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Green Bay cheese and jalapeno bratwurst

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:30:00 +0000

Common knowledge (aka "Google") tells us that sausages have been around for 2,500 years, mentioned in a Greek comedy, "Orya" ("The Sausage"), written by Epicharmus of (not Daily) Kos in 500 B.C. Even earlier than that, Homer mentioned a blood sausage in "The Odyssey." Fine and dandy, but this was a couple millennia before the essential machinery -- grinders and stuffers -- were invented. So how did they grind the meat and how did they get it into casings?

If you’ve ever had mincemeat pie, you have a clue on the grinder. Before grinders, meat was finely chopped on a cutting board or tabletop. Before stuffers, a funnel was used to get the meat into the casing.

I wanted to try the latter technique this week, but I quickly ran into a roadblock: finding a funnel that would work. I went to Lowe’s and all it had was gasoline funnels. The nozzle was too wide. Off to Walmart. Only kitchen funnels and the nozzle was too short to hold a casing. The other stuffer substitute that came to mind, a pastry bag, would not work for the recipe I made because the cheese wouldn’t go through it.

Cheese and jalapeno sausage recipe

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:30:00 +0000

Ingredients

1 pound 80 lean:20 fat ground pork
3 ounces chopped jalapeños
5 ounces cubed cheddar cheese
½ teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
½ teaspoon white pepper, ground
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
½ cup beer, preferably from Milwaukee

Directions

Mix all ingredients. Stuff into 22mm collagen casing.
Tie off at 6-inch intervals. Jab casings with a fork to prevent them from breaking (and allow poaching liquid inside).
Pour two bottles of cold beer into a large pot and add the sausage.
Set heat to medium low and poach until the temperature of the poaching liquid reaches 170°F.
Remove sausages and rinse. Chill overnight. Separate them and remove strings. They are fully cooked, but may be grilled at game time.
Reserve poaching liquid for cooking up some sauerkraut for accompaniment.

Hot chile nuts — crunchy, sweet and fiery

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:01:00 +0000

To read Paul's story on his inspiration for these nuts, a chance meeting with Rebecca Clark, civil rights hero and mother to a bawdy soul singer, click here.

Chile Powder

Makes about ½ cup

We'll get started by making some chile powder. It's not really necessary, but the powder you make will be better than the stuff you buy. These dried ancho, arbol and pequin peppers are easy to find in the Hispanic aisle of your local Piggly Wiggly. You might have to order the cascabels and chipotles. Or substitute other peppers. You can make your powder as spicy or mild as you like, or alternatively, you can just jazz up the powder you buy with some additional peppers.

Ingredients

1-2 ancho chiles
1-2 cascabel chiles
1-2 chipotle chiles
2 arbol chiles
1 teaspoon pequin chile
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Hot chile nuts recipe

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Chile Powder

Makes about ½ cup

Ingredients

1-2 ancho chiles
1-2 cascabel chiles
1-2 chipotle chiles
2 arbol chiles
1 teaspoon pequin chile
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano

How to cure salmon (gravlax)

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Dill and alcohol in a dry salt-and-sugar cure are the defining ingredients for the silky, sweet-and-salty cured salmon called gravlax. Most recipes call for vodka, but I got inspired a few years back when I found that flavors in aquavit match those in the gravlax cure -- specifically dill (Danish Aalborg "Dild"), caraway and coriander. I thought I was some kinda hotshot for making this connection, but while checking out some online recipes I discovered that Mark Bittman (The Minimalist) made his first batch that way many years ago. (He still had half a bottle leftover in his liquor cabinet; that would never happen around here.) In fact, the Scandinavian connection between gravlax and caraway-flavored vodka is probably not coincidental; the tradition of "drinking snaps" -- having a mutual shot of booze (or more) during the course of the meal (preceded by a drinking song or snapsvisa) -- might have led to an "accidental invention."

Dill-coriander cured salmon (gravlax)

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:01:00 +0000

I modified this recipe from "Professional Charcuterie" by John Kinsella and David T. Harvey.

Gravlax

Ingredients

1 1½ to 3 pound, very fresh, clean-smelling salmon fillet
6 ounces coarse kosher salt
3 ounces brown sugar
1 tablespoon white pepper (or grains of paradise, if you got 'em)
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon juniper berries (¼ ounce = about 1 tablespoon for all)
Fresh dill, to taste
2 ounces (¼ cup) aquavit or vodka

Winner: Asparagus prosciutto tart

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:01:00 +0000

This winning entry for the Salon Kitchen Challenge -- in which we asked readers to come up with their finest springtime asparagus recipes -- comes to us courtesy of Paul Hinrichs. Check out this week's Challenge here.

Back in their heyday, the Who were a visual feast as well as a damn good rock band. Keith Moon destroying his drum kit while Pete did windmill strumming and Roger crooned into the microphone. But there was one figure who seemed detached from it all, almost an afterthought to the orgiastic onstage frenzy. His name was John Entwistle, the bassist, and he was the anchor. Only his fingers moved (and they moved pretty fast). He was the essential pro sideman laying down a solid safety net for a musical trapeze act.

I thought of Entwistle when I thought of asparagus for this week's Kitchen Challenge. It's always off on the side of the plate, maybe pickled or in hollandaise, while prime rib or slices of lamb take center stage and get all the attention. "There's no way asparagus can make it as a solo act," I thought, and gave up. Then I thought of an asparagus tart, and the wispy rhymes of a mental recipe began to form verses.