Sausage Using Garden Ingredients?

el Ducko · Post by **el Ducko** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 00:42

How about if you pour boiling water on fresh ingredients? Or better (or worse?), parboil 'em for just an instant? (Green things turn a really nice deep shade of green.)

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 00:47

Markjass,
The guy to ask about sage is fellow-member Grasshopper. Mike can tell you about the differences in "rubbed" sage vs. other types sold.
If you use fresh sage in your sausage, be sure it is fresh-type sausage and use it immediately. I've seen it spoil an entire batch of fresh sausage in just a few hours. Bacteria double at an incredible rate.
If you use sage from a bottle or a can from your supermarket, it will have been sterilized. It's safe but much less potent.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

el Ducko · Post by **el Ducko** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 00:49

Hey, Chuckles, any idea how the commercial guys sterilize herbs? ("Inquiring minds want to know")

Uh oh! check out http://www.sterigenics.com/services/foo ... ochure.pdf uses ethylene oxide (no longer allowed) or cobalt 60 irradiation (don't try this at home).

http://processengineering.theengineer.c ... 13.article advocates steam.

These are clearly beyond the home sausage makers' ability to use. ...but maybe steaming or parboiling, like you would broccoli or green beans or such things??? After all, we'll be cooking the sausage, so it's okay if it's a little soggy. (Weigh it before steaming.)

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:01

Hi Guys,
The Duckster wrote:

How about if you pour boiling water on fresh ingredients?

Won't work Duck... There are bacteria out there that not only survive boiling water, but actually spores that can survive nuclear bombardment. These guys are tough. Many pathogenic bacteria require much stronger methods to deter them. This is the reason we MUST use nitrate and nitrite cures in sausage making. There is a strain of clostridium botulinum that can survive boiling water.
And then this:

Hey, Chuckles, any idea how the commercial guys sterilize herbs? ("Inquiring minds want to know")

There are only two legal means of sterilizing spices. The old "standby" is fumigating spice with ethylene oxide. This method has been used for some time and remains the preferred method in the USA although it is not used in Europe. Gamma Ray Radiation was introduced in 1988 and later encouraged by experts. In about 1997, if I remember right, it was finally approved under the Clinton administration. It has been slow to catch on (although it is safe and 100% effective), because people are afraid of the word "radiation". Hmmm... I wonder why? Just ask the folks from Chernobyl or Three Mile Island.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

el Ducko · Post by **el Ducko** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:17

Chuckwagon wrote:... we MUST use nitrate and nitrite cures in sausage making.

You heard it here, folks! (...hopefully from all sides.)

Whataya think about steaming or parboiling, AND using nitrites? Huh? Huh...?
(Sure works better than washing with vodka, or carefully applying Duck spit.)(WooHoo!)

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:18

I live about 45 miles from Three Mile Island and except for the grasshoppers that ate my broom handle I haven't noticed anything unusual.

el Ducko · Post by **el Ducko** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:19

I bet they were BIG grasshoppers!

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:24

Ross wrote:

I haven't noticed anything unusual.

Suurrrre Ross! And just WHY do you think you went bald and need eyeglasses?

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:47

Just look what it did to my fishing worms! Naw, just kidding. By the way, this is Brochothrix Thermosphacta - the stuff you don't want on yer' sage plants.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 01:50

Looks like they are getting ready to become 8 instead of four.

markjass · Post by **markjass** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 02:42

el Ducko wrote:How about if you pour boiling water on fresh ingredients? Or better (or worse?), parboil 'em for just an instant?

At first I wondered if you were talking about my insurance company

It is just that fresh herbs have a much more vibrant tast with a huge depth of flavour. I will leave the fresh herbs for meat balls.

Post by **Butterbean** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 23:54

el Ducko wrote:I bet they were BIG grasshoppers!

Six legged ones at that.