I will not lower myself to respond to the grossly erroneous and highly embellished statements made by Mr. Monte in last week’s post RV Trip 2021-01: A Very Tent Situation. Besides that, I’m not at liberty to discuss the screen tent incident due to current ongoing libel proceedings in the case of Fuzzy v. Monte.
Nevertheless, I must note that the erection of the screen tent was closely tied to a nearly month-long joint effort by the soon-to-be-world-famous Serendipity Farmhouse Test Kitchen staff and the intrepid crew of the Class-C RV, El Camino Del Monte. This ambitious effort was conducted under the once secret code name: Project Sausage.
It all started more than a half year ago when a fellow Ohioan named Tom raised the exciting possibility of gathering a group of friends for a day of sausage making and mirth-filled camaraderie. I had no sausage making experience and Tom had very little, so it would be necessary to test the feasibility of his plan with a two-man experimental run. – It was agreed, March 20th would be the day.
While waiting for the big day, I consulted with the entire staff of the SFH Test Kitchen and we planned for a broad-based endeavor that went far beyond just the making of sausage. Project Sausage would bring together several cooking disciplines to include: sausage making, long-term storage, at-home preparation, and ultimately, RV cooking in the soon-to-be-world-famous SFH Mobile Test Kitchen.
The big day finally came. Tom was so kind as to provide the necessary equipment (grinder and stuffer). He also procured the pork butt and the hog casings. His well-appointed kitchen became both a cooking laboratory and a playground for two Ohio boys who grew up with a great appreciation for East European sausages. – It wasn’t a pretty sight (no one ever describes sausage making as that), but, oh my, it was fun!
The pictures below show some of the highlights of the day.
At the end of this post you will find the recipe I adapted for this venture. Tom made his own adaptation. Once we had completed step number six, just before stuffing, we cooked up a small sample from each batch. That was our lunch and our chance to determine if changes to spices were needed. – We were both happy with what we had done. Our break was over and we stuffed the casings, cleaned up the mess, and each ended up with over eight pounds of homemade sausage.
The SFH Test Kitchen is no stranger to preparing foods for long-term storage. On March 24th, the Staff assembled for a quick session with the Food Saver and bagged and froze the sausages. That day, seven packs of links and two packs of unstuffed sausage were stored away in the freezer. Two links were reserved for a taste test after grilling. The taste test resulted in a thumbs-up from Blondie.
Now that brings us to the true goal of Project Sausage. The objective was to turn our homemade sausage into a staple food for RV expeditions. We wanted to take the simple product and turn it into a fine food, suitable for Blondie’s notion of high-end glamping. In so doing, we manged to transform this humble SFH Hungarian Sausage into a dinner delight and a breakfast treasure. And to all that, we added the ambiance of eating in the bug-free comfort of our new screen tent. It was an ambitious pursuit, but, despite my minor tangle (tango) with the screen tent, it was both successful and rewarding.
Below are pictures of our evening meal served in a romantic yet adventurous way. Next you will see a simple brunch featuring SFH Hungarian Sausage (leftover from the night before) with delightfully seasoned scrambled eggs. – – Two meals, one featured item, and great taste all around. – – Project Sausage was a success!!
Note: This SFH Test Kitchen recipe was adapted from Hungarian Homemade Sausage (Hazi Kolbasz), written by Barbara Rolek
Serendipity Hungarian Sausage
Equipment
- Meat grinder, manual or electric
- Sausage stuffer, manual
Ingredients
- 6 pounds well-marbled pork butt
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 4+ garlic cloves crushed
- 2 ½ tbsp salt
- 1½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1¾ tbsp paprika
- 1 cup water
- 14+ feet hog casings (rinsed three times)
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients.
- Rinse hog casings and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- In a small bowl, mix garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, and water, and set aside.
- Add ground beef to ground pork and mix thoroughly.
- Combine water-spice mixture with meat until thoroughly incorporated. To ensure the seasonings are just right, fry a small patty and taste. If desired, refrigerate the meat mixture, covered, overnight before stuffing so it flavors.
- Remove casings from refrigerator and knot one end. Lightly coat the stuffing funnel with cooking spray or some leftover fat from the pork. Slip the other end of the casing over the mouth of the funnel. Continue to push the remainder of casing up onto funnel until you have reached the knot.
- Begin to force the meat into the casing with one hand while using the other hand to control the thickness of the sausage as it is extruded. - The sausage will shrink when it cooks, so you want a nice plump sausage. But be careful you don't overstuff or the casing will burst.
- Keep extruding until the casing is used up. Tie a knot in that end. You can either leave the sausage in a large coil or twist it at 6-inch intervals to make links. Use immediately or store sausage refrigerated and covered up to two days until ready to cook.
- For long-term storage, freeze sausage in suitable freezer bags. The SFH Test Kitchen packs four sausage links in single Food Saver vacuum sealed bags. - You can also freeze un-stuffed sausage for other cooking purposes.