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Omnivoria:
The Co-op’s Own Pork Sausages
by Alice Swan, from the March 2007 newsletter
A quick Google search for “making pork sausage” turns up over one million hits, including, close to the top, one for “Why you shouldn’t buy store-made pork sausage,” from “Ask the Meatman.” The reason, according to the Meatman, is that many stores make their sausage from “pulls,” pork roasts that have been pulled from the shelf because they haven’t sold. It’s enough to start the flashbacks to 10th grade when I read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle for my American History class.
Rest assured, nothing the least bit sketchy or marginal goes into the Co-op’s sausages. Scott (the Meat department manager) orders pork shoulder and picnic (a cut which constitutes partly shoulder, partly leg) from Beeler’s Natural Pork specifically for making sausage. (See more on Beeler’s Pork). No old meat, no less-than-desirable trimmings, no organs. The only thing Scott adds to the meat is spices, and the results are mighty tasty.
I asked Scott where he learned to make sausage, and his response ought to convince anyone that he is a master of the craft. He learned at the Sheboygan Meat Market in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, formerly the Johnsonville Market. Yes, that’s Johnsonville as in Johnsonville Brats. He told me that that sometimes they would make 400 pounds of bratwurst in a day to get ready for the weekend. We Midwesterners are pretty serious about our brats, and I know just what Scott was talking about when he described people out in freezing temperatures firing up the coals to cook those brats. I’ve been there.
From Scott’s description, the sausage-making process is a pretty low-tech, old-fashioned endeavor. They have a meat grinder with a horn that feeds the ground meat and spice mixture into the casings, and once the casings are full, they twist and cut the individual links by hand. For more on this process, visit www.sausagemania.com/tutorial.html, which has a “photo tutorial” of home sausage making, complete with a kibitzer in the background.
Scott, with help from Jacob, makes a variety of different types of sausage, both bulk and links. These include hot and sweet Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, chorizo, and a variety of brats. The flavored brats are made by simply adding Scott’s signature marinades (rosemary-dijon or Jamaican jerk) to the regular bratwurst mix. Scott and Jacob don’t have a regular schedule for sausage-making, but they do try to rotate which types are available. If you are ever in need of, say, Jamaican Jerk brats on a particular day, just give them a call a few days in advance, and they’ll be happy to make some for you.
All the talk of bratwurst has given me quite a hankering to eat some, but they really don’t need much of a recipe. Boil them in beer, then toss them on the grill until they’re nice and browned, pile on the sauerkraut and mustard, and enjoy. My real intention in writing this column was to share two very simple recipes for Italian sausage. For anyone who read this column last month, Sausage and Beans was the dish my husband was making when the Italian butcher insisted that the sausages he wanted were not fresh enough, because they hadn’t been made the same day. Both of these recipes are rich and comforting, perfect for those last days of lingering cold, rainy weather. And the Co-op’s sausages are so fresh and flavorful (I particularly like the amount of fennel in the sweet Italian sausages) that they don’t need anything fancy to make them taste wonderful.
Fagioli con Salsicce (Italian Sausages and Beans)
From Flavours of Italy: Tuscany by Sara Vignozzi and Gabriella Ganugi
8 Italian pork sausages (hot or sweet, or a combination)
½ cup hot water
5 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 fresh sage leaves
2 cups (1 pound) canned Italian tomatoes, sieved
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper
1 ½ pounds canned cannellini beans or 2 cups dried cannellini beans, soaked and precooked
Pierce the sausages in 3 or 4 places and cook in a skillet with the water over fairly high heat about 10-12 minutes, turning frequently. Pour the oil into a large skillet and add the garlic. Cook over a low heat with the sage, tomatoes, salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Increase the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add the beans and sausages, cover and cook over a moderate heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve very hot with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmigiano.
Torquato’s Leek and Sausage Farinata
Adapted from Red, White & Greens: The Italian Way with Vegetables by Faith
Willinger
2 leeks, about 2 cups chopped
6 cups water
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 cup cornmeal
1 pound sausage (hot or sweet) without casing
3 Tablespoons olive oil plus more for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Clean the leeks, and cut white and light green parts into ½-inch slices. Bring 6 cups water to a rolling boil, add 1-2 tsp salt and sprinkle the cornmeal into the water, stirring to prevent lumping. (Faith says then to place this pot in a double boiler; I just use a heavy pot over very low heat). While the polenta is cooking, sauté the sausage over high heat in a large skillet, mashing with a wooden spoon to crumble. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and add to the polenta. Place the leeks in the skillet and cook (either in the sausage fat, or throw the sausage fat out and use olive oil) over low heat for 10 minutes or until soft. Add the leeks to the polenta and continue cooking until the polenta is done, 30-45 minutes total. Ladle the farinata into soup bowls and top each with a sprinkle of grated cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few twists of freshly ground pepper.
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