Experimental Sausage #1

Ingredient	Amount
pork belly	some
salt	about 1%
black pepper	1 tablespoon
Rose harissa	1 tablespoon

Casing: hog casing

I had some meat and casing left over from making the sage sausages yesterday, so I decided to fling a few things together and see what came out. I didn't really have a plan of what I was going to make and I didn't measure out and record what I used, which I now regret. At the least I should have measured the salt, but it was late and I was feeling 'creative'.

I have been researching how to make Mortadella and with that in mind I made an emulsified, poached sausage, similar to the boudin blanc I have made before. I combined that with some cubed, hard fat which I blanched in boiling water before adding it to the mixture.

For flavouring, I opened the fridge and grabbed the first thing that caught my eye - some rose harissa. I picked the harissa because I it's got an interesting but not overpowering taste and because I like the bright red colour.

I was reasonably pleased with the results, considering the haphazard way in which I had put this thing together. The harissa was not really suitable for a poached sausage. Firstly it had a slightly gritty texture that did not go too well with the smooth emulsified meat and secondly it pooled a little while it poached so that instead of an even red colour as I was hoping, I got a few streaks of orange along the outside of the sausage.

The cubed fat came out well. This was the first time I had separated the fat from the meat in pork belly and it's a technique that I will use again. Another thing I have discovered is that it's much easier to remove the skin from the pork belly by cutting it into strips first.

This experiment came about because I had a few bits left over from what I had originally planned to make, but I now think that I will make sure that I have enough spare for experiments when I plan things in the future. I also think I will make more emulsified sausages I am a big fan of their smooth texture. I guess I should have a crack at making some Mortadella too.