Saucisse de Toulouse Image Used Under Creative Commons License From pinterest.com
Citizens, the World Cup finals are rapidly approaching and the amazing French team are looking forward to a game where they dominate the Croatians! I’ve just yesterday posted a Croatian recipe to honor the equally stunning Croat team – now let me do the same for the French!
Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made from intestine, but sometimes from synthetic materials. Sausages that are sold raw are cooked in many ways, including pan-frying, broiling and barbecuing. Some sausages are cooked during processing and the casing may then be removed.
Sausage making is a traditional food preservation technique. Sausages may be preserved by curing, drying (often in association with fermentation or culturing, which can contribute to preservation), smoking, or freezing. Some cured or smoked sausages can be stored without refrigeration. Most fresh sausages must be refrigerated or frozen until they are cooked.
Sausages come in a huge range of national and regional varieties, which differ by their flavouring or spicing ingredients (garlic, peppers, wine, etc.), the meat(s) used in them and their manner of preparation.
The word “sausage” was first used in English in the mid-15th century, spelled “sawsyge”. This word came “…from Old North French saussiche (Modern French saucisse)”. The French word “saussiche” came “…from Vulgar Latin *salsica “sausage,” from salsicus “seasoned with salt,” from Latin salsus [meaning] “salted”.
Sausage making is an outcome of efficient butchery. Traditionally, sausage makers would salt various tissues and organs such as scraps, organ meats, blood, and fat to help preserve them. They would then stuff them into tubular casings made from the cleaned intestines of the animal, producing the characteristic cylindrical shape. Hence, sausages, puddings, and salami are among the oldest of prepared foods, whether cooked and eaten immediately or dried to varying degrees.[citation needed]
An Akkadian cuneiform tablet records a dish of intestine casings filled with some sort of forcemeat.
The Chinese sausage làcháng, which consists of goat and lamb meat, was first mentioned in 589 BC.
The Greek poet Homer mentioned a kind of blood sausage in the Odyssey, Epicharmus wrote a comedy titled The Sausage, and Aristophanes’ play The Knights is about a sausage vendor who is elected leader. Evidence suggests that sausages were already popular both among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and most likely with the various tribes occupying the larger part of Europe.
The most famous sausage in ancient Italy was from Lucania (modern Basilicata) and was called lucanica, a name which lives on in a variety of modern sausages in the Mediterranean. During the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, sausages were associated with the Lupercalia festival. Early in the 10th century during the Byzantine Empire, Leo VI the Wise outlawed the production of blood sausages following cases of food poisoning.
Traditionally, sausage casings were made of the cleaned intestines, or stomachs in the case of haggis and other traditional puddings. Today, however, natural casings are often replaced by collagen, cellulose, or even plastic casings, especially in the case of industrially manufactured sausages.
A sausage consists of meat cut into pieces or ground, mixed with other ingredients, and filled into a casing. Ingredients may include a cheap starch filler such as breadcrumbs, seasoning and flavourings such as spices, and sometimes others such as apple and leek.
The meat may be from any animal, but is often pork, beef, or veal. The lean meat-to-fat ratio depends upon the style and producer. The meat content as labelled may exceed 100%; which happens when the weight of meat exceeds the total weight of the sausage after it has been made, sometimes including a drying process which reduces water content.
Toulouse sausages date back at least 250 years and are a primary ingredient in the most famous dish of Toulouse – cassoulet! At some point, , but until then – these delicious sausages are amongst the easiest to make by a neophyte as there is no fermentation, smoking or other advanced techniques.
My version adheres very closely to the classic recipe.
However, I do add some red wine of the region, some garlic (which many Toulouse sausage recipes have in them) and some Epices Rabelais, a unique and secret spice mix from France that gives my version a unique savor. I also updated the recipe to not include the original Potassium Nitrate and to use the modern Prague Powder #1 instead.
I have gratefully cribbed sausage stuffing instructions from cliffordawright.com and the updated Potassium Nitrate ratio comes from the fine members of the salt cured pig forum on Facebook.
This last ingredient is particularly unique – Cochineal is a totally natural red dye made from – wait for it – a beetle! Don’t be grossed out, Starbucks uses it in several of their drinks and it’s a lot better than the chemical horror of artificial dyes!. Leave it out if you’re suitably horrified, but you’re missing out.
Citizens, grab yourself a sausage maker and stuffer and give these a try! Be advised this recipe makes A LOT of sausages – just freeze them and/or give them to your closest friends!
In the meantime, I wish both France and Croatia bon chance! 😀
75% good lean pork, such as shoulder and 25% hard pork fat (e.g., unsalted, skinned fat back) totaling 10kg combined
150 g fine sea salt
25 g Prague Powder #1
20 g dextrose
“carmine de cochenille” – use variable amounts to achieve the pink or red color you’re looking for
3 g ascorbic acid
25 g freshly-ground black pepper – Tellicherry or Kampot strongly preferred
3 g freshly-ground allspice
2 g Epices Rabelais – optional but strongly recommended. For the classic recipe, replace with allspice
20 g garlic, crushed into a paste and mixed with ½ cup dry red wine – Vin de Cahors strongly preferred. If unavailable, use a good Argentinean Malbec
Instructions
Chill the meat and fat very thoroughly. Break the meat down by grinding it with a 16mm or larger plate. [You could also cut it into chunks your meat grinder can easily handle.]
Combine the meat chunks with the seasonings and diced fatback (except the red wine/garlic mix and cochineal.)
Pass the mixture through a meat grinder fitted with an 8 or 10mm plate. [if you are making this at home you should make sure the seasonings are well dispersed throughout the meat after the grinding.
Add red wine/garlic mix and cochineal to taste. This can be done by mixing with your hands, in food-safe latex or surgical gloves to avoid contamination.
Stuff immediately into pork casings 32-35mm in diameter – make portions 10-15 centimeters long.
Open one end of the hog casing, fit it over the faucet in your kitchen sink, and place the remainder of the casing in a medium-size bowl in the sink. Turn the water on gently to wash out the casings. The casings are sold cleaned; you are merely washing away preserving salts and residue. Now you are ready to start stuffing.
Affix one end of the casing over the funnel attached to the sausage stuffing attachment of a stand mixer or meat grinder. Push the entirety of the casing onto the length of the funnel (it will contract and fit fine), leaving about 2 inches dangling from the end. Tie this end in a double knot.
Turn the grinder or mixer on and as the sausage stuffing begins to flow into the casing, it will push the casing off the funnel. Have a large bowl or platter ready to catch the sausages. Twist or tie off with kitchen twine to make links, or leave to make several very long sausages. Do not overstuff the sausage; otherwise it will burst, either then and there or during cooking.
Also be careful that the sausage stuffing enters the casing continuously and evenly and that no air bubbles develop. If air bubbles do occur, it is better either to cut the sausage at that point and start a new one by tying the end off, or to prick the air bubbles with a toothpick.
Refrigerate the sausage for 24 to 48 hours before cooking or freezing. The sausages can be divided into portions of different or the same weights and frozen for later use in freezer bags for 2 to 4 months. To cook, place the sausages in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and just, as the water begins to bubble, reduce the heat to below a boil and poach the sausages for 10 minutes, if grilling or frying, or 40 minutes, if serving them boiled.
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