The "Making Do" Challenge -- Sorrel

In order to avoid going to the store during the pandemic, I looked around my yard for ideas on things to eat.  This is not as crazy an idea as that may sound as I tend to plant edibles when I can.

Several years ago I bought four little sorrel plants from the nice lady at the local farmers market and planted them in a corner.  I also bought spinach and planted them at the same time.  In less than a few days, the spinach had disappeared, presumably eaten by rabbits or squirrels or snails.  But the sorrel went untouched.

This was promising.  Even better, the sorrel grew and thrived so much that sometimes I just had to cut off all the leaves and toss them into the compost pile in order to get tender new leaves to eat.  You see, sorrel is like spinach with a tart, acidic bite.  The older leaves are a little tough (but not bad) and a lot more tart than the new leaves.

I often put some fresh sorrel leaves (old or new) into my salads and I really like putting big handfuls of chopped sorrel into soups and stews.  I noticed that the leaves tend to cook down to nothing recognizable as greenery and yet they add flavor, fiber, and nutrition to the dish.

But this was not the time to toss the great quantity of leaves into the compost pile.  I wanted to use them!

What caught my attention was a recipe found in The Gourmet Cookbook, volume 1.  It is a book published through "Gourmet Magazine" and this edition was published as the magazine neared its silver anniversary.  It is a lovely, two-volume boxed set, with a classy reddish-brown and gold cover.  I received as a gift from my friend DS, a talented cook who wanted to pass it on to someone who would appreciate it.  And I do.

6th printing, published 1974, by Gourmet Books, Inc.

I found on page 220 the recipe for

"Purée d'Oseille" or Sorrel Purée.

For 1 cup purée, wash thoroughly and drain 3 pounds sorrel.  In a saucepan over high heat cook the sorrel in the water that clings to the leaves for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it is very soft.  This is called "melted" sorrel.  Drain it in a sieve and press out as much water as possible.  Rub the sorrel through the sieve and add 2 tablespoons butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Three pounds less the weight of four earwigs and two snails

My Notes

Three pounds of sorrel is a lot of sorrel.  A lot of sorrel!  It took nearly all of the leaves my plants had -- and I was grateful for it as they were all older leaves.  None of it went into the compost pile.  I washed it in batches, making sure all the bits of mulch and dead leaves were pulled out.  I left the stems on the leaves.

The biggest saucepan I have could only hold about 1/2 pound of fresh leaves at a time, so I cooked them in batches, too.  Once a batch was "melted", it went into a sieve over a bowl to drain while I cooked the next batch.

About 1/2 pound

Fortunately, the leaves reduced in volume quickly.  The directions called for high heat but I learned to reduce it to about medium (4 out of 10) to keep the leaves from scorching.  It didn't take 10 to 15 minutes to get them very soft, either.  It was more like 4 to 5 minutes per batch.  I cooked them until the stems were soft and floppy as they were the last part to get that way.

From a full pan to a little puddle

I used tongs to turn the leaves while they were cooking.  That helped reduce scorching as well as made sure all the parts were cooked evenly.

All the melted sorrel drained very little -- maybe a tablespoon or so of liquid -- and I was reluctant to push on it much as I didn't want to press it through yet.  I estimated its quantity to be about 3 to 4 cups.

Preparing to push

I pushed the sorrel through the sieve using the backside of a ladle.  This worked well.  I noticed that an area would reduce to mostly fibers while the green purée dripped through to the bowl underneath.  But it was intense work!  I stopped after getting about 2 cups of purée, when I probably could have gotten another 1/2 cup more.

Voila!  See how thick it is?

I mixed in 3 tablespoons of melted butter and about 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

The Verdict

The purée was a dark olive-green and very thick.  It mostly held its shape when stirred or piled up with a spoon.

I served it with some roast pork, a green salad, and some leftover red potatoes and rice.  This was a good choice because the sorrel was very tart and needed to be paired with something that could stand up to that.

