<Godfather Voice>
You could also use it to......... take care of..... a few select annoyances. Capiche`?
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Those things work awesome, thats what I use.
They really aren't that expensive.............
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They are actually pretty reasonable, but to only use it a couple of times a year AND have to find a place to store it...I just can't justify the cost and harrasement from my wife :-). She is actually pretty tolerant of all my hobbies, but I know my limits. That's one of the reasons we've been married 20 years this fall.
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You should post up some pics and recipes of your recent efforts.
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Took the plunge today, and tried my hand at sausage.
I was shocked at fast I was progressing through the steps until I got to the stuffing part.
There's a bit of a learning curve there.
The recipe I used wasn't what I was expecting, damn tasty, just not what I was expecting.
Did a 5 pound batch, next time will be more.

Here's the results.

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:-):-)

Looks delicious Dom!
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Well done, Dom.
You should post up your recipe.
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Those look great Dom.
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Thanks fellas

Peter, the recipe is from here

I followed it to the letter to get an idea how the flavors come together.
I already made some notes on changes, and will see how well they work.
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:-)
I've made that one a number of times and like it a lot!
In general, for a 5 lb. pork recipe, I use 4 pounds of pork shoulder and 1 pound of bacon.
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I thought about adding some bacon, but this particular shoulder had a real thick fat cap on it, so I passed on it.
In the future, I'll likely add it.
Curious, when making this recipe, what kind of wine do you use?
Anything in particular, or whatever's open?
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I'll use any moderately priced ($6-$9) cab/merlot/zin/syrah. I will open a bottle to drink and cook with.
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Dom, one trick you might want to do next time (if you didn't already) is to weigh out each of your spice measurements, especially the salt. Different salts have different size grains, thus different weights tbsp to tbsp. this will allow you tweak the recipe more for your liking next time.

Here's a great calculator for figuring out batch sizes/ratios. http://www.lartigiano.co.uk/Documents/BatchCalc.xls

Nice to grind up all the meat, then do 227-453g (1/2lb to 1lb) batches with different spice levels. Easier to hone in on the recipe you like in smaller batches.

You can stuff if you want, or just wrap in cling film, then poach till cooked thru. Unwrap and fry to get crispy.
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Btw Dom, those look damn tasty. :-)
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:-):-)
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Thanks for the tip, Bob! :-)
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I haven't found it to be that critical, so I just use 2-buck chuck cab or merlot.
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So, the first batch was downright awful!
So bad I wouldn't give it away.
Took some time, reworked the recipe, and made a second attempt last weekend.

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Fried some up and made sausage and peppers hero's.

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Much, much better, but the flavor was lacking and/or too mild.
Another issue I had was with the texture, it just wasn't right.
I was using the coarse attachment to my grinder.
So I reworked the recipe again, ground half the meat with the fine attachment, the other half coarse, and tried again last night.
I think I'm settled on the recipe, and the texture is better, but not perfect.
There is a medium grind attachment that I can buy for the grinder, but it's out of stock right now. :-)
Luckily between the last 2 attempts, I have 20+ pounds of sausage, so I have some time before I need the attachment. :-)


Anyways, here's my recipe, until I change it.

10 lbs pork
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayanne pepper
2 teaspoons anise seed
2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 cup paprika
1/2 cup Ice water
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Looks good to me Dom.
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Looks :-):-) Dom!

Part of the fun of making sausage, BBQ, etc. is the trial and error (my :-) at least).
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