Bacon Curing & Sausage Making

Making Sausage, Chez Poulet Style



Walking into the Chez Poulet kitchen - it was romantically lit with diffused sunlight and the occasional bright smiles of the few people (Photographer Puck and his friend Christina along with Renee, girlfriend of Resident Rick) standing around watching the action. Poulet Resident, Neal, was slicing pork into 1/2" pieces to accommodate the meat grinder that stood at the ready.

Neal had made sausage, once before to "figure it out, cuz it seemed easy and I was curious about it!"

He'd steeped his pork in Cayenne Pepper Flakes, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Brown Sugar and Salt & Pepper, before slicing it down into smaller strips for grinding. Once ground, he'd encase the meat and eventually smoke it. In times gone by, he'd created witty food combinations like Lavendar Lamb Meat Sausages & a Red Wine-Infused Mint Sausage.



Steps to Make Sausage
1. Trim off Fat*, then trim into 1/2" to 3/4" strips for the grinder.
* You want a 70:30 Meat:Fat ratio for making sausages so that there is some adhering going on between ingredients and the fat.



2. Seperate the tendons (sinew) from the meat as well, as the tendons will jam your grinder and they don't impart much flavor, anyway.

3. Grind Meat and any additional ingredients.






4. Using an encasing* attachment on your KitchenAid mixer or an actual Sausage Encaser, begin making** your sausages.



*You can buy Encasings from any butcher or restaurant that makes their own sausages.



** Load encasings onto your kitchen machinery like you would load a condom. They look very similar.



5. Smoke* the Sausages and Store them for eating in either the fridge or freezer.
*Decide if you are going to do a Cold Smoke or Hot Smoke.





Curing Bacon for Breakfast or Dinner



Basic Cure:
-50 Grams of Sodium Nitrate (gives the meat color)
-450 Grams of Salt
-225 Grams of Sugar

Stir the ingrediants together and make a dry brine.

You need 50 Grams of Dry Cure for every 3LB Pork Belly.

1. Rub Dry Cure into the Meat
2. Then Decide if you are making Sweet or Savory Bacon.
3. Finish curing your Pork Belly after the Dry Rub with proper ingredients of your choosing to make the bacon of your liking.

Breakfast Bacon:
-125ml of good quality Maple Syrup
-Sprinklings of Fresh Ground Pepper and Brown Sugar

Blend these ingredients together and then add to pork belly. Let Pork Belly rest in a refridgerator for 7-9 days. Smoke it for 20 minutes in a smoker and then you can slice (thick or thin cut) and fry it up for breakfast.