Sales changed pace again this week... last week's digger in sausage sales picked up but only after I had scaled back my production.  That led us to some frenzied production late in the day at Bow St. Market.  We threw down on just the basics to get through the weekend; sweet italian, breakfast sausage, bacon and cheddar, smokey chipotle chorizo and a bit of lamb sausage.  I couldn't resist but changing the lamb recipe again, so this batch took on a refreshing can't-let-go-of-moderate-weather bent.  We're calling it the "Out Like a Lamb Sausage" in anticipation of the melting back of snow that hasn't yet fallen.  Perhaps you can tell I'm really not ready to start shoveling snow...

Anyway I'm pretty excited about the recipe which involved fresh rosemary and scallions, black pepper, garlic, salt and a few minor ingredients, most notably spearmint and coriander (!).  I'm probably the most excited about the mint.. it and the coriander give the sausage a nice fresh, fruity quality which just reminded me of great weather and fresh breaking buds and early herbs.  And it turns out I like lamb a LOT :)

This is me with my links weighing in at a studly 1/3rd of a pound per each!

This sausage would be well at home alongside a fresh salad, perhaps with a lemon vinaigrette and some feta.  I think it would also be terrific in a creamy stew with potatoes and leeks or uncased and stuffed into a frittata with artichokes, red bell peppers, and some fresh herbs... definitely on most any pizza (sheesh).

bonsai log

  It's the time of year to put the trees to bed.  These bonsai do not fare well in their containers through the winter, nor do the containers resist cracking when saturated with water in sub-freezing temps so we peel back the pot, wrap the rootball and bury them up to their necks in the earth for the winter months.  They'll go back in their pots after the ground warms in the spring, just before the buds swell and break.  The pine is a white pine, host of the Maine state flower, plucked from the ground as a one year old sapling around 6 years old. 

  The second is a pair of maples saved from a weed whacker at the in-laws property which were collected a year ago and were each at least three years old at the time of collection.  They're a bit immature and need some branch shaping which will be the project of the coming season.

Noreaster Buffalo

   Perhaps it wasn't all that clear but we were trying to convey the idea of New England, huntsman's cuisine, Maine woods, cool climate native plant life (which inevitably would flavor local cuisine) and of course buffalo.  A handful of people thought it was referring to the town of Buffalo, New York and their fiery food habits.  Not so.  Really just a buffalo or bison sausage.
  I've had an idea muddling around in my mind for a venison sausage lately.  This was likely brought about by the relentless conversation about deer-slaying amidst the meat department and store at large this week as we encroach upon opening day for deer here in Maine.  I've had vague memories of a recipe from an old job where we actually made venison sausage from trim off a whole Maine farm-raised venison carcass.  I: don't remember liking it a lot but there was little if any fat blended into that recipe to my recollection.  At any rate, that recipe along with others I've encountered in the past many years pertaining to game meats in general have formed this picture in my head.  so... Today while perusing the side case I stumbled upon the bison and thought perhaps today would be as good a day as any, no venison on hand. 
   This recipe calls for about 60% bison and another 40% pork.  To those meats are added fresh rosemary and thyme, juniper berries, some pepper, salt, a minor touch of other herbs and spices, and a fat handful of dried cranberries.  It cooks up pleasingly well at about 85% lean and shows touches of the dark meat with bites evoking senses of the maine woods and coast with bites of pine coming out between lean meat, earthy herbs and the sweet/tart familiar cranberry.  Perhaps the next batch will include a touch of walnut too.. super woodsy and seasonally appropriate, to my palate.  Swing in and make up your own mind.

not a baaaa-d sausage...

Sorry for the overly expected lamb pun, but I just couldn't help it.  The great news of the last few weeks is that lamb sausages have really done well.  Of the 12-14 sausage varieties we've had going at a time, lamb shot up to the top five for sales in the first week and has hung there since.  This week we ran out of trim which we've been saving from other cuts and had to dig into purchased trim which drove up the price a dollar so I scaled back the batch against my will.  I did not scale back my irresistible desire to offer new and varied options to our customers however... this week there's one in lamb:
  I split the batch and remade the Lamb with Herbs de Provence because it was so delicious and added another half batch of a new Curried Lamb.  The curry blend is a mild yellow curry; it's got a bit of cumin, a lot of turmeric and little to no heat.  Indian style curry, complex and earthy, lovely.  I added a bit of ginger for fun and some of the exotic and lightly spicy qualities I personally enjoy about Thai curries thinking it would offset the richness of the lamb.  And of course salt and garlic.
  I'm pretty excited about it and think it would be terrific alongside braised greens and aromatic rice or perhaps poached, then chopped and stir fried with fresh veggies for a thai style dish to be served in a coconut broth with white rice.  Maybe you'd just grill yours with long spears of pineapple to pretend winter's not coming, which it's not :)

