Yesterday morning I finally found the place to procure the rest of my sausage-making software.
Or rather, a friendly group of fellow ‘hounds pointed me in the right direction, to an online vendor called Malabar Super Spice. It’s funny because when I first looked into sausage-making at the beginning of the year I had looked up Malabar, but promptly forgot about it. Having gotten reacquainted with their website, I managed to order myself something that goes by the dubious name of beef middles, among other things. According to all the sausage-recipes I’ve been planning lately, beef middle is what I need to stuff the meat into. I’m not quite certain exactly what part the middle comes from, but I’m pretty sure I’d rather not know.
When it gets here on Tuesday, it’ll be time to start working on my much anticipated ‘nduja (even though it has to cure for a year) and also the other item I’ve been contemplating, some spicy Hungarian csabai. I’ve always wanted to make a prosciutto, but I don’t think I have the room, ideal temperate zone or expertise to properly pull that one off without killing myself (or more likely the Everyman, since he’s the real prosciutto fiend in this household).
I’ve been slowly trying to increase my comfort level with cured meats this year, but I still don’t have that gut feeling like I know what I’m doing. And unfortunately with stuff like this where molds can be involved, not knowing what you’re doing is somewhat dangerous. That’s why I always sample my homemade products first. If they don’t kill me, then I’m ok with the Everyman or others trying them. But I’m not going to make other people sick because of my own stupidity.
In other news, I received word of my first Daring Bakers challenge yesterday. I don’t think I’m allowed to share what it is with you right now (I’m still a little fuzzy on the rules) but come May 27th, photos of my failure (or success) will be posted on this blog for all to see. Having read through the recipe a few times already, I’ve got a mild case of anxiety about whether I can pull this one off. Only time will tell, I guess.
Until next time…
