We have always been at somewhat of a loss when it comes to using pork skin. We have tried fried pork rinds in many different ways, many different times and only had so-so results (best so far has been Diana Kennedy's chicharrones recipe from My Mexico). For quite some time I have wanted to make Cotechino, the Emilia-Romagna sausage which in includes pork skin. In fact, I tried to drum up interest in a cotechino making party here about a year ago. Today my husband surprised me and made up a huge batch. He used the recipe from Paul Bertolli's Cooking by Hand. 

I have to admit I was a tiny bit wary. I have been a little under the weather and thought this sausage would be too rich and maybe even a little hard to handle texturally. (I've had Saba-braised Zampone--pork foot and foreleg stuffed with cotechino--at Oliveto's Whole Hog Dinner which was extremely rich, if a little dry.)  Bertolli's recipe was definitely rich, but not nearly as rich as I had imagined. And wow! was it delicious! The texture was not as uniform as a normal sausage, but still very lovely--as a country pâté is to a traditional smooth pâté. The spicing in the recipe is perfectly delicate without being invisible.

We weren't able to stuff the sausage in a natural casing as instructed, because this was very spontaneous and we didn't have the one the recipe called for (bung). Instead, we made two casings from butter muslin (which we use when we make liverwurst) which worked very well. I thought perhaps without the natural casing that the sausage would crumble when we cut it, but it held together beautifully.

 Bertolli's recipe makes ALOT of sausage. Eating one good sized slice is definitely enough for one meal so we would recommend making a half recipe if you are interested in trying it. And you should, because it is a truly lovely and comforting winter sausage.

 

We cut into our bresaola today. The flavor is very good and it smells lovely. One small problem, as you can see in the photo is a small spot of discoloration, where it looks like there might have been an air pocket from the bottom. We decided that it was probably ok and went ahead and ate it. The meat is otherwise rosy and beautiful, laced with thin veins of white fat. 

About 1-1/2 weeks after hanging I caught some pretty crazy mold just starting to grow. I gave the bresaola a good salt water scrub and rehung it. When I cut it down last weekend we just had a bit of white mold, which I did wipe away before I put it in the refrigerator. 

Overall, we're happy with the results and would definitely try this recipe again, perhaps doing a preliminary soak in wine next time.

Just posted my latest effort over on my blog, Just Pigs. Recipe included. 

This is the second time I've made Merguez and both times I have had great success! This time I made about 3 lbs and used the Ruhlman/Polcyn recipe as a guide. I did not use lamb shoulder, but rather some pieces I had left from my last whole lamb purchase from Mel at Sierra Farms. I bought uncut lamb shoulder the last time I made merguez and it was SOOOO expensive. Not going to do that again. In any case I also prefer to use lamb fat, rather than pork fat as the recipe in the book calls for. I had enough fat from the trimmings on the pieces I used. The ratio was pretty much perfect.

I remember from my last experience that we liked the spices slightly ramped up, so I kinda of did heaping measurements of everything. I used both sweet paprika and hot paprika (a little more of the hot than sweet). We ate a few sausages right away, but I'm letting the rest sit in the fridge for a couple of days to really get the full effect of the spices.

My daughter helped me yesterday and we had a lot of fun. It's pretty great having a six-year old who likes to grind and stuff sausage.  

I'm back at it over at JustPigs and I've just started my own Bresaola. I know that Jamie and Jim recently tried a new recipe. Since this is my first time trying Bresaola, I'm sticking to the Ruhlman/Polcyn recipe in Charcuterie. As I was preparing this one I remembered that Wayne had mentioned making Bresaola soaked in wine. Did we ever hear about/see the results? It sounded like a good idea, and I would be curious about trying it in the future. 

Additionally, I've been cooking a bit of offal. I made a very good grilled lamb's heart salad. (more pictures when you click through) 

I've also been experimenting with lamb's tongues in salads, stews and terrines. 

We have two other meaty projects planned: Beef Heart Pastrami and Mortadella. I have half a pig on order and am going to order a bladder casing this week from Butcher Packer. I'll let you know once we get started with those.

Lastly, because I know how you people feel about pork porn, here's a pig's foot we recently used in a huge pot of soup. First we boiled it with veggies and white beans, then we put a southwestern style rub on it and bbq'd it, finally we dropped it back in the soup and cooked it just a little more to meld all the flavors. 

Last night we cut into our spicy coppa from Big Pig Day. Rob says it's the best thing we've made so far. It was quite spicy, but we like that. (I did not wash any of the spices off as Jim did.) 

I found it a little difficult and messy to stuff the meat into the casing and the casing tore a little bit. I had to actually cut one or two of the bigger pieces in half lengthwise. Would love to make this again, if I could ever again find the right cut. 

 

Quick update on my Tuscans and Genoa from last weekend. I have kept my Genoa under a damp towel, changing and checking twice daily, for the past week. I have been able to keep the humidity at about 80-85% and the temp in the mid- to high-60s F. I took the Tuscans out of the oven on Tuesday morning and hung them downstairs in the same room as the genoa, but about 18" away and not under a towel. 

Just a note that over at justpigs we're going to make Longaniza this month. Join us!

Rob and I made liverwurst over the weekend. We got the recipe from Home Sausage Making. This was the first time I've ever done something in a muslin casing. I had to get out my old sewing supplies to stitch the cheesecloth, which was actually kind of fun and felt very old world. We really like the way this recipe is spiced and would definitely make it again (maybe a half recipe). We used a fresh, unsmoked ham steak instead of pork butt, as we are out of pork butt at the moment, and increased the amount of pork fat. We also had a little trouble maintaining the water temp at a constant 175F for 3 hours, but we watched it and adjusted as needed and it came out just fine.