  I almost forgot to mention the Ham and Apple sausage.  This was a very fall inspired recipe which will require some effort to perfect.  I probably over did it with the ham (problem #1).  This required a lot of granny smith apples to counteract (#2).  The result was a tasty and quite meaty sausage which changed to and oxidized gray color in literally one afternoon as the acid in the apples began to leach into the meat and denature the proteins.  It hasn't gone the way of the completely denatured ginger lime scallion sausage which got rather mushy from the acidic soy sauce, but it doesn't look great either.  Dried apples will be going into the next batch, but don't be afraid, it's still tasty!
  If I haven't mentioned it yet which I don't believe I have, I have an ongoing goal to create and innovate as long as my employers at Bow St. market will let me.  This entails creating and executing at least one new sausage every week.  For the last several weeks, I've actually accomplished two, which will probably reduce to one for the slower winter months.  Anyway, you can be my accountability partner, Blogger.  We'll see where this thing goes.  If you have any great ideas, send them my way and we'll probably get around to them eventually.  I am nowhere near out of ideas yet.

food for thought

Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby. ___Dave Barry 1947

I thought you all might appreciate this.  I suppose my assumption was that if you follow this blog, you are perhaps a bit of a hobby geek like myself and often find yourself asking the same questions I ask such as "How is this NOT fascinating?".  Or otherwise being asked such questions as "Why do you know these things?" by people with incredulous expressions on their faces.  We can only be found looking back with the same incredulous expressions I suppose...

herbed pepper jack, whole wheat rye bread et galettes aux pommes

This has been a fun food weekend.  A day or two ago I finally got time to make some cheese for my sweetie.  She's way into spicy food and friendly cheese so I borrowed a pepper jack cheese recipe from my new cheese book, "Making Artisan Cheeses" by Tim Smith.  I may have shorted one temp rest in the production but I'm not super worried about it, had stuff to do.  Anyway, I added extra pepper flakes in the form of dried jalapenos and tossed in some fresh herbs from the garden, namely: chive, rosemary and thyme.  It should be interesting, looks delicious so far.  If this ages well I will probably leave it in the "cave" for a couple months, perhaps more...

 

Today I made some bread and some small apple pies (or galettes.)  The bread was pretty exciting, with a crunchy crust and a fine crumb.  It's a little heavy and rustic having about 30 % mixed whole wheat flour and rye which both inhibit rising to some extent but enhance the flavor and texture.  There's also a bit of molasses as the sugar source.  All in all, for a four hour bread loaf I was quite pleased.  

Then there were the pies.... utilizing some terrific Jonagold and Honey Crisp Apples from the in-laws orchard.  Those married with the fabulously easy and flakey pie crust recipe my mother gave me a few years ago came out marvelously.  Chloe and I banged out a batch of 14 in little time. She even rolled hers, patted it and marked it with a "C" :)  good times, tasty pies!
  Tomorrow of course is a sausage day so we should have a post coming about what's new.  Although if I had to guess I'd say something savory and friendly to cool, rainy weather.  Perhaps something crock-pot inspired...

New oyster, enter the bagaduce

  I'm pretty excited about new oysters in general, so this is probably no surprise... but I'm pretty excited about this oyster.  It's from the Bagaduce River in Midcoast Maine and it's lovely.  The ones we received today were very fresh and held plenty of brine.  They all showed up in cocktail fashion, about three inches and the batch was very uniform with a nicely rounded edge and a deep cut.  The shell was not especially thick which made shucking a bit tricky but they were quite full of meat.  Fresh and aromatic with intense ocean brine on the nose the flavor was less so.  They're complex and earthy with plenty of salt flat and ocean-y flavors, a dash of fish meat and a nice touch of brine.  I usually prefer them more briny but these were quite interesting and intense in other ways.  Too good.  Look for them :)

norumbega oysters

   Very excited about the new oysters at the market today... casual conversation with a fish vendor led to a new oyster source.  They're Norumbega Oysters from the Damariscotta River around Nobleboro and are harvested the day before they arrive at our door.  That's as fresh an oyster as I've been able to procure through the store yet and I understand that's the norm for these guys.  Only bummer is they all go away in one day so we'll have to plan a little further out in the coming weeks.  Oh yeah, they're an awesome deal too. love that! 
  They oyster itself showed up at a pretty average 3 - 4 inches or so.  Many had a shallow/medium cup but a good handful were verging on deep cup.  The shells are strong and shuck nicely but aren't super thick so there's a lot of space for brine and meat.  They are nice and meaty too.  The flavor is rich with brine but there's a nice balance with a little warm and sweet meat flavor with a sharp seaweed-y finish.  I like these a lot and for the price, they're definitely my new favorite :)  find them here...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Norumbega-Oyster-Inc/142912496853?sk=wall

re:lamb or lamb, er...

