German Charcuterie ( Metzgerei )

On my recent trip to Germany where I was teaching charcuterie, I was offered hospitality unlike I have ever received before. (I think I learnt more than I actually taught on this trip!)

It started here and near to Hameln in Niedersachsen, where I met pig farmer Achim Kaiser and his family and friends. I was treated like a family member having been told to park my trusty camper in the farm yard for the night (of which you can just see in the background), I was treated to a BBQ in my honour along with sharing much beer and several bottles of schnapps. Not only that, I was informed I was to sleep in the house overnight as I would be more comfortable than in my camper, with all the schnapps I was given I'm not sure it would have mattered.

Food and it's production was the topic of conversation for most of the time and here is Achim giving me a tour of his cellar, to which was the size of a large apartment. In it was a room dedicated to the many bottles of wine which the family had acquired over many years, also two rooms of home canning. All kinds of vegetables, fruits and meats of every description, many of which were given to me the following morning on my departure.

I visited the local markets at every opportunity to sample the many meats being sold before buying what I enjoyed most.

The Germans don't seem to boast about their food like other continentals, they just get on with making the highest quality they can with a quite like efficiency.

As you expect with this country, it offers a variation of cold meats, but it is the variation and high quality that surpass our neighbours.

It is no wonder Germany is the sausage capital of the world, with all it has to offer on this subject.

At Hameln market I met Manuella a team member of Fritsch a small company whom are specialists in German charcuterie, she saw that I had an interest in her meats and invited me to see how they were made. She without any hesitation called her boss and arranged that I visit that very same day. Manuella passed me the information I needed to find the address and I was on my way.

On arrival at Fritsch the Wurstgrosshandel, I was welcomed by Jens Fritsch the owner who promptly kitted me out in disposable overalls, shoes and hair net.

Jens very proudly gave me a quick tour of his premises and explained how some of his products were developed. Here a member of his staff fills a hopper with meat ready for mincing.

Jens with some of his Mettwurst ready for smoking.

Here we have some of the magnificent Black Forest Ham which has been cold smoked.

More salami and again Jens with some freshly cooked bratwurst ready for packing.

I can't begin to tell you about the generosity shown to me during my two week stay in Germany in particular to Achim Kaiser and Jens Fritsch for allowing me to indulge in my passion for great meat.

Auf Wiedersehen

Chicken Gizzard Salad

Chicken gizzard salad or Salade de Gesier is one of my favourite dishes, expecially this time of year where we have a great selection of salad to choose from. Sadly poultry gizzards are rarely used in UK, I can only add by saying that's a great shame.

So assuming we have already prepared our gizzards by curing them for approximately 4 hours, we now need to gently confit them for a few hours more until they become soft. Here we can pack them in fat and store them until we need them.
Start by sauteing some lardons and as the bacon begins to brown add your gesiers to the skillet to heat through. You can if you wish also warm through some walnuts at this stage.

Arrange a dressed green salad on your plate along with some citrus segments and any nuts you may use, then place your warm gizzards and lardons over your salad.

Adding a piece of freshly baked puff pastry to the dish will complete the salad perfectly.

I hope you enjoy this little salad as I do and if you do, then please ask your poultry suppliers to utilise these pieces of offal instead of discarding them.

I would like to THANK my friend and colleague Mickael Weiss of http://www.mickaelweiss.com/ for supplying me the confit gesier for this dish.

Gizzards by post! I think that was a first, merci Mickael.

Salami Culture

Ever wondered how salami is made?

Well I can tell you, in brief it is where sausagemeat and fat are mixed together with seasonings of your choice and stuffed into large animal casings, where they are then hung and left to ferment and air-dry for several weeks or even months.

Usually a rule of thumb would be; leave your salami air-drying until it has lost between 30 and 40% of it's original weight.

To achieve the best and safest results, it is wise today to add a culture to your mix, this helps the salami start the fermentation process. This also adds flavour and it aids in attaining the white powdery mould on the surface area which is another indicator saying "I'm ready to eat".

Mike a farmer from Tavistock Devon and one of my mature pupils is here above watching over his daughter Lisa making her first salami. I can tell you Mike brought to class a great tip at this session, he explained he uses a supermarket dairy product as his culture. What is it you're asking right? Well I can tell you it's "Yakult" the health drink you often see advertised on TV.

Yakult contains "Lactobacillus casei Shirota" the same ingredient as supplied by the many specialist suppliers to the meat and cheese-makers market.

On a recent visit to my local supermarket I checked out these health drinks and they were many varieties, including many brands with fruits added.

I can see some people using these to make the smaller snack salami, so c'mon who's game for making some strawberry & chocolate flavoured pork salami?

http://www.yakult.co.uk/ has a great source of information if you have any questions!

Merguez

Recently on Twitter I was followed by a newcomer called @merguezman (aka David Baker) of the new company http://www.provencalspice.com/ who imports a small line of continental sausage seasonings.



After a few pleasantries had exchanged on Twitter, I volunteered to review this Merguez seasoning and blog my findings. I love this sausage, it takes me back to when I had my own Charcuterie business in France.

Very promptly a package arrived by post with a sample pack of the seasoning and unexpectedly a mug with the companies logo imprinted on the side, I know what to do with that later.





Following the recipe given to me by David, I followed it rigidly until the point where water needed to be added. Here I split the mix into two halves, 2.5kg was mixed with the recommended water and the remaining 2.5kg was mixed with virgin olive oil as I would use with my own recipe.