And wine!  Don't forget the wine!

Yes, it was tart.  Almost too tart for my taste, although my guest taster thought it was wonderful.  We both described it as robust, tart, creamy, and complex.  Like spinach with lemon but with more.  The texture was silky smooth.  A small amount on the plate was plenty for me; my guest had seconds.  We both liked it but as I said, for me it was on the edge of being too tart.  I kept wishing I had cut it with spinach purée or something to tone it down a bit.

So I declare it a success!  Definitely a repeater for when the sorrel patch gets overgrown again, or earlier if I want to try it with new leaves and hope for a lower tartness level.  I wouldn't need to use the entire three pounds, though, to get enough for two.  (The book said the recipe would serve six.)

Two cups of purée is a lot to use up when each serving is small, so I started looking for other ways to include it in a meal.  Once it was thinned with some pork broth to make a sauce to spoon over poached eggs for breakfast.  Another time I put in more salt and pepper and then a little beef bouillon to shift the flavor to more meaty and used it as a side dish.  And yet another day we mixed a few spoonfuls of it into a bean-corn-and-pumpkin soup.  It shifted the flavor of the soup to something different, which was good because it was the third meal where we had the soup.  (Not the third meal in a row!)

I finished using up the sorrel purée by turning it into a soup.  I added a very herbal beef stock, more salt and pepper, chunks of crispy bacon, bits of onion cooked in the bacon fat, a big spoonful of cream cheese, and honey.  Yes, honey!  It seemed to temper the tartness.  I didn't add the honey until after I put in everything else and felt that it was still too tart for my tastebuds; after adding the honey, it was just right.  No, it wasn't sweet or even sweet-and-sour, but tart at a level I liked very much.  The soup was a big hit and I served it with toast (great for dunking!) and some pieces of bacon on the side.  The quantity was just right for two.  Success again!

I wonder how it would taste and what the texture would be if, instead of pushing it through the sieve, I put it through the blender.  That will be an experiment for another day.

The "Making Do" Challenge -- Sausages, part 3

I'm in the midst of making sausage from a chunk of pork cushion meat, using the ingredients I have around the house.  This is part three; to see yesterday's post:  Click here.


Today I tried full-sized patties of each blend, to see how they turned out after having a day in the refrigerator for the flavors to blend.

Blend #1

As I feared, it was too salty.  Even my salt-loving guest taster agreed, and that says a lot.  I hadn't considered the impact of the salt in the liquamen when I was measuring the straight salt at the beginning.

To adjust this, I cut up more pork chunks and included seasoning and added it to Blend #1.  Here's what I used:

     2 lb 6 oz meat
     3 g pepper
     3 g mace
     15 g fresh parsley
     1/2 cup cold water

Note that I did not include any salt and I was out of dried apple.  The nice thing about the parsley was that it showed me how well I had mixed the new part in with the old.  It wasn't well blended until the parsley was distributed throughout.

This worked out so well.  The new blend had just the right amount of salt and a bright, slightly spicy flavor.  We enjoyed it with fried eggs at breakfast.

Blend #2

Well, the recommendations to mix garlic in to make sausage was spot on!  The garlic flavor was strong but not so much to put us off.  We truly enjoyed it as a patty along with a salad and crackers.  The salt balance was right and it was moist and flavorful.

Blend #3

This was the mix where I decided to increase the flavor ingredients to really make an impact, and boy, did it work.  My guest taster declared it "A keeper!" and I agreed.  I couldn't really taste the apple but imagined it added a bit of sweetness.  The rest of the flavors were bold in a pleasant way and the salt level (from just the liquamen) was just right.

And now for a bonus!

When I chunked up the rest of the cushion meat to adjust Blend #1, I had enough left over to try another blend.  I kept recalling a conversation I had with an Egyptian friend,  AF, when we discovered we were both foodies who liked to cook.  He told me his favorite spice combination on meat used cardamom, pepper, and cinnamon.  This caught my imagination and inspired me to try it with the fourth sausage flavor blend.

