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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Tuesday at the Table

It's not often you find hubby in the kitchen preparing food. Oh he's great at stirring sauces and risotto on demand, bakes the occasional batch of cookies, and comes running when I yell, "I need you!" But in general, he's off doing other things while I cook, returning promptly when the meal or whatever is ready. So imagine my surprise when I returned from errands on Saturday, amazing aromas greeting me at the door, and hubby working away making sausages!

Some of you may remember me telling about hubby's yearning for the sausage recipe his family used when he was a child, and how he finally got ahold of it last summer. For Christmas, I had given him a meat grinder and sausage stuffing attachment that works on our KitchenAid mixer, and he was finally getting around to trying it out!

Laying on one counter were, uh, sausage-casings (kinda gross). He explained to me how they were packaged in salt, and you had to soak them in water for 30 minutes before using.
And lucky for me, he was just loading up another batch of casings and filling, so I could see the process in motion (also kind of gross).
Just for the record, he was moderately satisfied with his result (though I was immensely impressed!). Seems like it's easy to get air bubbles in the links, and also, though tasty, the final product was a little blah. The only seasoning in his recipe is salt and pepper and garlic, so next time he'll try a different recipe, trying to get something more interesting, flavor-wise. But they cooked up great, so I see real possibilities here. He even tried his hand at smoking some. And though the smoke flavor didn't really shine through, it's a first step in figuring it all out.
You go hubby!

12 comments:

  1. Oh well done. Isn't Kitchen Aid amazing....there's a bit for just about everything. Needless to say, I think hubby's sausages look perfect.

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  2. Go hubby! Looks like hours of fun and entertainment in his future working out recipes! I keep thinking I should really try and make some because I don't have a local butcher with all the great flavoured ones like my mum has (she brings me care packages lol) but it can't be *that* hard, right? Maybe I'll need to look into my Kenwood mixer attachment possibilities!

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  3. Yea for the hubby! SO impressed that he went through all the effort to make sausages - wonderful that you have all the tools. A Kitchen Aid is on my wish list in my new kitchen. :)
    As I make more of the dishes I remember my mother making, they never seem to be as good as my memories but I keep trying!

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  4. I think they look amazing. Go Hubbs!!! I had a sausage making day at my house with my mom and it's a lot of fun. Not as easy as it looks. When we made our recipe we cooked a sample first to see if the seasoning was right before encasing them. We made an italian sausage and a chicken sausage. The chicken was very dry so we would need to add some fat into those if we ever made them again. Again great job and you know exactly what's going into them :) BONUS!!

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  5. "Go Hubby! Go Hubbs!" Indeed! Ha!
    Way to go Dad. I'm glad you're working on perfecting your sausage skills so that at the end of this month you can:
    A) Feed me!
    B) Teach me!
    C) Impress my special guest, who, until last weekend, wasn't sure if she'd ever had bratwurst before...!!!
    D) Feed me!

    Dad, I really like how you are building your fan-base within mom's blogosphere...

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  6. That is pretty cool! I am impressed. I get a little grossed out when I think about the casings when we have sausage. I am not sure I could handle watching them be made and then eat them. :)

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  7. You have such a wonderful family. I enjoy reading about them. i just visited your daughter's blog! Lovely!

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  8. I'm totally impressed too! We've been wanting to make sausage for years now, but haven't mustered up the courage LOL! DH is a big hunter, and my 2 boys are now old enough to hunt, so I see sausage in our future for sure!

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  9. You've got to start somewhere, right? But I have to say you are a VERY supportive and understanding wife because all-natural casings all over the kitchen?! Eeeeew.

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  10. How fun that he was experimenting in the kitchen! I have that attachment but haven't even taken it out of the box. I don't really like to eat sausage that much, but for some reason I think it sounds fun to make.

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  11. Way to go, Joe! Proud of you. Jerry will have to share some of his recipes with you. He made some pretty tasty one and just cooked them as patties---lacking a real sausage stuffer. I'll try to get his recipes to you. He ha a couple of great sausage books.

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  12. Just had to come back and comment again after reading Kendall's comment...hilarious and touching. :)

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