Using olive oil instead of water in the mix adds an extra subtle flavour, however I have to say the water mixed version that David suggests scores very highly indeed.

I score both the olive oil version and the water version an 8 out of 10. Strangely I score my own Merguez recipe 9 out of 10, but then I would, wouldn't I ?



Having filled my lamb casings with the two mixes, I decided to make some puff pastry whirls with some of the seasoned mix along with some added sweet char-grilled red peppers to see how they would stand up en-croute.






Having rolled up your pastry, chill in the fridge for a short while to firm up and then slice into whirls and bake at 180c degrees for 20 minutes or until puffed up.



After such hard work in the kitchen (not), reward yourself with a snack and a mug of coffee, I knew that mug would come in handy. In fact a crucial tool when carrying out charcuterie, don't you agree?
To summarise; I would say this Merguez seasoning does indeed stand up to what it's supposed to do, I would even go as far as saying I would purchase this seasoning, where I would use it as a base and add my own signature to it.

My Merguez Recipe:

This is a fresh sausage originating from North Africa, ususally made from just beef and mutton. I've adapted this recipe to suit the European taste by adding pork. During the shooting season I look forward to making Merguez sausage with pheasant meat as it lends itself perfectly to these spices.

Ingredients:
3kg Beef, 3kg Mutton and 3kg Pork. 180g salt, 20g black pepper, 20g paprika, 30g hot chilli powder, 220g mild chilli powder, 40g cumin, 50g garlic, 40g star anise and 120ml olive oil.
A student of mine, a beef and sheep farmer in Scotland took this recipe and filled boar skins with the mix before hot smoking the sausage. I can now tell you he supplies a very famous airline company who use's his sausage on their first class customers.

So what are you going to do with yours? Let me know what you think if you get round to trying it.

Followers

You know to-date I have 24 registered followers on my blog of which I am both amazed and proud that they are interested enough to follow my writings on charcuterie and other food related matters. What you don't know, is that I have hundreds if not a few thousand followers who have not-registered to my blog and they accumulate from over 72 countries. This is absolutely outstanding and yet encouraging to know that we are all interested in the same subject and a subject that brings us all closer together.

I've listed below some of those countries that follow on a regular basis.

Sweden, Netherlands, Botswana, Mauritius, United States, Australia, Indonesia, Germany, Poland, France, Switzerland, Macau, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada, Spain, Romania, Ireland, Taiwan, Lithuania, Russia, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Columbia, China, Japan, India, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Belgium, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Pakistan, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Austria, Hungary, Martinique, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, Luxembourg, Kenya, Macedonia, Morocco, Thailand, Phillippines, Korea, Malaysia, Croatia, New Zealand, Algeria, Iceland, Dominican Republic, Antigua & Barbuda, Lebanon, Ukraine, Ghana, Cote D'lvoire, French Guiana, Serbia, Panama, Estonia........

You all know who you are, so let me say THANK YOU for following me!

Best Regards
Marc-Frederic

Butchers Fair

It was this man, Ed Bedington the Editor of the Meats Trade Journal, who asked on Twitter "are you coming to the Butchers Fair?" what could I say to the man who organises such an event, I replied with such conviction "yes, of coarse" as if I attend such show's all of the time. Thankfully I had read about the show just that very day, I replied with "it's at Newbury Racecourse, isn't it Ed?" phew that was close! Actually folk's the show was incoporated with a Bakery Fair, they had joined forces and worked together to put on a great event. What a cracking venue! Not only that, but it was all FREE! Talking about free, the exibitors were all very generous in handing out their samples for you to try or take home.

The fair was held over 3 floors of one of the grandstand buildings. I think Linda Lusardi who had been booked to hand out the prize-giving, was being held upstairs in the Penthouse Suite. SUGAR, my pass was the wrong colour to get me entry, ah well, your loss Linda!!

Scobies Direct who I have used many times had travelled all the way from Glasgow to exhibit, congratulations to them for their commitment, for they were many more companies like them who were absent. Well done lad's!

As often at these type of shows, they were plenty of stands displaying their wares, this one by Dalziel caught my eye. They were many suites around this stand, but the chap in the butchers apron and who had put this display together had trained in Germany like myself. If I was handing out prizes for best display, this chap would of won! Well Done and congratulations!

I can see the Princes roast and the Pin wheels being re-named as of this month, can you? Maybe to Williams Roast & Catherines Wheel.

Upstairs on the third floor was where the judging took place of all the meat and bakery items that had been brought to the show.

I counted at least 15 judges and all of them taking it very seriously indeed, each item entered was weighed, disected, tasted, prodded and poked and then commented and scored.

I'm digressing here slightly but worth mentioning, I had travelled from Devon the day before in order to visit the show. I stayed at http://www.hareandhoundshotel.net/ a bargain at £36.50 for B&B and only 10 minutes from the racecourse. Remember to call first and ask for any special offers!

Included in the bakery section were some lovely cupcakes, (did I really just say that?) I can't believe that "I" am banging on about some bloomin fairy cakes!! Where's Jean from http://www.delightfulrepast.com/ when you need her?

Then came the bread, I adore freshly baked loaves, warm bread from the oven, sliced thickly with a melting lump of butter on top, hmmmmm

Weddings cakes seemed to take on a certain theme at this competition, can you guess what theme that might be?

Zoom in for a closer look of the fine detail on some of these wonderful exhibits.

A great debate going on here over the Hot Cross Buns, such was the debate it caught the attention of the roaming pro-photographer.

All in all, a great day out. So if you weren't there, where were you?