Blend #4

4 lb 5 oz pork
28 g salt
50 g raisins
2 g pepper
1 g ground cardamom
2 g cinnamon
1/2 cup red wine


This turned out to be my absolute favorite.  Sweet, spicy, bold, salty (just right), and the red wine added its own floral perfume to the mix.  Truly a wonderful eating experience.  I would make this again any time!


The Verdict

I declare my sausage-making experience quite the success.  All the blends turned out well, even #1 after I adjusted it to balance the salt.  And, of course, #4 was the best of all.

At this point I had to decide how I wanted to proceed.  I had the ingredients to make tube sausages but I was running out of time; I had too many other things that had to be done.  So I decided to make them all bulk sausage.

I weighed out 1/2 lb quantities, shaped them into cylinders, and wrapped each in plastic wrap.  Each lump was labeled with the blend number and all the lumps were put into freezer bags with notes as to what was in the blend.

The funny part was how potent the garlic scent was, even through two layers of plastic and solidly frozen.  It has since settled down but, wow!  Strong!

It is nice to know I have a variety of sausage flavors to work with.  It was also fun to discover how easy it was to make up my own flavor combinations and still have them tasty.  My guest taster was astonished at how good they all were; he just hadn't had "high quality edible art" before.

Now he knows!

Stay safe and well, everyone.

Pinterest needs a picture for me to post, so I am including a picture of my cat.  She did not get any sausage but she did ask for some.  : )

The "Making Do" Challenge -- Sausages, part 2

Yesterday I wrote about the beginning of my sausage-making challenge.  I had 15 pounds of pork cushion meat and a variety of items in my kitchen and garden to help make amazingly-flavored sausages (I hoped!).  See yesterday's post here.

Today I want to tell you about the flavor combinations I tried.  These were combinations that I wanted to do by thinking about what I like and playing from there.

The First Blend

3 lb (1359 g) pork chunks
34 g salt
15 g dried apple
2 g total mace and black pepper, roughly 1 g each
about 65 ml liquamen mixed with 65 ml water

Following the directions from Sausage Making for Beginners, I weighed the salt and "other" ingredients, mixed them in with the pork, then set up my grinding station.

Meat and flavoring, but no liquid, tossed and waiting for the grinder

I have a metal grinding attachment for my mixer, so that was assembled and put into the freezer to chill.  The beginner's website said to use the fine plate but the mixer's instructions said to use the medium plate for sausage, so that is what I used.  I set up an ice water bath for the metal mixer bowl which will catch the ground meat.

The fit was very good!

As directed, everything was clean and cold.

It didn't take long to grind the three pounds of pork.





I took a little of the ground meat and cooked it to see what it tasted like before I added the liquid.  It was fine; I liked the flavor, which was a blend of the ingredients and none actually stood out.



Then I added the liquamen and water to it and mixed it with a wooden spoon until meat looked like the bulk sausage I have bought in the store.  I figured that was the best representation of what the paste should look like.  Really, it was just the ground meat but stickier.  I made another patty and was a little worried that it was too salty.  But I was willing to wait until the next day so the flavors could blend.

Then I packed the sausage into a plastic tub and put it into the refrigerator while I planned the next mixture.

The Second Blend

I had read so much about the wonderfulness of garlic in a pork sausage that I decided to try it in this blend.

3 pounds (1359 g) pork chunks
34 g salt
8 g of chopped garlic in oil
12 g fresh parsley
130 ml water

Garlic, salt, and parsley ready to be ground

I went through the same process:  grind the mix, add the water, stir to get a paste.

I cooked a small patty and thought the flavor was the right blend of garlic.  Not sure I got much of the parsley but it wasn't bland.

Then into the refrigerator while I set up the third blend.

The Third Blend

I had just a little over 2 1/4 lbs of pork chunks left.  I decided I would change the flavor ratios more, to make the flavors stronger.  I also wanted to use up the rest of the dried apple.

