Monday, September 11, 2006

day 66

Been busy the last week or two, what with the little Zs starting school, me starting school, and part time wannabe goose sniping with the loyal reader on the weekends.

But yesterday and today we're back in the deer processing business. I thawed out nine pounds of Bambi's mother yesterday and ground a pound or so of frozen pork fat to make some more summer sausage. Loyal reader's macho grinder sure has come in handy (remind me to buy him some more beer) . . . . I discovered I had only enough commercially made spice mix to do 4 pounds of sausage, so I spent the afternoon yesterday sifting through about a dozen summer sausage recipes online and came up with my own "special blend." Apparently the secret ingredient for summer sausage is coriander, which Mrs. Z said (after the fact) is obvious. Not so obvious to me though. The other common ingredient to nearly all the recipes was whole mustard seed (that and cracked black pepper).

So here is Vassili's "special blend" spice mix, which will account for six pounds of the sausage in the smoker at this minute:

Vassili's summer sausage special blend:

1 tb coarse black pepper
1 tb whole mustard seed
1.5 tsp ground coriander
pinch allspice
2 tb garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cumin

To which is added 6 tsp of Morton's Tender Quick salt cure (1 tsp per pound). We'll see how this mix goes. Smelled good going into the casings last night! Put the commercial mix into two dark fibrous casings and put my own mix into clear casings so I can tell them apart.

Today's smoke schedule is as follows:

6 am to 8am: bring sausages up to room temp in kitchen oven
8am to 10am: bring sausage temp up to 90 deg F in smoker
10am to 12am: begin smoke (hickory) and cook at 135 deg F
12noon to 2pm: raise cooking temp to 155 deg F and continue smoking
2 pm to 4pm: finish smoking at cooking temp of 175 deg F.
Remove sausages when meat temp reaches 152 deg F.
Give a cold shower with the garden hose until internal meat temp cools to 100 deg. F.

I am indebted to Mr. Ask the Meatman for making this process more intelligible for me.

That's about it for today. Perhaps I'll be back again tonight with an update on how Vassili's special blend turned out. I have to think that with six hours of hickory smoke, just about anything would taste good.

And that's confessions of a deer sniper.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

day 58

It's the changing of the season. Summer deer sniping gives way to . . . early autumn deer sniping.

Except that today we played at being goose sniper. Same idea: pesky vermin that need cleaning up, in this case golf course geese who overstay their welcome and never leave. Last year the state of New York's September goose season saw an estimated 40,000 resident geese go down, making more room for the migratory birds who will show up later in the fall.

But today? this year's death toll was safe from us. We saw nary a bird all day. But a good time was still had by all: the loyal reader cooked us the manly man's breakfast that couldn't be beat, we shot clays until our shoulders hurt, and then we relaxed and partook of the beverage that makes beer camp, beer camp. All in all a satisfying outing. There's always next time.

With luck I'll be in the grapes tomorrow night, especially if if ever stops raining. And that's confessions of a deer sniper.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

day 57

Well, one more deer to go.

Spent the day today grinding burger and wrapping steaks--that is, after going out for geese this morning. The geese didn't cooperate, however, although I did get to see the loyal reader make a spectacular 50+ yard shot on a goose as it was flying straightaway. It's always good to have loyal readers who can shoot. You never know when some misanthropic animal rights wacko from India is hiding in the bushes.

Anyway. The loyal reader loaned me his muy grande 1/3 horsepower electric meat grinder, and boy did that make short work of the job this afternoon. All told I bagged 25 pounds or so of burger meat, destined to become this fall's sausage. Yummy. So I'm a believer now in more power for the grinder--you know what will be on Vassili's Christmas list this year.

Hurricane Ernesto is in the middle of dumping an inch or two of rain on us right now. As soon as the ground dries out I will likely be back in the grapes for one more try at Doe Number Three. If it happens I think I'd like to get it out of the way before grouse season starts on the 20th of September. If I leave for my annual hunting Odyssey to Michigan and Wisconsin, the nuisance deer sniping will be over come October 5. So . . . time will tell if I can put one more in the freezer.

The loyal reader is saving me wrapping countless packages of butterfly chops as he has volunteered to cook a manly man's backstraps steak breakfast for whomever shows up tomorrow morning for goose hunting. I told him I'd bring along the most recent backstraps and my favorite jamaican jerk rub for him to sample. Should be a fun morning all around.

And that's confessions of a deer sniper. May the geese fly low.