Allow the franks to bloom in the refrigerator overnight before eating them.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Hey wranglers! Don’t forget the buns, mustard, and relish!
ReplyDelete[USA] "Horsethief Hot Dog Buns"
(Classic Hot Dog Bun Recipe)
Americans consume more than 16 billion hot dogs each year… seven billion during the summer months alone! That means we eat six hundred hot dogs every second! Shucks pards, no wonder we’re tippin’ the scales. I wonder how this compares to the amount consumed in other countries. If you make your own frankfurters, please don’t put them on store-bought buns. You should have great buns to put them on. Here’s how to make your own:
1 cup milk
½ cup water
¼ cup butter
¼ cup shortening
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package (.25 ounce) instant yeast
2 tblspns. white sugar
1-1/2 tspns. salt
1 egg
In a small saucepan, heat the milk, water and butter only until tepid (about 110 degrees F.) In a large bowl, mix together 1-3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture, and then mix in the egg. Stir in the remaining flour, a little at a time, until dough is made. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic. Cover, the dough and allow it to rise for 30 to 35 minutes. Punch it down and allow it to rise again before dividing it and shaping it into buns. Place the shaped dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown.
[USA] "Cowboy’s Hot Dog Mustard"
(Rodeo & Circus StyleMustard)
3 tblspns. vegetable oil
1 large onion (chopped)
1 large green pepper (chopped)
2 cloves garlic(minced)
1/2 tspn. celery seeds
1/4 cup dijon mustard
Using a large skillet, sauté the onion and green pepper over medium-low heat, stirring them often, until the vegetables are softened. Add the garlic and celery seeds and continue to cook until they release their flavors. Garlic burns easily so cook it quickly over lower heat. Finally, stir in the mustard and blend the flavors. The mustard sauce may be used immediately or covered, cooled, and refrigerated.
[USA] "Hobble Creek Hot Dog Relish"
(Western Style Hot Dog Relish)
1 cup onions (finely chopped)
1 cup cabbage (finely chopped)
1 cup green tomatoes (finely chopped)
1 small apple with peeling (finely chopped)
4 green bell peppers (finely chopped)
2 red bell peppers (finely chopped)
3/4 tspns. turmeric
1/8 tspn. ground cinnamon
1/8 tspn. ground cloves
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup of salt (for brining)
Use a coarse blade to grind the vegetables or pulse them in a processor, sprinkle salt over them, and mix them well, allowing them to stand overnight in a bowl of cold water. Next morning, drain and rinse the vegetables well. Mix all the ingredients together and bring them to boil over high heat. Immediately discontinue the heat and allow the mixture to stand and cool. Refrigerate and use the relish within three days or double the recipe and preserve it with the hot jar canning process.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
"Lone Peak Hog Longhorns"
ReplyDelete(All Pork Frankfurters)
Okay gang! That last recipe was for all beef franks. This one is for all pork hot dogs.
10 lbs. pork butt
2 level. tspns. Prague Powder #1
1 pint ice water
4 tblspns. paprika
4 tblspns. ground mustard powder
1 tspn. freshly ground black pepper
1 tspn. ground white pepper
1-1/2 tspn. ground celery seeds
1 tblspn. coriander
2 tspns. garlic powder
4 tblspns. Un-iodized salt
1-1/2 cups soy protein concentrate
4 tblspns. powdered dextrose
Do Rocky Mountain piggies have longhorns? Of course not, although we like to tease "tenderfeet" with tales of jack rabbits and hogs wearing antlers! Cut the meat (with its fat) into chunks and then grind it through a 3/8" plate. Mix all the dry ingredients together with the Prague Powder then stir the mixture into some of the ice water for even distribution in the meat. Finally, mix every ingredient together, including the meat, making sure the curing agent is distributed entirely throughout the sausage. Emulsify the sausage in small batches inside a food processor, using ice water as needed to thin the mixture slightly and reduce the stress on the motor.
Stuff the sausage into 24-26 mm. lamb casings for franks, or even 32-35mm hog casings for larger diameter doggies. Twist or tie links into desired lengths for hot dogs. Hang the franks inside your kitchen to dry them thirty minutes, while you preheat your smokehouse to 120° F., almost closing the dampers. Hang the sausages on smoke sticks then raise the smokehouse temperature gradually (a few degrees at a time) to 160° F. over the next 90 minutes with hickory smoke, until the internal meat temperature reaches 148° F. Use some caution raising the heat. If you try to hurry the process by using too much heat too quickly, the texture will resemble sawdust! For more moist franks, use a steam cabinet or Chinese bamboo steamer to heat the doggies to 152°F. internal meat temperature. Do not allow them to reach over 160° F. or you’ll break the fat. Shower the franks with cold water and allow them to "bloom" overnight inside a refrigerator.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Grubstake Garlic Beef Stick
ReplyDelete(Serious “Pocket-Knife” Trail Sausage)
8 lbs. beef chuck
2 lbs. pork backfat
4-1/2 tspns. salt
2 level tspns. Cure #1
4 cloves garlic (toasted & crushed)
2 tspns. coarsely-ground black pepper
1 tspn. garlic powder
1 tspn. onion salt
1 tspn. marjoram
Grind the lean meat using a 3/8” plate and the fat meat using a 3/16” plate. Mix the Cure #1 with a little water and then add the remaining ingredients and make a sticky meat paste. Stuff the mixture into 36 m.m. hog casings or 1-1/2” mahogany synthetic casings. Most people prefer very long lengths of this sausage and generally do not link it.
Place the sausage into a pre-heated smoker at 130°F with draft open. When casings are dry, decrease the draft and gradually increase the temperature a few degrees every 20 minutes while you introduce smoke for 90 minutes. Continue to gradually increase the smokehouse temperature until the IMT reaches 150°F. Remove the sausages from the smoker and shower them in cold water. Store these sausages refrigerated.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Bologna – Cured,Smoked, and Cooked.
