Experimentation in Charcuterie
Bacon - McKinnon's not selling pork belly regularly now, so I'm looking for other sources. The grocery store in Chinatown had some in smaller pieces. It makes ugly bacon, but it's still tasty.
Sausages - Extreme merguez variation #1: pork instead of lamb, dried oregano instead of fresh, collagen casing instead of fresh, and lard instead of fatback. It's still damn good, if a little salty. You'd think a 6.5# bone-in pork shoulder would have more than 3# of meat. Lessons learned: try a different cut of meat, collagen casings are pretty good, lard makes a sticky mess, and roasted red bell pepper is freakin' awesome in sausage.
Next request - balsamicdragon wants a breakfast sausage.
If that works, we move on to the holy grail of sausages - Andouille!
Sausages - Extreme merguez variation #1: pork instead of lamb, dried oregano instead of fresh, collagen casing instead of fresh, and lard instead of fatback. It's still damn good, if a little salty. You'd think a 6.5# bone-in pork shoulder would have more than 3# of meat. Lessons learned: try a different cut of meat, collagen casings are pretty good, lard makes a sticky mess, and roasted red bell pepper is freakin' awesome in sausage.
Next request - balsamicdragon wants a breakfast sausage.
If that works, we move on to the holy grail of sausages - Andouille!