Isnt it pretty? I've been meaning to have a go at the chorizo for a week or two. The pantry, which smelled of fermenting garlic and meat when they were first hung, now has a sweet yeasty smell from the carrot and citrus wine that is blurping away in the demi-john. So its all good in there. Its not the smell thats distracting me from the sausage, its the fuzz. There's been not much more growth of mould in the last few weeks but I keep reading about the killer sausage (did you know that botulism is actually the latin term for sausage! - its a hard one to get your head around) and the statistic that 25 people died from foodborne botulism in the US last year, mainly from home canned goods but you dont read about people freaking out about the dangers of home preserving do you? and 25 in, oh what..305 million billion people well, that wont even compute sensbly on my desktop calculator!
The risks are there eating homemade salume or charcuterie made without the nitrites, but like home birth, me thinks that the risks are present, but if you follow advice sensibly then the risks are minimised; thats life. So with lots of mental gymnastics about musculoskeletal paralysis behind me and some sensible approaches, i peeled off the casing from the sausage, and hence with it the fuzz, inspected the casing and the sausage for mould penetration and meat spoilage, decided that it looked good and that it was completely superficial.
The chorizo texture was moist and crumbly which is so different to the salami which had the same meats just different herbs and spices, amazing that it should make such a difference, it smelt good (garlicky and sweet) and so I sliced some off, inspected it again and threw it in a pan. Botulism bacteria dies at 60 for 10 so frying it in a pan to accompany eggs should nuke any hiding botu bugs. Im such a chicken.
I must say it was the most stressful brunch i have ever had but it tasted great! The 10 cloves of minced garlic came through! and it wasnt to hot and spicy to overwhelm the other flavours.
Taste wise, 8/10. Health wise, we wait and see but my stomach is feeling a little weird and Im hoping its 100% psychosomatic!But, can i just say that a meal with homegrown eggs(not mine), home grown kale, homemade wild meat chorizo and local olive bread was for this loca vore, pure and simple delight!
7 comments:
:-D
From what I have heard if you want to be scared out of ever home canning anything just read the introduction to the preserving bible from Ball (I think it is the Ball home canning book but really can't remember the exact title).
Glad you had a lovely meal.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Looks good. If it didn't smell off or strange, I would not worry about it. Especially after frying it nicely. :)
Hmm...did both parents partake in the food? Or did you make sure only one ate the portion with the meat?
Interesting, how different it looks from the salami!
Ps.: Hope you are well! :)
I've never kale with my eggs but now I can't wait to try it. Don't dare go without posting for a few days now or we'll surely think we've lost you to moldy chorizo!
Sounds great Kel...
I'm at this moment eating an egg & lettuce sandwich, made with our neighbour's free range, organic eggs, (which we exchanged for a bagful of rocket & mixed leaves & a zillion cherry tomatoes from the last of our Winter crop).
The mayo on my sandwich was also made with the neighbour's eggs and John baked the bread, a pesto, sourdough loaf...pesto made from last year's rocket crop.
It feels so good, doesn't it..??
Hope your tummy settles.
HI Kelly
You're gamer than I am with meat. Personally, i like my meat to be fresh (or relatively quickly frozen) and well-cooked.
As for the risk of botulism with home-preserving ... the trick is to always use new preserving rings - they are one-use only.
Bring the preserving pot up to the boil SLOWLY so that everything has time to get to an even temperature. Then process for the amount of time it says. Then I let it cool for a bit before I take things out of the pot, which probably "over-processes" it a bot, but rather be safe than sorry.
Leave the clips on for at least 24 hours before removing. After that, turn the bottle upside down and check for leaks.
And if at any time you don't hear the inrush of air when opening the jar and/or it's a bit mouldy on top - don't use it.
Been doing this for years and never killed anyone! xx
there is a 'traditional' dish in Spain (more for labourers who use a lot of energy) which is very similar: 'huevos estrellados' (star eggs or starred eggs)...instead of kale you fry sliced potatoes...it van give you a tummy ache from just the calories- so heavy, does not need to be the meats being bad. I must say in Spain chorizo has white mould often but not so much 3D one- more like a patina...still, I think we would just peel it and eat it anyhow.
belinda- its all so bloody dangerous, but i figured i had more chances of dying at the hoof of a donkey than sausage disease, so tried to enjoy it, really i did! must keep my eye out for that book, justa s a thriller!
veggie- nah, just me, the bloke is a stickler for his muesli (drives me nuts!) but makes for more secure parenting! Im still here... weird how different they are...
kale-still kickin! kale n eggs - its really really good.
kerrie-ohh how divine! i love eating like this- such simple real pleasure isnt it? yours sounds good, i LOVE egg sandwiches!
naturewitch- i think i just love the challenge of it all. Mostly i love fresh meat too! its low fat! this stuff is lethal! eeek! Thanks for the tips, since reading about sausage disease i have read lots about canning too and yes, the lids are key. i wiil definitely be making sure of this next canning season.
annuska- yay'huevos estrellados' but i dont do that much work to warrant this for breakfast me thinks! eeek! the chalky mould you can see in small specks on mine, just not enough of it. Its hard to know if all the pepper in the sausage was making the mould pink!
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