ReplyDeleteShucks pards, I’ve been scroungin' through ol' Patch's saddlebags lookin' for the ancient recipe for Bologna that I ripped off from Rytek Kutas back in the ol' days in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rytek ran a place called "The Hickory Shop" when I happened to stumble in face first. If you're not Swiss, you may wish to toss the coriander and mustard for a more "traditional" bologna recipe.
Bad Bob’s Bologna
4 lbs. pork butt
6 lbs. lean beef chuck
1 cup ice water
2 level tspns. Cure #1
1 tblspn. ground white pepper
2 tblspns. sweet Hungarian paprika
2 tspns. nutmeg
½ tspn. coriander
½ tspn. ground mustard
1 tspn. allspice
1 tspn. onion powder
1/3 cup non-iodized salt
2 cups protein concentrate
large cellulose casings (code: red)
Grind the nearly-frozen meat through a 3/16” plate. Stir the cure into the water and mix it into the meat, until the first signs of protein development begins (becoming “sticky” and forms peaks). Add the remaining ingredients and emulsify the mixture in batches, in a food processor. Add a little more water to the mixture if the motor strains unnecessarily. Although the texture must become emulsified and sticky, be sure not to over-process the mixture or it will become “rubbery” and tough. Stuff the mixture into beef bungs or 5” diameter red cellulose casings, pin prick the casings to eliminate any air pockets, and then rinse them quickly to remove any sticky, drying, meat particles that develop with emulsified meat. Place the sausages into a refrigerator twenty-four hours.
Allow the bologna to hang at room temperature 90 minutes while the smokehouse is prepared and preheated to 130˚F. (54˚C.). Place the bologna into the smokehouse without smoke for half an hour. Wipe away all traces of moisture from the casings, and then start the smoke. After an hour, begin raising the temperature gradually only a few degrees every twenty minutes or so. When the smokehouse temperature reaches 165˚F. (74˚C.), discontinue the smoke but allow the sausage to continue cooking at that temperature until the internal meat temperature reaches 152˚F. (67˚C.). Immediately shower the bologna until the internal meat temperature drops to 100˚F. (43˚C.). Place bologna into a refrigerator or cooler at this point, until the internal meat temperature further drops to 50˚F. (10˚C.).
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
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Have a look at the main web site for a listing of all recipes featured in this Forum (hopefully), at least through today. A listing (with links) can be found at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sausageswest.com/departments/sausage-recipes
and most of these can be downloaded as PDF files for your later reading pleasure.
And while you're at it, have a look at some of Chuckwagon's best writing since that fateful day when he got a computer and figured out what that big switch on the side was for, at
http://www.sausageswest.com/departments/sausage-making
and if you haven't heard enough scary tales since Halloween (or is it Guy Fawkes Day?), take a look at more of Chuckwagon's writing at
http://www.sausageswest.com/departments/bacteria-fermented-sausages-understanding-bacteria
and... by the way... would somebody drop by there and take his dang keyboard away from him, before we're saturated with.. (aauugk!) a surplus of... (gurgle) serious sausage sayings...(glub)???
Duk
“Pre-Chewed” Dinner Sausages At Oraibi
ReplyDeleteIt has been said John Wesley Powell understood the western United States better than anyone. During his second exploration of the Green River, he and his men visited the Pueblo Indians at the province of Tsuyan (pronounced "sue-yawn") on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in October 1870. As he entered the streets of Oraibi, (pronounced ore-eye-bee), the Pueblo "cacique" (chief) invited him to dine inside his kiva.
Dinner was delicious! Goat stew was served in pottery bowls with "piki", a bread of colorful paper-thin layers, cooked upon hot rocks. Melons and peaches were served as dessert, but most impressive were the little sausages of ground goat meat steamed inside cornhusks. Powell's men couldn't get enough of the tasty morsels and enjoyed them throughout the entire week before discovering how the goat meat was minced.
The Indian women simply masticated or "pre-chewed" the goat meat before cooking it!
Today, in place of the cornhusks, use a thin steamed wrapper to encase the sausage. Certain ingredients have been "updated".
The Dough:
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup of boiling water
1 tblspn. bacon drippings
The Filling:
1 lb. ground pork (or pre-chewed goat)
2 tblspns, sherry
1 tspn. freshly grated ginger
1/2 tspn. white pepper
1/2 tspn. sugar with 1/4 tspn. MSG
1 tblspn. chopped onion
1 eggwhite mixed with 1 tblspn. cornstarch
2 cloves crushed garlic
Make the dough by mixing the ingredients, kneading it a bit, and allowing it to rest 20 minutes while you prepare the filling. Roll out teaspoon-size balls of dough into flattened 3" circles using the side of a chef's knife or Chinese clever, in a sliding motion. Gather up the sides around one teaspoon of the filling to form little "cache" bags. Simply steam the dumplings for 15 minutes over high heat. I certainly hope you try J.W. Powell's "Pre-Chewed Sausages".
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
"Cactus Jack's" Swiss Fleischkaese
ReplyDeleteNow This Is A Horse Of A Different Color!
Fleischkaese is to us potato heads from Switzerland, what Leberkaese is to Germany. Cooked in a "waterbath" in your 300°F pre-heated oven, it requires only 45 minutes. The texture will be "maaaavelous" if you simply fill a shallow pan half-full of hot water then place your cake-pan full of sausage meat into the water. This tempers the cooking and the steam will "finish" the surface.