2 lb 5 oz pork
11 g chives
9 g dried apple
2 g mace
2 g black pepper
125 ml liquamen

Notice that I didn't add any salt to this one.  Since I decided to use all liquamen for the liquid, I hoped that would be enough salt.  I was still worried about the first blend being too salty.

Apple and oniony chives.  Yum!

When I tried a small patty of the paste, I thought the salt level was just right.  I also got the idea that I had put in too much pepper -- it had a bit of a burn to it!  But again, I thought it was a good idea to wait for the flavors to blend.

Tune in tomorrow for part 3 of the sausage-making extravaganza!

The "Making Do" Challenge -- Sausages, part 1

So the world came to a halt while we all hunkered down to wait for the COVID-19 virus to run its course.  As so many other people did, I purchased food to have enough to feed me and mine without having to go to the store very often.  I did not hoard and I never took the last of anything; it is important to me to share with others.

It occurred to me that I am fortunate enough to be able to afford the more expensive food items, like big chunks of meat, higher price-per-pound meat, fancy cheeses, etc.  Then I realized I should buy those foods and leave the inexpensive items for people with lower incomes.  So I came home with a 15 pound bag of pork cushion meat and an idea to learn how to make sausage.

My reading around the internet reminded me that our word "botulism" comes from the Latin word for sausage, emphasizing the need to be careful and clean in the making process.  I needed to learn the right way to do it; to this end, I found this website:  "Sausage Making for Beginners."

I appreciate the step-by-step instructions and discussion the author offers.  I like that he gives some recipes to help me see what to do.  And I am grateful for his emphasis on cleanliness.  The process looked doable, so I set about doing it.

I was inspired by this line:

You will be crafting high quality edible art.

In the area where he gives recipes, he gives these ratios:

• 1 part meat and fat
• 2.5% salt
• 1% other stuff
• Up to 10% liquid

The "other stuff" will define your sausage.  These are things like black pepper, paprika, garlic, sage, onion and chili powder.

The liquid portion can be anything wet (water, wine, stock, milk) and serves four purposes.  (1) It adds moisture to the meat resulting in a juicier sausage.  (2)  It lubricates the meat making stuffing much easier.  (3)  It adds flavor to the sausage if you choose to use wine or stock.  (4) It helps disperse the other seasonings throughout the rest of the sausage.  Make sure any liquid is ice cold before adding to the meat.

In a situation where I need to use what is in my house and not go shopping for specific ingredients, I felt like I was in control of the flavoring.  Between the spices in my pantry and the herbs in my garden, I believed I could make a variety of tasty sausages.

My goal, given the entire 15 pounds of pork to work with, was to make that variety and then freeze them for future use.  I decided that I would take several days to do the entire process.

I love the flavor combination of pork and apple, especially with nutmeg or mace involved.  I asked some experienced charcuterie makers what they thought about using fresh, grated apple and the general opinion was "meh."  Not really worth the effort and it added a lot of moisture.  But, they mentioned, they have had good results with dried fruits, so I decided to make dried apple bits to put into the sausage.

I took a clean apple, cut it into quarters, cored it, then sliced it thinly on my hand-shredder/slicer.  The pieces went onto a sheet and into my oven, set on warm.

Ready to dry

After drying like this overnight, I had crispy apple slices that I broke up into pieces (not intentionally but most had stuck to the pan), and planned on using them in at least one sausage mixture.

Dry and flavorful

I also got out the pork and started cutting it into the suggested 1 to 2 inch size chunks.  It was very cold, as it should be, but after getting through about half of the package, my meat-holding hand was going numb.  I stopped there and put the meat back into the refrigerator to chill overnight (the same night the apples were drying).

First cut the slabs.  Leave the fat, remove the slime (of which there was very little)

About 8 pounds of pork chunks.

Whew!  It helps to have a very sharp knife.

Tune back in tomorrow to see how I flavored the meat and did the grinding.