It was time to get out of the kitchen for a while and into a kitchen shop. I was itching for a shiny, chrome purchase which would let me make more elaborate and smug creations. I had most recently invested in pizza trays, aprons, and a pasta maker and like a supervillain who had just taken over a country, I now wanted the world.
I tried the world's largest kitchen shop (I have no proof to back up that wildly presumptive statement) in Logan just past the hyperdome. Unfortunately they had a mincer but no sausage attachments. Mince meat without the ability to get it into sausage casings was really just a rissole machine so not really as exciting. I could not leave empty handed so I picked up 2 nut crackers that came in handy a few weeks later. More to that story in a couple of posts (I'm a little behind at the moment).
I tried my new favourite store in Brisbane, Wheel and Barrow, James Street but to no avail (they were out- sad face). So I then had to creep back to my nemesis, Taste in The Valley. They have everything but are not nearly as helpful and are more expensive. They get you hypnotised with all of the teflon and stainless steel and double the price while you are in a kitchenware induced stupor. So here is my new favourite kitchen appliance. I chose the cast iron because apparently that was the better option (but because it was Taste, they could not really explain why).
I of course was giddy with excitement (much like how a primary school teen feels about seeing Justin Bieber in person. I was the second one from the right).
Now I was equipped, it was time to get the ingredients. There is an old style butcher very close to me in New Farm who always has signs for eclectic cuts of meat like rabbit (that will be for a post very soon), duck and a number of other, more obscure animals. I thought I was in for sure here. I was asked by one of the butcher staff what I was after and here is where the fun started.
Me: "Do you sell sausage casing?"
Vacant butcher guy (insert quizzical face here) "Sausage casings?"
Me: "Yes, do you sell sausage casings?"
Vacant butcher guy "Um, let me see"
So he turned around and spoke to the owner of the shop (I have no basis to say he was the owner but there was a vibe). The vacant butcher turned back to me and said "they are really expensive".
Me: "So, do you sell them to the public?"
Vacant butcher "um, yes, but it is $40 a kilo".
Me: "Can I buy it in less than one kilo lots?"
Vacant butcher: "Um, so you don't need much?"
Me still smiling at this point, mostly out of amusement at this conversation "Yeah, just enough for a small batch of sausages"
Vacant butcher: "so, like, about this much" (he made a gesture with his hands that made no real sense to me so I just said "Yes").
With that over, I bought $2.45 worth of intestines (oh yeah, the real stuff). I also picked up some good quality diced lamb. I then made my way to James Street Markets for the rest of the ingredients. I had chosen an American recipe for Aussie Lamb sausages.
While I was at James Street, I decided I did not have enough lamb. All I could see at the butchers here was lamb kebabs. I think this turned out to be a bad decision but I bought 4 of those to bolster my sausage plans.
When it was time to make the sausages, we donned our latex gloves (it may sound a little weak to wear gloves, but it was one of our best decisions . . . ever. It seemed simple enough, Carla on feeding and grinding and me on sausage casings (mostly because the sausage casings were quite disgusting and it was clearly a boy job).
It was going well for a while, that is until the meat started to come back out the top. This confused us as it did not seem like a hard machine to use. Insert meat at top, crank the handle, minced meat comes out the end. So we pulled it apart and found the connective tissues in the meat were building up on the grate that the meat goes through at the end of the mincer. This was not good news. We decided to remove the grate and rely on the passage of the lamb through the body of the mincer and hope the end grate was just there for show. It was at this point I wished I did not buy the back up kebab meat.
This largely worked, although a few chunky bits did get through. It made our sausages special. It was heaps of fun to do and I think as much minced meat made it into the sausages as made it on the floor. We served it with vegies and mash (mashed the old fashioned Young way, which involves mashing so vigorously that you nearly get lift off. I did not realise this, but it was an inherited trait as I know that is how Mum mashes and I recently had dinner with Mum and Aunty Win and Win also mashes like a madman. In this instance, I was so committed that I ended up with a mash induced blister on my mashing hand but my word was it creamy!!
The sausages were very tasty, but a little dry. The fat was feta cheese but it was not quite enough. Also, next time, I think I am going to do a gravy, and not from a box (which is what I thought authentic gravy was for my first 15 years of existence). As for the mincer clogging, Ma Peters spoke to her butcher (she looks out for us) and he said the connective tissue will block the mincer but try for smaller chunks of meat.
We finished the night off with chocolate dipped strawberries not in a toffee basket (I have tried 3 times to make a toffee basket and failure each time). There were milk, white and dark chocolate ones (and some double and triple dipped). I also made enough cream to insulate a house - still having problems with serving sizes.
For my next purchase, I really want to get an old school looking coffee machine for the kitchen for both the aesthetics and the smell it would offer to my apartment but I really don't like coffee made at home and I enjoy going to coffee shops. I am really torn because I do like to buy stuff for the kitchen. I also an considering a food processor as most most recipes seem to call for it. This is starting to get serious.
And I will leave you with a photo of one of the sausages cooked during the following week that exploded in the frying pan. If you ask me, it is the sign of a fresh sausage (again, I have nothing to back that up with).
What's next?
Just to whet your appetite, the up coming posts are going to be on a Jamie Olivier inspired scallops, a seafood feast of unimaginable mess and taste (made from a muddie called Sammy) and rabbit pie (made from a whole rabbit named Roger). Stay tuned folks.
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