600 gr lean beef
400 gr ground pork butt with fat
100 gr finely chopped smoked bacon
23 gr kosher salt
2.5 gr (1/4 tspn.) Cure #1
6 gr freshly ground black pepper
7 gr smoked paprika
2 medium sized onions
0.5 gr nutmeg
1Tblspn. red wine
Chill the red wine while you grind the beef and pork using your smallest die. Put the onions through the grinder as well and then fry the onions in a dry pan over low heat until they become dried out. Emulsify the beef and pork spraying the wine into the mixture a little at a time. Fold in the onions and the remaining spices and the chopped bacon. Disperse all the ingredients equally throughout the meat and then place the mixture into a buttered cake pan. Allow the mixture to rest for an hour in your refrigerator. Finally, place the pan into a "Bain Marie" water bath at 150C for 40 to 45 minutes until done. Allow the Fleischkaese to rest at least five minutes before slicing.
Best Wishes,
RockChuck WagonTrack WheelRut
"Rock Ridge Deviled Ham"
ReplyDeleteIf you squint hard enough, you may be able to see “deviled ham” on your grocer’s shelves in a tiny little ol’ white, paper-wrapped can with red lettering. It’s a nice product but too expensive in my opinion. Make yer’ own, cowboys! This recipe comes from my friend George Druktenis in Ohio. Thanks “Trosky”.
1 pound smoked ham, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon mustard powder
Salt
Pepper
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Use as a sandwich filling or spread on crackers for a snack.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Lamb
ReplyDelete(With A Little Bull)
The men-folk in our ranch outfit rode furiously two days, before our “sweet-talked” wives had the opportunity to change their minds ‘bout lettin’ us go! Organizing camp in drenching rain, we’d reached the high Uintahs with its crystal clear-blue lakes. Here remain a few scattered locations where man has never “set a foot” and the pan-sized rainbow, brook, and native cutthroat trout swim to the surface of the lakes and streams barking "catch me, catch me", then jump into your buttered hot black skillet! The trick of catchin’ these tasty fellas is to place a black iron skillet over a slow, up-wind fire, add garlic and butter, place a Green River Renegade (trout-catchin', hand-tied fly) into the skillet, then run and hide in the trees! Allow the aroma to drift across a lake a bit, waiting for the fish to leap right into the pan! When trout get just one whiff of the garlic, they stampede to the surface in herds rather than schools. Our advice to beginners is to always bring along a "back up" cut of meat, just in case this carefully planned strategy fails. A shoulder of lamb will do nicely.
A heavy lightning storm will drive fish to the bottom of a lake for days at a time and Butch Cassidy's Carbon County “spinners” (dynamite sticks) won’t bring 'em to the surface. Now shucks pards, everyone knows real cowboys don't dunk worms - they flyfish! So, we holed up inside a canvas wall tent, cheating at poker, and Black Jack "Si" Johnson, dealing from the bottom of the deck, was winning! Following three days of steadily pounding, unrelenting rain, I roasted a lamb shoulder over the glowing coals of a campfire spit.
Everything in camp was rain-soaked and our horses were beginning to shrink! I reached up beneath the boughs of firs (pines) to find dry tinder sticks with which to start a campfire. Next, I found semi-dry pine logs, beneath fallen trees in the deadfall of the forest. Knowing logs with dry centers would float in water, I simply tossed a few into the lake. The "floaters" had their bark removed with my hand axe and went into the fire. I shaved the bark from a heavy willow trunk about two feet long then drove two forked heavy willows into the wet ground to support the spit willow just above the coals. The lamb roast was prepared with punctures stuffed with garlic, rosemary, and lemon. Forty minutes before the lamb had thoroughly roasted, unpeeled potatoes went straight into the embers, along with buttered cobs of corn inside their soaked husks as Dusty Rhoades pulled out a ten-high straight flush of diamonds!
"Greenhorns" say lamb is an acquired taste. Obviously they've never had properly prepared succulent, tasty lamb grilled over a hickory-smoke ranch barbeque fire. The two most commonly made mistakes are over-cooking the meat and not providing an escape for the excess tallow produced. Many folks say lamb is the best domestic meat of all. Others won't touch it, having experienced some jasper’s disgustingly appalling mint jelly… served up with overcooked mutton - both good reasons to lynch the cook! Genuine lamb is not quite a year old and best roasted with pink centers in popular cuts. Mutton is the meat of a mature sheep best prepared in stews and slower cooked recipes. And mint jelly? It’s a ghastly concoction invented by some hallucinating, bizarre, and misled individual pretending to be a cook while suffering seizures and convulsions from having a size 36 waist while wearing size 34 underwear!
(Continued I next post)
Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.2
ReplyDeletePerfectly cooked lamb has a crispy, smoked, surface with a pink tender center. Being a bit delicate, it must not be overcooked for flavor at its best. This is exclusively the only way to serve lamb in the west, or anywhere else upon the planet earth! If you turn it into shoe leather, hang your head in shame for using too much heat for too long a period of time - and don't you dare throw it to your dogs! They haven’t done anything to you! Bury it in the dirt and try again.
Lamb Cooking Temperatures:
Really Rare = 131 degrees F. IMT
Medium Rare = 141 degrees F. IMT
Medium = 151 degrees F. IMT
Medium Well = 160 degrees F. IMT
Well Done - No such thing! (Don’t Do It!) = 165 + degrees F. IMT
Lambs, Lemons, And Limes
Each year, Americans consume scarcely five hundred million lemons? That's only seven lemons per year for every man, woman, and child in the nation. I’m not sure about the statistics in other nations. What is the matter with us? Forget the awful green mint jelly and use lots of lamb’s best seasoning - freshly squeezed lemon or limejuice with lots of rosemary and even more garlic. The most popular cut of lamb is the whole leg, usually about seven or eight pounds with the "bone in", or five or six pounds with the bone removed. Either should be smoke-roasted for best results, using the age-old secrets of the Mediterranean. Yup, you guessed it… rosemary, butter, garlic, and lemon. Be sure to include and rub in plenty of olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, and a little thyme. Cooking any meat with its bone attached will produce a more flavorful and moist result, and lamb is no exception. Some folks prefer to have the bone removed before cooking. Here are a few basics:
A butterflied leg of lamb is boneless and trimmed, having been opened up and slightly pounded flat by the butcher. A boneless roast loin comes in two pieces and each should be rolled and tied. This is the premier cut and is always lean and tasty. Loin chops include the bone and should be 1-1/2" thick or more. Lamb chunks are usually cut from the shoulder. Used in stews, a good butcher will include a few chunks from the leaner leg for your recipes. If the man does this, be sure to thank him by no longer riding your horse inside his store, not to mention shooting up his ceiling!
