SC - sausage questions

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Mark Harris wrote:
> =

> On Wednesday, June 4, Aelfthrythe of Saxony gave a recipe for
> brain sausage.
> =

> I'm not sure if I'm willing to try this item or not,

Aww, come on! Don't be a wooss (sp?)!

> but I will  <snip> ask some questions:
 =

> 1) What do you mean by "poaching" something? In cooking, not hunting.

Poaching is a process of cooking in liquid, generally a seasoned,
acidifed water, which is like a very gentle simmer. You want to see tiny
bubbles forming, but not blooping (a technical term every cook should
know) to the surface. Liquid temperature averages about 160=B0F at this
point.
 =

> 2) "others I wrapped in the liver kromski recipe"? Huh? I thought this
> was another sausage. Do you mean a different casing?

Durned if I know. Not being the original postor, I'd have to say it
probably should read "AS in the liver kromeski recipe". Kromeskis are
usually wrapped in bacon, IIRC.
 =

> 3) What is "caul fat"? Do you just smear this on the sausage? Or perhap=
s
> wrap it in some kind of cloth after you smear on the fat?

Nahh, caul fat (FR. crepin) is a fatty abdominal membrane. A.K.A. lace
fat or, I think, mesentery. It has veins of fat in it, is rather elastic
when raw, so it's good for wrapping sausage meat or pates/terrines in,
to keep them in shape and from drying out.
 =

> 4) How would you smoke the sausage? How long? How do you know it has
> smoked long enough?

Sausages are generally smoked in a smoke house, or sometimes hung high
up inside a fireplace. Depending on your purpose, you can either smoke
for flavor (which takes a couple of hours or so), smoke to preserve in
addition to air drying (as with things like Smithfield ham), or fully
smoke to preserve and/or dry. The latter two would have been more common
in period. Hot smoking, which actually cooks the food, seems to have
been rarer than cold smoking, whose primary purpose is to drive away
insects, actually. =

> =

> > The mix as it now stands will bake well as the above says,
> >but I put it in sausage casing, poached it and then panfried some of i=
t
> >in butter. others I wrapped in the liver kromski recipe, wrapped that
> >in caul fat and smoked. Will send the liver recipe later.

As I say, only the original postor can tell you what that means.

Hope this helps.

Adamantius