Just a few photos for you..
Caul fat is a translucent lace of fat, and it melts when cooked, so it provides moisture and flavor to the final product. In classical garde manger, caul fat is used to wrap forcemeats and as a natural casing for sausages.
Caul fat is sometimes used to wrap roasts, so it is essentially a form of barding.
Sausage patties wrapped in caul fat are known as crépinettes
Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard. All lard is rendered pork fat; the term is usually used to refer to rendered pork fat suitable for cooking. Leaf lard specifically comes from the visceral, or soft, fat from around the kidneys and loin of the pig. As such, it has a very soft, super spreadable consistency at room temperature.
Starting the process for cleaning and making my own sausage casings.
Natural sausage casings (“casings”) are made from the sub-mucosa, a layer of the intestine that consists mainly of naturally occurring collagen. This should not be confused with collagen casings, which are artificially processed from collagen derived from the skins of cattle. Natural casings are derived from the intestinal tract of farmed animals, are edible and bear a close resemblance to the original intestine after processing. The outer fat and the inner mucosa lining are removed during processing.
Natural casings are traditional products that have been used in the production of meat specialties for centuries and have remained virtually unchanged in function, appearance, and composition. Salt and water are all that is used for cleaning and preservation. Natural casings are the only casings that can be used in organic sausage production
- all quotes are from the net.. but the photos are all mine!
Cleaned up and trimmed and cubed stew meat, most of the stewed meat is being canned, either on its own or in a soups or stews. the rest of the pork has been cut into chops, roasts and so forth.
The fat is being rendered down and the cracklins are fab-o.. Bacon and ham roasts will be cured and smoked.. but for now.. I am done and caught up.. time for a well desired rest for a few hours tonight.. tomorrow is a new day..