A rack of lamb is cut from the ribs. Its divine, expensive, and only feeds two cowboys. The whole leg serves eight, while the sirloin will satisfy six demanding gunslingers. Lamb loin chops are usually grilled or fried, cut only an inch thick. Heat up a black skillet until it almost melts and rub olive oil well into the chops. When they hit the pan, fry them only a few minutes turning them only one time. Better yet, use your hot smoky grill, being sure to rotate the chops 90 degrees after only two minutes. After two more minutes, turn the chops over and cook them only three minutes more rotating them 90 degrees only once after a minute and a half. Lamb is always served with pink meat inside! Don’t overcook it in the Rockies or you may find some large, appalling person measuring your neck with a tape measure!
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.3
ReplyDelete"Green River Grilled Lamb"
(Marinated Grilled Leg Of Lamb)
1 leg of lamb (over 5 lbs.)
3 lemons (sliced)
2 cups dry white wine
8 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tblspn. rosemary
1 tblspn. thyme
1 stick cinnamon
1 tspn. salt
black pepper (freshly ground)
Zest one of the lemons, squeeze the juice from all three, and then slice them thinly. Mix the juice with the zest, wine, lemons, garlic, and seasonings then marinate the leg of lamb, covered and refrigerated for a day. Turn the lamb a few times a day to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat evenly. Many folks prefer to inject the liquid directly into the flesh a few hours before cooking the leg.
Using a drip pan beneath the grilling bars of a gas grill, roast the leg of lamb on a rotisserie using indirect heat and soaked chips of hickory to produce heavy smoke-smudge. Wrap the chips in a foil packet and place it directly upon a burner. Be sure to poke a few holes in the foil. After ninety minutes, begin checking the internal meat temperature with a baby dial thermometer. Baste the meat at intervals, using a little of the leftover marinade mixed with a little olive oil. The meat should be slightly pink inside the leg and served medium rare as the thermometer registers about 145 degrees F. Medium doneness is about 155 degrees. Slice the meat after it has rested ten minutes. Be sure to try this lamb cooked directly over the glowing coals of a wood-burning barbecue pit also. Experiment with alder or apple woods for smoking.
Lamb is getting more difficult to find and many butchers no longer place it on display. You must ask for it. If the butcher starts making excuses, be polite but insistent - threatening to lasso the manager and drag him through the creek then down aisle thirteen. More likely than not, he will place lamb back into the display case once again.
Roasting Lamb
The general guidelines for roasting lamb are simple. Barbecue a leg of lamb using indirect heat, 30 minutes per pound, inside a 325˚ F. (163˚ C.) barbecue pit. If you're inside the ranch house using you kitchen oven, preheat it to 400˚ F. (204˚ C.) then lightly oil a roasting pan. Place two sliced onions, lemon slices with juice, eight crushed garlic cloves, and three chopped tomatoes into the pan then place a roasting rack over them. Rub the lamb with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Make several stabs into the meat placing garlic halves, lemon zest, and a few rosemary needles into each incision. Roast the lamb until the juices run clearly yet the center remains pink. Lamb is delicate. Please don't overcook it. The cooking time should only be about an hour and a half. The internal temperature of rare lamb is only 131˚ F. (55˚ C.), and medium rare, using your baby-dial thermometer, is about 135˚ F. (57˚ C.) Medium cooked lamb is 141˚ F. (61˚ C). There is no such thing as lamb well done.
If you're on the trail with your camp-style Dutch oven, apply the same know how. Use a cake rack to elevate the roast and remember to use a few charcoals on top of the oven for slow, uniform, cooking. Leave the lid slightly ajar to prevent steaming and be extra careful not to scorch the bottom vegetables. It's perfectly all right to "peek" in on this recipe once in a while. When you do, take its temperature with a baby-dial thermometer.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.4
ReplyDelete"Ranch Leg O' Lamb"
(Diminishing Heat - Pit Grilled - Boned Leg)
Many folks prefer to remove the pelvic bone before roasting an entire 6 lb. leg of lamb, leaving the leg bone intact. Don't saw through the bone. One hour before roasting the leg, remove as much fat from it as possible without cutting into the flesh.
Make a paste of crushed garlic (lots of it), olive oil, your favorite chopped herbs (try rosemary, basil, and oregano), and a little salt, black pepper and red wine, then rub it well into the entire surface of the meat with your hands. Place whole, crushed, garlic cloves into incisions made in the meat. Our ranch outfit prefers wagonloads of garlic, rosemary, and lemons and folks have told us they could smell the aroma of the cooking meat long before they entered the canyon.
Using a pit thermometer, roast the leg upon a grill or slowly rotating spit suspended above the coals at 450 degrees F. for ten minutes with moist alder or hickory chips for smoke flavoring. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F. and continue cooking for twenty more minutes without adding more smoke chips.
Reduce the heat again using a "slow fire" at 325 degrees F. and continue roasting the lamb for half an hour more. Reduce the heat once again, to 225 degrees F. and finish the cooking in twenty more minutes. Test the meat for smoke flavoring and doneness. It may be necessary to add more chips and cook the leg a little longer. The meat in the center of the lamb should be pink, but cooked.
