[Sca-cooks] Bacon

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 8, 2009, at 8:10 PM, James of the Vayle wrote:

> I know this has been brought up before, but I am having trouble  
> searching
> through my thousands of archived emails.
>
> I am making bratwurst, a recipe out of the Sabrina Welserin text.   
> What is
> the bacon? Back bacon I feel, obviously not American bacon.
> Take four pounds of pork and four pounds of beef and chop it finely.  
> After
> that mix with it two pounds of bacon and chop it together and pour
> approximately one quart of water on it.

I'd interpret it as four pounds of lean pork, four pounds of lean  
beef, and two pounds of boneless fresh pork belly, which would bring  
the total fat content up to a reasonable level, probably around 20% if  
there's still a little fat in the other meats.

Less than that, and sausage tends to be dry, and more than that, and  
it's too greasy to most people's tastes.

You could probably use an equal amount of hard back fat or kidney fat  
if you can't get fresh belly or side meat.

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter