Food Trip Report and Gear Review Thread

[deadheadskier]

While we have the what's for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner threads, this thread here is for the folks who are serious about their food. Maybe it's a killer recipe you wish to post or you've mastered a certain cooking technique, perhaps you went out to one of the finest restaurants in your area or your a cooking gear head and want to talk about your latest addition to your kitchen quiver (that means you root)

this is the thread for it.

Chow!

 

[RootDKJ]

Sub-forum anyone?

 

[deadheadskier]

The Weston Brand Meat Grinder and Sausage Stuffer

As mentioned in earlier posts in other threads, I've had a desire to pick up a meat grinder / sausage stuffer. My desire for this is to buy whole pieces of meat instead of portion control as it's considerably less expensive and you have better control over your portions. The problem in doing so is you're left with lots of scrap.

Enter the Weston Brand Meat Grinder and Sausage Stuffer, purchased for $35 through Bed, Bath and Beyond:

I received this through the mail earlier in the week. As I had no need to buy a whole pork loin or large beef cut, but wanted to get to work with it, I purchased a 3 pound pork shoulder for $5.50. Finding sausage casings would prove to be challenging though. Throughout my travels for work this week I'd stop at every butcher and grocery store I came across and they all looked at me like I had ten heads.

So, the first thing I made was a bit of ground Italian sausage for some enchiladas. The first thing I immediately noticed when cooking this fresh ground is how much leaner it was than store bought. It really made me wonder how much crap stores put in their sausage. In side by side pans I cooked off 90 % lean ground beef and my own sausage and the amount of grease/fat produced from the beef was literally ten times that of the sausage. The beef had to be strained off, while the sausage could come direct out of the pan.

Sausage was very good, but the left overs incorporated into a pasta sauce the next night was TRIPLE as flavorful. So, if you make sausage at home, I recommend you make it the day prior.

Fast forward a couple of days. Finally yesterday I find my sausage casings at Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Saugus, Mass. Even this master sausage maker looked at me funny when I asked for casings. I guess I'm way in the minority for wanting to make fresh sausage at home.

Sausage casings come in a bag of salt and water. They're basically intestine linings and come in a package that is enough for 100 pounds of sausage. Before you use them, you have to take the ten foot lengths and put them around your sink faucet and flush the inside outs, then they can be repacked in a salt water mixture and will last basically forever

So, I got to work last night and decided to make some bratwurst, minus the ground veal

The Weston in action

after grinding and mixing in the spices I got to stuffing. This was a bit challenging to get the right flow of the meat being pushed out of the Weston and into the casings, so I couldn't snap an action shot as it requires two hands to do.

...but here is the finished product

I ate the little guy on the end last night and it was delicious. As with my earlier experiment, I think the others will be far more flavorful today and tomorrow, in fact I know it because they smell so FRICKIN' good. I'll have one tonight after work and report back.

I also made breakfast sausage patties last night and had them for breakfast this morning and they were amazing.

Can't wait to make some chicken sausages, seafood sausages etc. :grin: And I definitely can't wait to get a smoker someday for some smoked sausage.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

mmmm FRESH SAUSAGE!!!!!!! I agree a food and drink forum would be nice. Epicski has one..

 

[RootDKJ]

looks awesome, the one my gramps gave me looks similar, but it's an electric one from the 50's.

what combination of spices (if any) did you add to the mixture?

pork shoulder also makes for some excellent pulled pork out of the Orion. I picked up a 9 pounder at BJ's today for $13.

 

[deadheadskier]

I used a blend of Salt, Pepper, Ground Mustard, Garlic powder, All Spice, Savory and Cayenne.

Next attempt will be chicken sausage of some sort. Gonna buy a few birds today, butcher off the breasts then take the remaining meat and grind it up.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Nice, for a first effort, DHS. Fennel and sage is a nice additive for certain sausage as well. Enjoy grinding your meat.

 

[RootDKJ]

I'm really gonna have to give that a try....after ski season

 

[deadheadskier]

Nice, for a first effort, DHS. Fennel and sage is a nice additive for certain sausage as well. Enjoy grinding your meat.

Knew I was forgetting something. I did incorporate fennel into that sausage. I used Sage in my breakfast sausage blend, which also had salt, brown sugar, majoram and maple syrup.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Reminds me of Abe Froman..Sausage King of Chicago..

When I'm moderator..not only will there be a Food forum..but a Sausage sub-forum..and also Bacon...maybe even Scrapple..JEA!!!!

 

[WoodCore]

Reminds me of Abe Froman..Sausage King of Chicago..

When I'm moderator..not only will there be a Food forum..but a Sausage sub-forum..and also Bacon, ...maybe even Scrapple..JEA!!!!

Easy Homer! :lol: Just call it the Pork forum!

 

[Geoff]

I kept it simple today. I made a quiche with onion, mushroom, broccoli, spinach, and fresh-grated Parmigiano Reggiano. A simple flour, salt, shortening, & water crust. I used a Nalgene water bottle to roll out the pie crust.

 

[deadheadskier]

fresh-grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

GAH!!!!

I should have stated a disclaimer for the thread. There shall be NO, ZERO, NONE, ZILCH usage of common Rachel Ray sayings. No Parmigiano Reggiano, no Yummo, no Delish, no EVOO :uzi:

 

[RootDKJ]

gah!!!!

I should have stated a disclaimer for the thread. There shall be no, zero, none, zilch usage of common rachel ray sayings. No parmigiano reggiano, no yummo, no delish, no evoo :uzi:

lol

 

[Geoff]

GAH!!!!

I should have stated a disclaimer for the thread. There shall be NO, ZERO, NONE, ZILCH usage of common Rachel Ray sayings. No Parmigiano Reggiano, no Yummo, no Delish, no EVOO :uzi:

Parmigiano Reggiano is not a Rachel Ray saying. It's a specific kind of cheese that I use all the time. I was buying it long before there was a Food Network.

What would you like me to call it? Parm Reg?

I'm from New Bedford where everybody looks and talks like Emeril. We should also ban "Step it up a notch" and "Bam!".

 

[deadheadskier]

Oh, I know it's a specific cheese, Rachel just happens to use it all the time too and a pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth drives me nuts :lol:. The lady likes her show and is usually watching it while I'm cooking dinner. It is a concession I make in our relationship that borders on cruel and unusual punishment. :lol:

 

[ctenidae]

Had breakfast at the Glory Days Diner in Greenwich on Saturday. I give it a C-.
Family Diner in Norwalk gets a B.
Breakfast Club in Allston, MA is the benchmark A.
Victorias in Boston is a B
White Front in Wilmington, NC is an A
Saltworks II in Wilmington is also an A

 

[Marc]

Oh, I know it's a specific cheese, Rachel just happens to use it all the time too and a pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth drives me nuts :lol:. The lady likes her show and is usually watching it while I'm cooking dinner. It is a concession I make in our relationship that borders on cruel and unusual punishment. :lol:

Yeah, but Giada uses it all the time too, so that kind of counter balances it. Besides being way hotter than Rachel, Giada actually knows how to cook, too.

 

[deadheadskier]

Yeah, but Giada uses it all the time too, so that kind of counter balances it. Besides being way hotter than Rachel, Giada actually knows how to cook, too.

Well, with Giada, I'm usually far too distracted to listen to what she's talking about

 

[Geoff]

For some thread contamination....