Adjusting the heat of an open grill is a bit tricky at first and as there is nothing worse than overcooked lamb, you should pay constant attention to your fire. Again, roast the meat until it's just pink in the center and a little juicy. I've known cooks to spray water on the coals to reduce heat but end up with ashes all over the meat. A more practical method is to remove the spit temporarily and rake out a few coals or simply move the lamb further away from the heat source. However, as you develop your own cooking secrets, please remember: Never cook meat over the open flames of a campfire or a grill fire. Always use hot glowing coals.
"Getaway Gulch Barbecued Lamb"
(Greek-Style Lamb Skewers)
Some of the finest friends I've had, and the nicest people I've known, are emigrants from literally every country in the world. Most early settlers of eastern Utah came to work in the coalmines or on the local railroad lines and as a result, coal-rich Carbon County has always been known as a "melting pot" of all peoples. Yup pards, this is where Butch Cassidy robbed the mine payroll and other desperados shot up our streets, a county attorney, and a couple of sheriffs. We’ve always enjoyed a special resolve here, as we simply have not experienced ethnic or cultural problems so prevalent in other communities. Somehow, everyone has always been respectful and courteous of one another’s allegiances and backgrounds and I've always been truly grateful for such an intermixture of nationalities in eastern Utah. After all, these folks elected me their sheriff!
Forget about soaking bamboo sticks, purchase a nice set of stainless steel skewers, and try alder or apple wood for grill-roasting and smoking marinated lamb. In Greece, of course, trimmed olive branches are used. By the way, did you know that in ancient Greece, it was illegal to cut down an olive tree? Yup! And the penalty? Death! Here are the ingredients for the marinade that “Gorgeous George” meticulously prepared. You may adjust the proportions yourself to cover the amount of meat you intend to baptize. Grill marinated lamb pieces on skewers, with staggered onions, green bell pepper chunks, and zucchini slices. Please don’t “cram” all the pieces together on the skewers. Allow a little space between each item so the heat and smoke may penetrate the food.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.5
ReplyDelete“Gorgeous George’s Marinated Lamb Skewers”
(Greek White Wine Marinade)
1 cup dry Greek white wine or sherry
3/4 cup Greek "fermented cooking sauce" * (soy or Worcestershire is ok)
8 tblspns. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
2 tblspns. extra virgin olive oil
juice of two lemons
juice of one lime
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. minced parsley
1/2 cup very hot water
Shred the needles from a few sprigs of rosemary and place them into a half-cup of very hot water with the parsley, lemon zest, thyme, and minced garlic. When the water cools to room temperature, add all the other ingredients, placing the mixture into a plastic food storage bag, along with lamb cut into 1" squares. Marinate the lamb chunks an hour or two before placing them upon skewers with larger pieces of onions and green bell peppers having been brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Include other favorite vegetables, chilies, or fruit and grill them above less hot coals with plenty of moistened hardwood chips or sawdust producing heavy smoke.
Greek Lamb Stew
Lamb cooked in the tradition of the Greeks in this part of the country is legendary and their recipes are certainly traced to the old country. Many of the best cowboys and sheep men in the west, have been of Greek decent. Simply ask anyone living in the Rockies. My ol' pal, George, a decorated war hero fighting the Nazis, immigrated to America following the war, where he owned and operated his Greek restaurant for years before passing away. As a young sheriff, I spent much of my time in his restaurant kitchen, a place I called "Getaway Gulch", and affectionately, I called him "Gorgeous George". The much reserved, white-haired, skilled Renaissance man was a true sourdough and he chivalrously overlooked my raw inexperience as he took me beneath his wing to prepare Greek lamb recipes of all types.
Lamb stew should really be called “lamb soup”. In the following recipe, cut the lamb into one-inch cubes and brown them inside a Dutch oven using a little olive oil. Some folks add a little lemon zest at this point. Add the green onions and the flour, stirring the mixture to cook the flour slightly. Care must be taken to avoid burning the green onions. Deglaze the cast iron using wine while scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the water, tomatoes, garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and bay leaf and simmer the mixture an hour. Remove the meat and strain the liquid into a bowl. Place the lamb back into the Dutch oven with the strained liquid. Discard the strained solids then season the stew to taste with salt and pepper. In a large black skillet, melt the butter over medium low heat then add the carrots, turnips, garlic, and onions, sautéing them until they are browned only. Add the vegetables to the broth and lamb inside the Dutch oven, covering and simmering the lamb stew for 30 minutes until the meat is tender, adding more water as necessary. Skim off the fat and serve the lamb stew with your own rustic garlic toasted bread.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.6
ReplyDelete"Hog Leg Lamb"
(Traditional Greek Lamb Stew)
4 lbs. lamb shoulder
2 tblspns. olive oil
4 tblspns. green onions (chopped)
2 tblspns. flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups water or stock
30 oz. tomatoes (diced)
6 large garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 tspn. thyme
1 tspn. rosemary
1/2 tspn. parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
6 carrots (shredded)
4 turnips (quartered)
1 rutabaga (large dice)
16 small white onions (peeled)
3 tblspns. butter
“Dry Gulch Garlic”
Garlic Butter
1 cup butter (softened)
6 cloves roasted garlic (paste)
2 tblspns. parsley (finely minced)
2 tblspns. onion (finely chopped)
1/2 tspn. freshly ground black pepper
With one stroke of a sharp knife, cut the tops from multiple cloves of garlic, as they remain attached to their roots in whole heads. Do not separate the cloves or remove their paper. Wrap each head in aluminum foil and bake them inside a 325-degree F. oven for an hour. When baked and cooled, squeeze the cooked garlic pasty pulp (flesh) from each clove and discard the skins. Mix the paste with the butter, parsley, onion, and black pepper. Spread the mixture on slices of Italian baguette and toast them in a hot oven a few minutes.