   Another day of sausage experimentation led to a revamped interpretation of the Turkey Spinach and Feta which has done well for us in the past and a shocking necessity to make more lamb sausage. 
  The turkey sausage, which was in the past produced with a preblended collection of ingredients including chopped and dried spinach was created entirely from scratch today and with all fresh ingredients.  True, the old blend was tasty but I couldn't help feeling like a slack in a way.  I took a cue from the boss-lady Sheila and added chopped red bell pepper to the new version as well which added a little aesthetic drama to the tube as well as a pleasant sweetness among all the savory and earthy flavors.  There's also minor background spices of onion, pepper, garlic and oregano... yummo.  I'll be shocked if any of this goes bad, seriously.
  The lamb sausage quenched my desire to utilize one of my favorites in the "classic spice blend" repertoire, the herbs de provence mix.  It's just lovely, pulling together rosemary and lavender with some fennel, chervil, marjoram and sometimes others..  earthy and full of aromatic character, like lamb and a big deal in the south of france, not unlike lamb itself.  An altogether terrific combo.  Again, this sausage is comprised of 2/3 lamb and 1/3 pork for the sake of both making the sausage affordable and mellowing the intense flavor of the lamb itself.  I guess the pork fat doesn't hurt either.  I'm a big fan.  perhaps we'll cook a couple for demo tomorrow alongside some of the new turkey recipe.  come and check them out :) 

Exciting news in MEAT (red)

  We're always looking to do something interesting at Bow St... y'know.  "Like what?" you ask... All sorts'a stuff.  "Okay, like what in particular?"  Even more glad you pursued details :)

  Here's the skinny-du-jour... Freeport Strips.  These are better than average and come at a pretty modest price respective to the rest of the better grilling cuts.  It's a nicely marbled cut with no gristle and no big hunks of fat which means it's all edible.  And we think you'll want to.  These are delicious and have a rich beefy flavor without being strong or liver-ish like some other affordable cuts.  They also rank rather high for tenderness taking up one of this butcher's top three spots for delicious and inexpensive cuts of meat.  I would try it grilled or pan-fried with just the basics; black pepper, garlic and salt.  Give it a marinade next time if you have a favorite, but wait to be surprised by the great value here first.

This cut comes from deep in the shoulder in the tough, braising cut territory but is a pleasant surprise isolated on a pan.  Give them a go :)

a bread post, finally :)

  Made a loaf of white bread today and was thoroughly pleased with the outcome.. they're not always so shapely.  In this case it was just a matter of having the right pan with the right recipe.

If you should get ambitious, give it a try.  Here's the recipe I use the most often:

3.5 c bread flour
1 cup warm water
1.5 tsp bread yeast granules
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
extra flour for surface dusting and kneading

mix water and yeast, stir till yeast is dissolved
add on all the other ingredients and mix with a spoon until it all comes together.. knead on a floured surface for 4-5 minutes.  it should get nice and smooth and be a bit tacky.  wash your bowl and dry it, oil it lightly and place the dough into it, cover with foil to retain moisture and put somewhere warm.  I use a sunny window on a warm day or just barely warm my oven, careful, it shouldn't be hot.
proof for 1.5 hrs or so, the dough should double at least.
take it out and punch it down on a floured surface and knead for a few more minutes.  stretch it into a 10" sheet and begin to roll it up like a scroll, when it's half rolled, tuck in the sides about one inch on each side and then finish rolling it.  lightly oil your bread pan and place the log shaped dough into it.  cover lightly with an oiled piece of tinfoil and proof for another hour, perhaps a bit more until it's just taller than the pan.  pull it out and pre-heat the oven to 450 F.  Make some nice cuts across the top of the loaf and bake it for 8 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes.  Give the top a tap or two, it should sound hollow and be nicely browned.  cool and cut.  savor with much well deserved butter.

enter, the LAMB.

   Today was a first in Sausage Land; lamb links :)  We're calling it Mediterranean Lamb Sausage.. it's actually a blend of 2/3 lamb and 1/3 pork but you get the picture.  It's very lamb-y.  It's also rather Mediterranean, at least to the best of my knowledge.  It has the rich and slightly gamy flavor of the lamb meat, tamed with a bit of mild pork and pork fat and seasoned with oregano, citrus, garlic and minor amounts of others in the background.  We found the spice blend a refreshing counter-point to the meat. 
   This sausage would be great alongside a fresh salad with other bold flavors; red onion, balsamic vinegar, feta, etc..  But it could also make a killer meatball with a little bread crumb to sit atop a creamy pasta sauce or in a wrap.  Yeah, it's got pizazz, but you can handle it...  Don't be meek, embrace the Greek!

nice (to) meat

sorry to take so long, anyway here's a photo of the current sausage set.  One tag in the back right was facing the wrong direction for the photo, it was turkey sweet italian.  The debuting items on this were the very Thanksgiving-y "turkey cranberry & walnut" and the "Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale Beer Brat."  Whether you enjoy that beer or not, it's hard to argue that it remains one of most popular seasonal beers to come out of the state of Maine.  It makes a pleasant addition to the sausage with bright and festive flavors of pumpkin pie spices alongside the usual beer-ish twang.. tasty :) The turkey sausage is starting off pretty well and seems like it may be around for more than a week.  Look for the sweetness of dried cranberries with the richness of toasted walnuts with background notes of fresh rosemary and rubbed sage. 

Get your Fall on and come check out these delicious new links to kick off a weekend of mediocre weather!