Smoked Meats Part 1: Kielbasa

Someone recently left a smoker in our community garden, so our meat projects have taken a new turn.  It takes a couple hours, but is a pretty easy set up, and everything has turned out great.

The trial run was kielbasa, Polish smoked sausage.  We've done sausages before, but this was our first try at an emulsified sausage (extra mixing and crushed ice to make a smoother textured sausage).  It was much trickier to stuff, but turned out great.  Recipe (again) from Ruhlman/Polcyn's Charcuterie.

Not very pretty when they're uncooked.

The smoking takes a couple hours.  The basic set up is in layers: hot charcoal, wet wood chips, water, and the sausage on top like a regular barbecue.  The internal temperature stays below 200F so the meat cooks slowly and takes in the smoke.

The finished product!

The sauerkraut is store bought, but we'll try that again soon.

Pickling Spice

You can buy pickling spice from the store, but making it is easy if you have all the spices.  It's good to have around and is an ingredient in other projects such as corned beef and pastrami (and pickles).

From Ruhlman/Polcyn's Charcuterie:

2 tablespoons each peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, hot red pepper flakes, allspice berries

1 tablespoon ground mace

2 cinnamon sticks, crushed

24 bay leaves, crushed

2 tablespoons whole cloves

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Toast the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and coriander and crack lightly.  Combine with other spices and store in a jar.

Christmas Tamales

This year we got to participate in my mom's new tradition of the annual tamale party.  Tamales are fairly easy, but require enough steps and set up that they're usually made for holidays or parties when there are lots of people around to help and eat.

The basic parts of a tamale are the corn husk wrapper, the masa dough and the filling (we usually do a turkey and a black bean).


Ingredients:
Corn husks
Ancho chilies
Garlic, cumin, oregano
Turkey (or other meat)
Masa flour
Shortening
Vegetable stock
Salt


Step 1: Soaking the corn husks

You can buy packages of corn husks in most grocery stores now- they come dried and need to be soaked in hot tap water for at least 5 hours before they can be used.

Step 2: The filling


























Soak one package of dried ancho chilies in boiling water until soft (about 1/2 hour).  Pull out stem and seeds, keeping only skins and some liquid.  Blend with garlic, cumin, oregano and mix with turkey meat.  Cook on low until liquid boils down.


Step 3: The Masa dough

 

The dough is typically made with lard.  To be healthier and vegetarian friendly, we usually make it with Crisco.  We found that one batch makes about 35 small tamales. I think we ended up with four batches...

First beat 2/3 cup shortening in a mixer for about 30 seconds.  In a separate bowl, combine 4 cups  masa flour and 2 teaspoons salt.  Take 3 cups of broth (we use vegetable), and gradually add to the shortening, alternating with the masa mixture, until well combined.  Finally, melt 1/3 cup shortening and beat into the dough.  The result should be soft, like cookie dough. 

 

Cider

Farmhouse Cheddar Part 6: Waxing

Farmhouse Cheddar Part 5: Pressing

Break-up the curd. Walnut sized chunks.

Into the cheesecloth lined press.

Set up the pressure spring.

Press out that whey.

Farmhouse Cheddar Part 4: A Tablespoon of Bonus Ricotta

You save that whey?

Good, you get a tablespoon of ricotta for free!