Quick Summer Sausage

 It's been a bit cold, what with winter, so I got to thinking of summer sausage. Normally summer sausage is cured and dried at warmish temperatures, which results in a sour flavor as bacteria produce acid during fermentation. This is a sort of fast, cooked version of that which is good for a quick fix!

 See how I substituted for the sour flavor without actually fermenting anything after the break.

December Links

 I've subscribed to some blogs and online news outlets that discuss Norwegian culture since I've been studying the language, and came across some things that I'd really like to make and/or eat. This being December, some of them are holiday related. Also, thai food.

a portion my holiday jelly ring(rectangle) production

Sylte is pretty much a norwegian pressed headcheese. I find it interesting that there is a dedicated pressing tool, and it reminds me of the french duck press, except without the blood and... well, honestly they're not at all releated except I know of no other meat-pressing devices.

lussekatter*

Lussekatter are a saffron flavored yeasted bread/cake that is pretty wonderful with tea or hot chocolate. I made some last week for the first time and I fully intend to do it again a couple more times before the winter is through. They're so full of sugar and fat that they keep for a pretty long time, if you can avoid eating them all in a couple of days. I don't remember where the recipe I started with was from, but I changed it around a little bit and recorded the ingredient amounts in metric masses as I put it together. I may get around to making this a blog post, but in the meantime here is my formula, with the kinks not worked out as of this writing.

Thai Street Food is a beautiful book I received for Christmas, full of recipes for things Jenny and I ate in Thailand and I can't wait to start cooking a whole bunch of different things out of it. There's even recipe for black chicken! I've been looking at those darkly-colored birds at the asian market nearby and wondering what the hell to do with them for years. Now I know!


*photo from kj.vogelius via CC license

Chicken Truffle Sausages

    No funny business with these, just a straight truffle-flavored chicken sausage for a Christmas Eve dish at the restaurant. It is definitely a good winter sausage, warm and earthy. It was a pleasure to mix too, what with the truffles. It's possible that is smells almost as good raw as it does cooked.

    Concerning the truffles, I'd love to have skipped the oil and just used nothing but truffles themselves, but white truffles(which could have been fragrant enough for the task) are way to expensive for my lowly sausage and the black needed a little help to show through in the end. Their scent just got lost after cooking with the meat, so I added some white truffle oil.

    The chicken came from Stonybrook Meadows, where my friend and co-worker Laura is growing and raising all kinds of good food. If you're doing any cooking around Princeton, give them a ring.

cooked in a cook & hold oven

Recipe follows...

Pheasant Liver Terrine With Quince and Candied Ginger

    Here's some more autumn meat cookery.

the parts of the terrine

    Recipe after the break.

Pheasant Sausage With Portabellas and Hazelnuts

I'm feeling really productive during this autumn season, and here is another meat concoction full of fall flavors. As I made this sausage it was cold, clammy, and raining outside. I suggest using this recipe as an excuse to stay inside and cook on such a day.

the finished product would look the same as every other naked sausage, so here it is being mixed

Recipe after the break.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I am sure that I am adding zero to the conversation here, since there are hundreds of thousands of other buttermilk biscuit recipes out there(according to Google) as I write this, but here is the current version of the buttermilk biscuit that I make for brunch at the restaurant. It's a little richer than some, what with the heavy cream, but I count this as a boon.

unimpressive photography of a tasty biscuit

Recipe after the break.