"Lawman's Lamb Stew"
(Western Lamb And Tomato Stew)
4 tblspns. tomato paste
1-cup chicken broth
1 tblspn. peanut oil
4 lbs. lamb stew meat
2 onions (chopped)
2 stalks celery (diced)
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1 beer
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 tspn. red pepper flakes
1 tspn. turmeric
1/4 tspn. black pepper.
40 oz. tomatoes (diced)
You’ll quickly notice a smooth tomato-celery combination in this recipe. The beer adds the flavor of hops and grains. Mix the tomato paste with the chicken broth then set it aside. Cut the lamb into one-inch dice and sear the meat in hot peanut oil inside a “campfire pre-heated” Dutch camp oven. Reduce the heat by removing the oven from the coals temporarily. Add the onions, celery, and garlic, “threatening” them with the residual heat of the cast iron a minute or two only, while they give up their flavors. Add the tomato-broth mixture and continue cooking, placing the oven back over the hot coals of the fire. Add the remaining ingredients except the tomatoes, cover the oven, and simmer the stew sixty minutes, checking the heat frequently while stirring it occasionally. Finally, add the tomatoes, cover the oven, and simmer the stew thirty more minutes having replenished the charcoal briquettes upon the oven’s lid. This is another lamb stew recipe customarily made without heavy, thickened, gravy.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.7
ReplyDelete"Tumbleweed Stew"
(Spring Lamb Stew)
2 lbs. boneless lamb shoulder
1/4-cup flour
1 tblspn. peanut oil
2 cups lamb or chicken stock
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 tspn. salt
1/4 tspn. black pepper
1/4 tspn. dried thyme
1/2 tspn. basil
1/2 tspn. oregano
28 oz. tomatoes (chopped)
1 cup fresh (or frozen) green beans
1 cup fresh (or frozen) peas
2 yellow onions (sliced)
Here’s lamb stew with fresh spring green beans and peas. Of course, you may use frozen vegetables if spring is yet a few months away. Cut the lamb into three-quarter inch dice and coat the pieces with flour. Heat the oil inside a Dutch oven over medium heat and brown the lamb. Add the stock, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme, reduce the heat, cover the oven, and simmer the stew sixty minutes, stirring it occasionally. Finally, add the basil, oregano, tomatoes, green beans, peas, and onions, cover the oven and simmer 15 more minutes or until the vegetables become tender. For maximum flavor, remember to saute’ and caramelize the onions before adding them to the stew.
Greek Festival Days And Lamb Stew
As far back as I’m able to remember, each August, the Greek folks in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado began sharpening their knives, collecting loads of garlic, hoarding rosemary, and diligently shopped for California lemons. It was (and is) Greek Festival Days and people attend from all over the west! Building a huge pavilion shelter near the Greek Church in Price, Utah, the festival easily handles hundreds of people at a time. Later during the month, they move the festivities to Salt Lake City and do it all over again! One must show up early, as there is always a line of folks waiting to get in. What a celebration it is, as all the wonderful older Greek ladies born in the old country show the youngsters how to prepare the delicacies for which they've become famous. The men roast and grill lamb while the women prepare grape leaves, stews, gyros, suvlaki, and other tasty tidbits of fine Greek culture. Everyone's favorite seems to be grilled lamb on a stick and multi-cultured folks just sit down and talk about the festival, enjoying each other's company. If you attend, please try the gyros and Greek lamb stew. Often hangin' around Gorgeous George and others of Greek ancestry, I learned how to prepare great Greek food when I was younger - not a bad endeavor for a pudgy little Swiss boy, eh?
The very best Greek Lamb Stew requires a little planning and preparation. First, slowly roast a leg of lamb using as much garlic, rosemary, and lemons as you can possibly load into the back of your pickup truck! Use a little sage with onion too. When the meat begins to separate from the bones, dice and reserve it. Kick up the heat and continue to roast the bone several hours.
Make your Greek Lamb Stew inside a large Dutch oven, preparing a "simmerin' sauce" by slowly cooking 1/2 cup burgundy wine with slices of a fresh yellow onion, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, a bay leaf, three crushed cloves of garlic, and a teaspoon of fresh rosemary. When the bone is well cooked, simmer it in the sauce and add as much lamb stock as you desire. Having refrigerated the mixture, skim off the fat. Strain the solids, add the lamb dice with chopped fresh parsley, shredded carrot, (try parsnip or turnip too) with frozen green peas, then simmer the stew until the carrots are barely tender. Wow, it just doesn't get better than this!
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.8
ReplyDelete"Robber's Roost Rack"
(Rack Of Lamb )
1 full rack of lamb (and don’t peel the bones!)
extra virgin olive oil
2 tblspns. rosemary (chopped)
2 tblspns. thyme (chopped)
salt and pepper
1 cup red wine
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tblspn. butter
Sheep have always naturally produced lambs in March and April. Now days, modern animal husbandry allows for lamb of varying ages to be available year round. As sheep age and mature, their meat becomes darker, gamier tasting, and less tender. Lamb is far more popular in other parts of the world, particularly the Mediterranean, than it is inside the United States. The average American scarcely consumes about a pound of lamb per year, with the rack of lamb, cut from the rib section, being almost everyone’s favorite. Why do Americans persist in not cooking rabbits or lamb? What is wrong with us?
Whenever particular folks order a rack of lamb inside an classy restaurant, they invariably receive an expensive full rack containing eight ribs with the bones “Frenched”, having the meat scraped away from the tips for a nice appearance. It is time to shoot the cook again as any legitimate, literate, lamb lover on the level will tell you that the best part of feasting on rack of lamb is nibbling on the bones afterward. The bones are delectable, and even though propriety should restrain a well-mannered cowpoke from gnawing on them in public, stark concerns of etiquette often cheat a genuine mutton maniac out of a delicious snack the following day. We should lynch the dude who decided naked bones look better than meaty ones. Assuming four chops will serve one person, one rack will feed two people.
