Bangers & Pizza

Just in case you didn't see the rockstar picture of my marinating pork on facebook, here it is again:







That was a tease. I'm such a sausage tease.
Both sausages were made with an 8 pound pork picnic. Yesterday, I skinned (and kept in the freezer), de-boned (bone got trashed since I didn't have any large bags), diced, and split.

BOURBON CHIPOTLE
To the pork, I added chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, fresh garlic, salt, pink salt, cayenne, and chili powder. Today, I ground it up. When it came time to add the cold liquid (which aids in distributing the seasoning and helps emulsify the sausage, usually water), I added 1 part cold water and 1 part COLD BOURBON! That's right. I did that. Then it all got cased up. The bourbon actually stands up to the pork and chipotle. And the chipotle spice comes through at the end. Not a bad little sausage. I think it would be great cooked up out of the casing and added to queso.

POBLANO & PEPPERJACK
This is an idea I've had for a while. It's basically a re-work of the classic Jalapeño Cheddar sausage. On this one, I added half a roasted poblano, half a roasted jalapeño, fresh garlic, cumin, salt, pink salt, and a little adobo seasoning. Today, I ground it up. During the mixing process, I added the other half of the poblano and jalapeño and some pepperjack cheese that I pulsed in the food processor (I used block cheese so I could ensure the lack of cornstarch - which is added to pre-shredded cheeses to prevent sticking). Then it all got cased up. This one was the winner of the day. It would be killer in a fresh flour tortilla with cilantro and pickled red onions.

Oh and here's what they look like:














Of course, tonight was Pizza Jersday (pizza and "Jersey Shore") DON'T JUDGE ME!! Instead of ordering, I mixed it up a little this week: homemade pizza. I did cheat a bit, I went on down to Homeslice and picked up a dough ball for $5. Half the pizza was pepperoni, and red wine garlic sausage. The other half was roasted Brussels sprouts, criminis and thyme, shallots, and prosciutto piccolo.













Check out the sweet pizza paddle! Thanks Glenn and Diana! Both sides were great. It's hard to compare because they were two totally different directions. There was a little extra dough. Hmmmmm....... what to do with that?

GARLIC KNOTS!!













Just tie strips of dough in knots, brush with garlic butter, sprinkle with coarse sea or Kosher salt, and throw in the oven until GBD!!!

I may have another tasting dinner coming up. So that could be cool. Umm....hmmm... I'll try to come up with some more cool stuff to do. Maybe I'll just jack around with my "Beginning Molecular Gastronomy Kit". I haven't busted that out in a while. Who knows? Stay tuned!

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