The chine bone, part of the spine, if not removed, will prevent the cutting of individual chops. Ask your butcher to remove it or do it yourself. Trim only part of the excess fat from the rack as some of it is needed to naturally baste the meat as it cooks. Lightly brush the meat with olive oil, then sprinkle both sides with half of the rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Place the rack into a large Dutch oven or cast iron roasting pan, with a grate on the bottom, and cook it at 375 degrees F. Forget the cooking time and cook the lamb by registering its temperature frequently. Remove the lamb when a thermometer placed dead center inside the meat reads 125˚ F. degrees for rare, 130˚ F. for medium rare, and 135˚ F. for medium. Remove the roast from the Dutch oven, place it upon a serving platter, cover it with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest while the meat re-absorbs its juices. Don’t even think about cooking the lamb any longer!
For sauce, place the Dutch oven over hot coals or a high burner, add the wine, bring it to a boil and deglaze the fond, scraping the browned bits from the bottom. Add the remaining rosemary and thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Reduce the sauce to at least half, add the butter at the end, and then strain it. Carve the roast into individual chops and pour the sauce over them. For a delicious variation, you may substitute homemade beef or veal stock for the wine, or use a combination of stock and wine.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P.9
ReplyDelete"Bootjack’s Broiled Baa-Baa"
(Broiled Lamb)
A “bootjack” is a pivoted plank of wood with a leather-lined notched “V” cut into one end where a cowboy places the heel of each boot to easily remove both at the end of a hard day. “Bootjack” Henry came from western Canada where his face appeared upon various wanted posters. We didn’t ask, and he didn’t explain. We instantly liked the personable man as he proved himself to be an experienced and reliable ranch hand, and an outstanding cook. Bootjack tucked his pant legs inside his boots, buttoned his shirt collar, parted his slicked-down hair in the middle, and everyone teased him about style that had gone out with the stagecoach to Tucson... that is, until he put lamb cuts on the grill to broil. Whenever the other ranch hands began combing their hair and tuckin' in their pant cuffs, they could depend on broiled lamb for supper, knowing the secrets of great broiled chops never go out of style. Bootjack’s favorite ol' sourdough tricks included butterflying the cuts then marinating them three hours in any real wine with garlic, lemon, rosemary, and other favorite spices and herbs. The meat was drained and the marinade was brought to a boil and used later in the basting process. Bootjack mixed a rub with salt, pepper, and something he called "necessary and imperative" - a mixture of fresh rosemary, garlic powder (not garlic salt), grated lemon rind, and oregano. The ol' cow-cusser broiled the lamb four inches from the heat source for four minutes, then, turning the meat over, six inches from the heat source for six minutes. He sliced a piece to see if the center was barely pink, knowing he may have had to char the surface just a bit longer by placing the meat closer to the heat source.
Greek Gyros
Gyros, (pronounced “yuros”), are delicious wraps of lamb, cheese, vegetables, and a special Greek “Tzatziki sauce made with yogurt, garlic, lemon, and cucumber. Large restaurants stack pounds of lamb onto vertical rotisseries and slowly roast the meat as it turns (consequently the name gyro), shaving off long, perfectly roasted crispy strips. Highly spiced with oregano and onion, the mixture is bound by Pita pocket bread.
Here’s an authentic Pita bread recipe I stole from a Greek Goddess after she broke my heart more years ago than I care to remember. In the Middle East, this recipe (in Arabic) is called Khyubz. The Greeks call it Pita in the west. The bread is soft, chewy, absorbent, easily reheated, and the hollow pouch is perfect for wrapping Lamb Gyros. Store unused bread in plastic bags to keep it from drying out. Don't confuse Greek “Pita” with Turkish-made "Pide" bread, made with similar ingredients but with added black sesame seeds and egg glaze.
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Lamb …(With A Little Bull) P. 10
ReplyDelete“Ranch House Pita Bread”
(Greek Pita Bread Made In The Ranch Oven)
2 tspns. dry yeast
½ tspn. sugar
1-1/4 cups water
3-3/4 cups bread flour
1 tspn. sea salt
2 tblspns. olive oil
Add the yeast, having checked the expiration date, and sugar to half the water, stir to dissolve it, and allow it stand five minutes. Mix the salt with the flour inside a large bowl and make a “well” in the center of the mixture. Pour in the dissolved yeast and the olive oil and start mixing the ingredients together. Add the remaining water a little at a time as needed to make a firm, soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it about fifteen minutes. The dough will soften a bit as you work with it. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and turn it to coat the dough evenly. Cover the mixture with a dishtowel and allow it to rise 1-1/2 hours. Punch the dough down and allow it to rest ten minutes.
Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Roll out each dough ball on a lightly floured surface, forming quarter-inch thick ovals each about nine inches long. Cover the ovals with a dishtowel and allow them to proof twenty minutes while they rise slightly.
Dust two baking sheets with flour and preheat them to 425 degrees F. for five minutes. Place the ovals onto the baking sheets and return them immediately to the hot oven. Bake the Pitas from five to ten minutes until they puff and begin to turn golden brown. Remove the Pitas from the oven and wrap them in a clean, dry cloth to keep the crusts soft and the bread moist. If you prefer whole-wheat Pitas, substitute ¾ cup of the white flour in the recipe with whole-wheat flour.
“Pistolero’s Pita”
(Greek Pita Bread For Lamb Gyros On The Trail)
3 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup tepid water (about 110 degrees F.)
1 packet of yeast (check the expiration date)
1 tspn. honey or sugar
1 tspn. salt
1 tspn. olive oil
In a large bowl, stir the yeast, whole-wheat flour, and the honey (or sugar) into the water and allow it to proof ten minutes. Add two cups of the white flour with the salt and stir the mixture into a batter. With your hands, mix in the remaining cup of flour and the olive oil and knead the mixture into dough.
Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour or until it has doubled in volume. Punch down the dough, transfer it to a floured surface, and knead it a bit. Divide the dough into 6 ball pieces making sure you have plenty of flour on your work surface. Roll each ball flat, only 1/16” thin, allowing the circles to rest for half an hour. If you are at home, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. On the trail, use a very hot black iron skillet or camp-style Dutch oven. Many times, I’ve flipped over the lid of a camp Dutch oven, placing it upon the very hot coals of my campfire. It made a fine pita “griddle”.
Always allow any cooking utensil to completely heat up before placing food upon or inside it. Spread a little cooking oil upon the surface and bake pita bread at a very hot 500 degrees! At this temperature, the bread’s surface will quickly brown as its soft interior bakes. To maintain the supple texture of each pita, place them into a paper bag and close it. When they’ve cooled, slice them in half and open the pockets with a table knife.
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“Getaway Gulch Gyros” With “Tzatziki sauce” (P.11)
ReplyDelete(Greek Lamb Gyros)
1 lb. lamb (ground)
2 tblspns. yogurt (for marinating lamb)
1 slice of day old white bread
2- tblspns. milk
1-tblspn. olive oil
1-cup onion (minced)
1-cup red onions (sliced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 tblspns. lemon juice
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn ground cumin
1 cucumber (seeded and finely diced)
¾ cup nonfat yogurt (drained) for Tzatziki Sauce
1 tspn. fresh mint (finely chopped)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup tomato (diced)
Feta cheese (crumbled)
4 “Pistolero’s Pita” or “Ranch House Pita” breads
Marinate the lamb in a couple of tablespoons of yogurt overnight then shake off the excess yogurt. Soak the bread slice with the 2 tablespoons of milk and crush it into a panade with a fork. Using your hands, mix the bread panade well with the marinated ground lamb. Saute’ the onion and garlic in the olive oil then place the mixture into a bowl with the lamb, oregano, and cumin. Mix the ingredients thoroughly then shape four thin patties. Grill the patties only a couple of minutes on each side over medium low direct heat with a little hickory smoke, while you make a “Tzatziki sauce” combining the cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice and mint in small bowl. Cut around the edge of each pita bread and pull them open to form pockets. Fill each pita with the lettuce, red onion slices, tomato, lamb, Feta cheese, and the yogurt Tzatziki mixture. Grilled chicken breasts, marinated overnight in yogurt, cut into large dice, may be substituted for the lamb, as some misinformed, hoodwinked, and persnickety folks just don’t seem to care for good lamb.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
PuhLEEEEZE! ...make him STOP! (...sob)
ReplyDeleteNaw. Actually, I just finished inputting and putting in Chuckwagon's most recent batch of recipes. You can find 'em over at the main website, SausagesWest.com, under "Departments" in the "Sausage Recipes (Other Recipes Too!)" heading [along the left side]. There's some "good eatin' " in there (except maybe for the duck recipes). The lamb recipes look particularly good. Try 'em!
Duk
Originally posted by Chuckwagon
ReplyDeleteRobber’s Roost Rawhide - Black Pepper Semi-Dry Cured Meat Stick
I've put together a snack stick over a period of time, that closely imitates Polish kabanosy but is more chewy in texture and is flavored with salt, garlic, and black pepper only. It’s made of pork and is an emulsified sausage, containing more than the average amount of coarsely-ground fresh black pepper to give it a snappy bite. To keep the texture lubricated, it contains about 25% fat. The primary bind is cased in 19 m.m. collagen casings in a rope coil. Don't bother to tie the ends off; just snip the stuff into one-foot lengths with a pair of scissors after it sets up in the casing about twenty minutes. Next, they go onto sausage racks for the smoker where they are smoke-cooked about twenty minutes at 225˚ F., until they reach 150˚ F. IMT. When they have returned to room temperature, they go into the dry-cooler for three days of drying. I like the stuff more than jerky and can't even think anymore without a "chaw" in my mouth! Here’s the recipe:
9-1/2 lbs. pork butt
½ lb. pork backfat
4-1/2 tblspns. kosher salt
2 tspns. cure #1 (U.S.stregth)
1 tblspn. sugar
2 tblspns. granulated garlic
2 tblspns. coarse black pepper
Cut the meat into cubes, 2 inch or less, removing as much fat as possible. Freeze the fat then mix the meat with all the remaining ingredients. Pack the mixture tightly into a container to eliminate air and cover the meat with a clean cloth. Place it in a cooler at 3-6° C. (38-42° F) for 72 hours.
Grind the meat using a 3/8” plate, then refrigerate it for half an hour while you grind the frozen fat using a 1/8” plate. After placing the fat back into the freezer twenty minutes, mix it with the ground pork. Place 2 pound batches of the mixture into a food processor and emulsify the meat using just enough water to lubricate the mixture and keep the motor from loading up. (Beginners: don’t use too much water in the mixture as the collagen casings will fail). Be careful not to overly develop the actomyocin at this point by allowing too much time in the processor. It is not necessary to blend the mixture further to develop the actin and myosin proteins. Stuff the emulsified meat into 19 mm collagen casing, making a continuous coil. After cleaning your equipment, snip the sausage into 12” lengths and place them on a smoking rack. Smoke-cook the “snack-stix” at just over 200˚ F. until the IMT reaches 150˚. Careful now… it only takes about 20 minutes. Finally, dry the sticks 3 days at 75 % humidity at cooler temperatures. Around 50˚ F. is ideal although they may be refrigerated conveniently at 38˚ if preferred. Keep your immediate stash in a paper lunch bag and vacuum package the rest. If mold develops on your “cache”, simply wipe it off. The yield is about 55% (a moisture loss of 45% by weight). I hope you enjoy this stuff as much as I do.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon