#2 | Jessica Arends: Sausage & Kitchen Culture

 
WiF EP2 Jessica Graphic.png
 

My guest on Women in Food this week is Jessica Arends.  Jessica is the Executive Chef for Six Friends Cabernet, a restaurant featuring New York made wines paired with fresh local cuisine.  Jessica brings together her experience cooking in three different countries and working in a large range of food businesses to express her passion for farm-to-table delights.  Besides the restaurant, her current adventure includes starting an Artisan Sausage business with her husband where they bring a passion for locally raised meats to the world-wide array of sausage flavors & styles.  We talk about some of her travels, her experiences in male-run kitchens, learning to cook beside her grandmother, and share a recipe for you to make Maple-Blueberry Breakfast Sausage at home…

The Recipe starts at: 34:48

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Six Friends Cabernet Restaurant

Story about Italian Agritourismi

Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide from the Ecology Center

Become a member of the Women In Food Community at: WomenInFood.Net/Community

Missy’s Farm Website: CrownHillFarm.com
Missy’s Business Coaching Website: SpiritBizPeople.com

Maple Blueberry Breakfast Sausage Recipe

(Download a printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
3.5 lbs ground pork(20-25% fat content). Can substitute turkey, chicken, venison, or whatever you have on hand!
2.5 tsp dry thyme
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tsp smoked sea salt
2 scallions, minced
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbs fresh sage, minced
2 Tbs kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
1/2 C. real maple syrup
1 C. dried blueberries, rough chop

METHOD:
Mix together thyme, smoked sea salt, scallions, black pepper, sage, kosher salt, and paprika. Add spice mix, blueberries, and maple syrup to the ground pork and mix by hand very thoroughly for 2-3 minutes. Form sausage mixture into patties. Heat up a frying pan to medium low heat. Add sausage patties to the pan. Let brown for about 3 minutes and flip. Let sausage patties to continue to brown on the other side until cooked through.


In our commitment accessibility, we’d love to offer polished show notes to help make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who like to read rather than listen to podcasts. However, Women in Food is still a startup with limited resources. So we’re not there yet.

What we can offer are these very imperfect show notes via the Scribie service. The transcription is far from perfect. But hopefully it’s close enough - even with the errors - to give those who aren’t able or inclined to learn from audio interviews a way to participate.

DOWNLOAD THE TRANSCRIPTION or READ IT BELOW

0:00:06.3 S1: Welcome to another episode of women in food. I'm your hostess, Missy singer to Mars. This podcast is all about the intersection of three things, food, business, and the feminine. Each episode, I invite you to sit down with me and my interview guest as we dive into this intersection to spark your food curiosity to share their favorite recipes and give you some fun food explorations along the way, I'm inspired by these women farmers chefs, bakers cooks, writers and food makers who all bring their passion for beauty, for nourishment, community, pleasure connection and deep care to others through food, these are women who advocate and take action towards increased food sovereignty for themselves, their families and their neighborhoods. Before I introduce today's guest and our topic, I have one request, if you could go over to iTunes or whatever app you're using to listen and give us a rating and review, it's a simple act that can help us a ton. Thank you so much. So today, I'm really excited to introduce to you, chef Jessica Aarons. I know Jessica in her current role as executive chef at six friends, Kaine here in New York. In her culinary career, she's lived and worked in three countries and has worked in every kind of venue from hotels, country clubs, restaurants and catering, she's been everything, a pastry shop of such a personal chef, and now the Executive Chef at six friends where there is a commitment to feature local wines and farm-to-table in New York and in this region, I'm at Jessica hosting a farm to table event here on the farm, and we hit it off instantly becoming dear dear friends as well as work and business colleagues and...

0:01:44.4 S1: She is partially responsible for the interception of this entire podcast and my entire vision around women in food, we started a conversation about doing farm to table dinners and featuring women farmers and women chefs, and Jessica was an immediate... Yes, let's do it. And here we are today, so, Jessica, thank you so much for being part of the entire vision of women in food and being my guest on today's episode, welcome to women in food.

0:02:10.3 S2: Thank you, Missy. I'm so excited to be doing this here with you.

0:02:13.6 S1: Yeah, I know. So tell me, what was it that day when we started talking about women in food and women chefs and women farmers, what was it about that that were really excited, you...

0:02:24.2 S2: I just loved being a woman, she myself, and I always love farm to table, and then meeting a woman farmer... I think you were the first woman, a farmer that I've actually ever met, and I just thought that was so cool. There's another woman that was passionate about something that's really in a man's world.

0:02:41.5 S1: Totally, totally, totally. And I also know that you take a really active role in a number of communities and venues that are focused on women in food and women culinary, what... Over the course of your career and work in food, what has driven you to focus in on those kinds of communities and avenues...

0:03:04.5 S2: So when I was in college for our senior year, we had to do a senior thesis project, and I really wanted to focus on women chefs, we didn't have a large female community on campus, there were seven men to every one female at Palmas College. So just finding another group of women and more women that were interested in what I was doing was really important, so for my senior capstone project, I actually did it on the WC, which is women chefs and restaurants. It's like the American Culinary Federation, but inclusive to women, and it's just women supporting women in the restaurant and food service industry, which I just thought was amazing, and I've been a member with them now since 2007, so it's been quite some time, so...

0:03:57.9 S1: Yeah, thank you for doing that work. When you think back to that time and being... What did you say? One of seven. One out of one, woman to seven, man as... Yeah, can you say more about what your heart was seeking or what you were looking for that you weren't finding in the colleagues in school with you? I

0:04:17.9 S2: Think I was just looking for more like-minded people, people that were just passionate. The culinary world, it just tends to be aggressive, they kind of romanticized Anthony Bourdain and has nothing against Anthony Bourdain, but his whole book and his whole series is just kind of based on all the really rash restaurant culture of the sexual harassment, the yelling, the drugs, the alcohol, and there's a lot of chefs that really kind of push that narrative into the culinary world, and that wasn't what I wanted to see my future as I wanted to find a different narrative and kind of switch that narrative where it's more of an educational learning experience. Less of a negative hazing kind of an experience.

0:05:11.8 S1: Yeah, I totally appreciate that you're reminding me as I was listening to describe that I was winded of being in art school as a theatrical design major and different but similar experience in that everything was focused towards... Well, on Broadway, this and broadly that everything was Broadway only, and I had no desire for a Broadway future, I enjoyed something completely different around design, and I was always pushing back, so I told a different story, but that same kind of feeling of like one way of being is advocated and spoken to, and this inner knowing that something else could be possible...

0:05:46.7 S2: Yes, exactly. I knew that that wasn't the environment I wanted to go into, and I was really fortunate early on in my career, I worked with a male chef, Steve race, and he was very grateful as his whole thing, just a lot of gratitude and love going into the food, and what I learned later on is a very far and few kind of a chef, there's not a lot of people like that. Throughout my career, I also didn't have any females to look up to in that way, I always found myself working under male chefs, I didn't really have any female chefs that inspired me or to look up to beyond the celebrity chefs is just not something that people were talking about...

0:06:30.3 S1: Yeah, so can you recall one of the first female shops who inspired you or one who inspires you now?

0:06:37.7 S2: Well, I can say, not necessarily chef, but in high school, my Home Ec teacher, which is kind of funny to compare home economics to culinary, but it absolutely has a correlation. Miss stole, I took every single one of her classes, so I took a home at class every semester in high school, and I absolutely loved her, I loved her passion for it, and she really pushed me to go to culinary school, which was huge for me. So I am ever grateful towards her.

0:07:07.0 S1: Did you love to cook as a little kid too...

0:07:09.1 S2: I always loved to cook. My mother was a terrible cook, mom, if you're listening, or sorry, to know that

0:07:18.3 S1: She doesn't even fuck anymore, so we do about for cooking come from... Is there someone else in your life as a young trial to inspire that

0:07:25.1 S2: My grandmother... She took care of us a lot, and every time I went to her house, we always had either a cooking project or a sewing project to do, and that might roll into that correlation of why I loved home economics so much, it's just... It might have brought me back to that time in my life, but I always loved that because it wasn't something that we did at home, we never really biked cookies or made a lot of food from scratch growing up. Yeah.

0:07:51.1 S1: So I might skip generations, but I love that I have the same thing to a certain degree, and my mom's a pretty good cook, but when I think about food and my love for food and my love for being a hostess, it really goes to my grandmother, also, and there's something really sacred to that connection to our ancestry, is the feminine line of our ancestry, the women's line, and all the crafts you're describing home, whether you call them home, I think of them as a crafts... Right, it's all the things related to gathering around the heart and tending the family and community, and one... Another example that you have that memory. So one of the things you alluded to that I wanna go back to is talking about flipping the script on kitchen culture, and you talked about having an attitude of learning and education, can you say a little more about what that's about for you?

0:08:46.6 S2: So in my current position as an executive chef, I like to lead by example and constantly be teaching, and I kind of see myself more of a teacher than an employer to some of these younger cooks that I have, I don't wanna scream at them, I don't wanna intimidate them, that's not how I wanna motivate them. I wanna motivate them by inspiration, get them involved, get them involved in specials, if they're doing something and I know a better way to do it, I'm not gonna yell at them and tell them my way is better, but I'm gonna show them why it's better and why I do it that way rather than just kind of say, No, this is how you have to do it. And that it's because I said, so that kind of attitude.

0:09:26.1 S1: When I hear what you're describing is really more feminine way of mentorship, like the mentor leader... I had a mentor of mine described that recently, where it's a more masculine way is I'm going keep up, right, and the eminent way is who is at the back end, and how do I help them stay with all of us, different energy. And it sounds like that's what you bring to the kitchen, is that kind of attitude of, how can we work together? How can I bring everyone along? And elevate the whole group. Exactly, yeah.

0:09:55.9 S2: And how does that... How does that reflect in the food that you and your team put out, and I get those from my guests all the time, when I go around the dining room and I talk to guests at the end of the night, when I have a chance to just get the kitchen, a lot of people say to me that they can tell that we really care, and I've heard that multiple times now, and I love when people say that because I can look at them and say, Yes, we do really care... We have a very small team in our kitchen currently, but everybody really cares about what they're doing, and I think that that really shows... It's not just a job for everybody where they're just going in... Getting it done as fast as they can to get out of there. Everybody's kind of going in, excited about what we're doing, what we're gonna create that day, we change our menu regularly, we change our specials regularly, it feels good to put it on a plate and know that it looks beautiful, that it's gonna be delicious, and that we have happy people out in our dining room.

0:10:48.3 S1: Yeah, it sounds like the caring part is more... Culinary often gets lumped into hospitality, right, and that care is the hospitality side, right. And it does not just make the most perfect looking dish, so that it's the most perfect, it's make something that looks beautiful and nursing to the eyes as well as the body for the person who's gonna sit down and enjoy it.

0:11:11.4 S2: Yeah, like we already talked about just being responsible as a chef too, with trying to use good ingredients, so we don't just care about how we're preparing it, but we're caring about what we prepare, what we're feeding people, that it's a fresh ingredient, that it's a sustainable ingredient, not just something that's mass produced.

0:11:31.5 S1: So what really sparked the interest in that perspective for you?

0:11:35.2 S2: So when I was on my culinary internship in college in 2006, we were in Italy, and in Italy, there are these places that I fell in love with, and they called them arteries MOS, so this was something that I've never experienced before that moment, and they were farms. That you could go to a lot of the times, you could stay there and you could actually do a little farming while you're there, you can do cooking, they show you how to cook and prepare with the items that they grow there, and they just have delicious fresh foods, sometimes they're really nice restaurants, sometimes they're more home, like the old Italian Graham, a rolling the past of my hand, and I just thought they were beautiful, I absolutely loved it. Walking around, seeing the animals, seeing the produce that they're growing and then watching them take that and prepare something with it, that just really struck a nerve me and I thought that it was the most delicious thing as well, just that taste is so different from what we were eating at the time in upstate New York.

0:12:39.3 S1: Yeah, no, I hear that, 'cause I have my own version of that experience when I lived in Hawaii for a short period of time, on the very first time, I was living with a family, it was a little bit more off grade, and so they grew some food there, and I'd never been exposed to that, but pulling a carrot straight out of the ground, rinsing it off of the hose and biting into it instantly, and I had never tasted some... The taste is wildly different, and I think that's what first told me I wanna be closer to when food comes out of the ground and gets on my plate, was that experience... I can picture the car, you can still picture myself standing there and the CRISP crunches athenry, so what happened for you when you came back from that experience? How... Can you give an example of how that influenced your cooking going forward?

0:13:26.1 S2: So then I found myself seeking out farmer markets, local farms, and I worked at a restaurant that had a change over of chefs, so the first chef didn't necessarily care that much about that, but then the guy that came in after him had a really strong commitment for it... And this is while I was still in college, so that also kind of helped move that narrative forward for me where I just thought it was superior, and the chef treated those farmers like royalty every time they would come into the restaurant. He would get so excited to be like, This person grew our food, he really made it kind of stand out of, this is really important, this person raises these goats and then they're taking the goats and milking them and making cheese, and then they're bringing it to us and now we have this amazing product to work with, so he kind of helped me see the farmers as these amazing artists and caregivers that they are

0:14:25.6 S1: As a farmer on just say thank you enters. And I do feel like you treat me like royalty when I want into your restaurant also, so for as a chef, you have slightly easier access to that kind of an experience, but for our home cook listeners, what would you say to them... To invite them into that level of delicious notes and quality.

0:14:51.1 S2: Simple thing as a farmer's market, I love Farmers Markets, I love walking around Farmers Markets and speaking with the farmers, I will probably buy more from the stand of the farmer who's gonna sit there and talk to me, rather than someone that's kind of like trying to give me my stuff and get me out of there, and then also CSA shares, Community Shared agriculture. I have been involved in a few of those, and I just think it's great that I have that weekly or bi-weekly delivery of fresh organic produce.

0:15:24.1 S1: Right, and these days, CSA shares like that can be even shipped if you don't have a farm near you, I know there's ones for me, less so for produce, but really high quality meats and other products like that, more of it's being shipped, although there's something to be said at six friends Keenan, our restaurant right now, you all are focused not just far into table, but local farm to table. Yes. Tell me more about that commitment.

0:15:53.3 S2: So I feel very strong about local for a couple of different reasons, and one is just supporting my community and the people in our community, and you wanna create those relationships with the farmers or producers, another thing is it's going to be more nutritious because it doesn't have to travel as far to get you... So it's fresher. When I get something from your farm, it's picked that morning for times the NATO, I just drive to your farm and I pick it up, you see it myself, so it doesn't get much fresher than that, rather than getting it through a supplier where it's sitting in their warehouse for several days or several weeks, or it's being shipped from Mexico or California, and that's just days and days and days on a truck, and they add things to keep it looking fresh, but it's like getting that tomato out of season, just mealy and pasty. Nobody wants that. You want the tomato that was picked fresh that morning from the farmer, and there's also just the environmental point of it, with that traveling comes an environmental impact as well, so when you're buying local, you're doing a lot of things, they're helping the environment, you're getting a better product, you're helping people in your community and supporting their businesses, so there's just...

0:17:09.0 S2: You can't go wrong.

0:17:09.9 S1: Right. Well, being a local small skill firm or myself, I'm certainly gonna agate that... Here's a question, and I know when I... Before I farmed myself, after I got involved in going to farmer's markets every week and buying really amazing, fresh locally-grown foods wherever I lived, the biggest struggle was how to keep it fresh, so what shuffle secret? Can you give us about keeping stuff fresh? It

0:17:37.5 S2: Depends on it specifically. So a couple of examples.

0:17:43.4 S1: Is there one source or a way to learn more about that...

0:17:46.0 S2: I mean, I would just ask your farmer directly or the person that you're purchasing it from, if you're getting it from a farmer's market, how they prefer to store it, so you kinda learn those tricks along the way are better out of the cooler, some things are better in the cooler, is there one particular trick that you find extra fun or interesting or doing weird... That you wanna share with us? I mean, I can't really think of things. Copyrights, I might learn something.

0:18:12.0 S1: One of the things I had a house met once who taught me how to store fresh herbs, and what she does, and now I try to do is I'll cut fresh ends and I'll stick them in a glass of water like flowers and then loosely drape a produce bag over them and put it in the fridge, and I can't believe how long herbs like that last, but you need to buy one that have a bit of a stem for that, you work really well. The other one I just recently learned was to wrap Fraser in a paper towel and put it in as a black bag and put it in the fridge, and that too... It doesn't dry out. It seems super fresh. I've been... That's my newest one that I learned from Indian chef to keep ginger fresh. So those are a couple of my favorite.

0:18:52.9 S2: I do that with herbs. I will wrap them in a moist paper towel depending on how fresh layer or where they came from, a lot of times I do like to keep them in water to keep them fresh, but a lot of times we do get to... We'll wash them and then wrap them in a paper to... Will lose Leanne

0:19:10.4 S1: Have a resource? I have a thing hanging on my fridge that has basics on how to store most fruits and vegetables that I keep on the fridge, and I refer to it even though I've had it for years and I follow it, I still have to look it up, I will put that in the show notes to this episode. I'll put a link to it, I'll find it where I got out on mine and share it with all of your listeners, and it's good, like I said, I keep it on the fridge, and if I have a vegetable and I don't remember how to store it best professes, I will look it up. A lot of things like leafy greens, I spread a little bit of water on them and then wrap them in paper towels or in a cloth fabric, like a cotton bag, and keep them in the fridge that way... And they stay fresh longer. As long as you keep them damp, but there's a little tricks like that, this was a totally unplanned direction on in the conversation. But it's super fun. This is the fun part of this podcast is we geek out about food and go where the conversation goes, so in a second, I'm gonna ask you more about what you're enjoying cooking, but before we do that, I wanna take a quick break and talk about sponsorship of women in food, our sponsors are a growing community of people who are passionate about food and supporting the diversity of women's voices in our food cultures, so we don't have external sponsors that sell you products or services.

0:20:25.8 S1: What I invite you to do is to be a sponsor and access a wonderful community of food lovers like yourself and the additional resources available to support you in your curiosity and your love of food, while also supporting the global community of women in food businesses. So this is kind of what the women in food community is all about beyond this podcast, so whether you're looking for a recipe or for a woman-made food product or a new restaurant, and wherever you're traveling to or wherever you live, or even some help with your garden or you're shopping, this community is a place and a resource for that, so if you're interested, you can go learn more and check it out at women in food dot net for community. And we appreciate your participation in the community. So, Jessica, what are you excited about? Cooking for yourself and for others these days.

0:21:17.3 S2: So my newest passion project, and it seems totally random, is sausage making. Okay, why is it not random... So what is it about sausage-making? It's just very satisfying and it's very simple, and I think it just... You just get a very good product at the end of it, so I love everything from start to finish, from seasoning the meat, to grinding it, to stuffing it, oftentimes we're smoking it, so there's just so many steps, but it's kind of relaxing in a way, and

0:21:53.9 S1: I know it started out as like you and your husband making sausages in mostly for your calls or for the restaurant, right.

0:22:01.0 S2: Yes, the first one we made was for an October Fest Event that we had at the restaurant, and I wanted to make everything from scratch, so we did a beer brothers

0:22:11.9 S1: On fun and when... It's funny 'cause when I think about sausage brands and companies, I don't necessarily picture a woman behind the grinder...

0:22:22.8 S2: Yes, I've been told a lot of times that I intimidate people because I also enjoy the art of touring, which I'm still learning, Chester, we're always learning and we're always trying to get better, but I was actually told when I was on my internship again in Italy, but I was the only one that would do it because all the animals, they had their head and their feet, and everybody was afraid, and I'm like, I don't do it. It doesn't bother me at all. The male Italian ships are like, You're a scary woman with that knife.

0:22:53.0 S1: I love that people are intimidated by the fact that... You're not intimidated.

0:22:57.8 S2: Yes, I have... My bone saw, it scares my husband a little bit, that in all my voting knives... And I don't know, I kinda like it, I kinda like that. That's something that's considered masculine, but put a feminine touch on it.

0:23:13.8 S1: Do you think there's something different as a woman butchering that you do or the way you approach it? I don't think necessarily... I think I do it the same way a man would, but I try to have a little fine at just hacking

0:23:28.9 S2: Away. It's taking part, but I do think that... And I think a lot of butchers do, so I don't wanna say that's a woman thing, but I have respect for the animal that you're working with, have respect for the meat, make sure you're trying to utilize everything because an animal did die for you, so try to do everything that you can to respect that animal...

0:23:49.6 S1: Yeah, I think there's something really natural that we bring or a very feminine perspective of a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of life and that a life had to end or something had to end to give us nourishment, which is giving us life and biologically, we as women are the first to feed another human usually, and so it's just so ingrained, it's so deep in the genetic code to feed others. And to step into those roles. Yes, absolutely. So what makes a sausage or sales... What's the definition of a sausage

0:24:25.9 S2: Sausage is... Well, it technically means salted meat, it comes from a Latin word, and so it's not necessarily when the word sausage was used, it wasn't necessarily what we think of as grind up meat, but now in today's standards, it's usually something that's ground up that seasoned... Usually heavily salted and often times stuff into a casing, which would be an intestine, so sometimes pig, sometimes sheep, if you want something smaller or beef if you want something larger, so it just depends on what you're making, but they do track the history of sausage to Mesopotamia C is just one of the oldest foods that there is...

0:25:12.4 S1: Yeah, and it's funny, I never done until I was listening to you talk right now, that the intestines... Sorry, if this is graphic for focus, the tests are a part that would probably be thrown away or wasted, otherwise we don't really... We as humans don't really eat or do anything with them, so it seems like it's also a great way to use all parts of the animal, and I imagine also that the meat that goes in the sausage is often like the cuts and parts that aren't really used for stakes or other... Prime uses it.

0:25:44.8 S2: Yes. And historically, they'd often use the liver and organs and other parts that you're not gonna just wanna eat or prepare without really heavily seasoning it, so that's historically where that started, and now butcher is like to use it as their scrap, so as you're cutting up and you have a lot of scrap or you have a lot of tough pieces, or maybe you have an animal that's a little bit older that you wouldn't necessarily wanna be as a pork chop or a stake or whatever, so that's really great for grinding and seasoning, and then you still get a really great product, what's your favorite kind of sausage right now? I really love a good broad worst, but we've been playing around in a lot of different recipes and I've been really getting into curing and smoking, and that's just kind of a learning process, and it's just more the intrigue and seeing what I can do. So it's kind of like when people ask me, what's my favorite thing to cook? It's gonna change every week, my favorite thing to cook it, because it's just whatever I'm learning at the moment is my favorite thing to...

0:26:52.5 S2: Coteau

0:26:53.9 S1: Know what, you've referred to that a couple of times, and I wanna bring it up that you said it earlier, and you just said it again, and it's something I'm really... And I think I enjoy about you because we have a similar value around it, but the constant learning and that curiosity, you often ask me questions about food, I ask you questions about it all the time, and I think my encouragement to our listeners... If there's one thing you learn from this discussion, of the many things you're learning in this discussion, it's to be curious, so Jessica was talking about asking farmers questions at the market or finding out more, or asking how do I best keep this rash or whatever it is, allowing curiosity to lead brings a lot of enjoyment and a lot of learning, and I've heard you, Jessica say that a couple of times now, reference that you're always learning, but

0:27:43.3 S2: I think that is something with female chefs too, is we don't have as much of the ego so we're not afraid to ask those questions and be able to continue to learn. And I don't wanna generalize, but a lot of times with male chefs, there's a lot of ego and they just refuse to really listen to anybody's input on anything...

0:28:02.2 S1: Yeah, and blame is not the right word, but I would put that on culture that's created that sense that men are expected to know it all and look good and be in charge, and so it's a lot of pressure, and I think that's where that then comes from to a certain degree, right? Yes. Alright, let's go back to sausage. Speaking of Man, I talk about sausages. Love it. I know, I was thinking this is quite a conversation and talk about sausages and men versus women in the kitchen and content.

0:28:33.5 S2: I will say, and they're like... My husband and I, we like to make sausage a lot together, and we'll help each other as we're stuffing and grinding, and there's a lot of innuendos that go around, not options, is it... Were that if I

0:28:48.2 S1: Also... That's certainly what I would say, and I know you're gonna tell us how to make a breakfast sausage, is that right? Yes. Awesome, let's dig into that and give everyone a little how too, so first, what's our ingredients? What do you need to make? Some breakfast OSIRIS.

0:29:04.3 S2: This is going to be a blueberry Maple breakfast sausage patty, so it's going to be a little bit fun and a little bit different than what I'm normally making and really easy for you to make it home, so we're gonna start with three and a half pounds of pork, ground or ground pork, and you're gonna want a 20% to 25% fat content in that park, it's not crucial, but that will help retain the moisture, so with sausage, we usually want that fat content in there to help the flavor and the moisture and the binding.

0:29:42.0 S1: So I've seen the percentage leggings on ground beef, I've never seen it on ground pork. Is there like, if I'm just at a regular market or grocery store, is there a standard percentage in part that usually is approximately... Do you have any sense...

0:29:55.3 S2: I'm not sure what you would normally find in the grocery store, but most grocery stores do have a meat counter of some sort that you could ask them if you wanted something custom, the best place to get it would probably be from up at your shop, but if you just get it from the grocery store and it doesn't specify... You're probably fine. It's gonna be very rare for you to find a ground part that does not have a fat content in it...

0:30:20.4 S1: Yeah, I mean, when I think about firing up ground pork and pan, there's usually a ton of that that comes in. Yeah.

0:30:26.0 S2: Yeah, because if it's not, then get the loan and no one's really grinding a porn.

0:30:30.7 S1: Alright, and if someone wanted to use a leaner, a leaner kind of ground meat, yes.

0:30:36.7 S2: You could do turkey, you could do chicken, you could certainly do beef if you wanted to... Again, I would just make sure there's some kind of fat content, like if you're getting tired, don't get the 99% lean, try to get that. Like 75, 25 or 80-20.

0:30:54.1 S1: If I do buy a tricky and it's really lean, is there a way I can add some tanuki at home?

0:30:59.5 S2: You can, if you eat pork and if that's not the issue, you could always dice up some fake in and add that in there, that's something that I've done before, or if you say bacon grease or anything like that, you could add in there. And again, it's not gonna ruin it if you don't have that fat, it's just gonna be a little... On the dryer side.

0:31:18.1 S1: Could I add an oil sometime like a coconut oil or a Nathan.

0:31:23.7 S2: Don't think it would be the right kind of fat, and I think it would lose up a coconut oil is solid so that I'm sure I could potentially work. Alright.

0:31:33.8 S1: So like, okay, so if we're gonna do a lean meat, you're gonna wanna add fat back in, so there's no point buying a lean meat in the first passage patties or not about being lean. Yes, I think that's what we really wanna say. And my impression about it, is that part of what makes a sausage sausage and hold it all together, or is that fat, is that right

0:31:53.4 S2: At a... Yeah, you need to have that and you need a little bit of salt for the Patty, you don't need as much salt as you would just stuff it. And we'll get into that a little rights.

0:32:04.3 S1: What are the other ingredients? We've got the a-ha pounds of some kind of ground pork or other meat, what else?

0:32:09.8 S2: Two and a half teaspoons of drive time, six cloves of garlic, mint fresh garlic in scale, two teaspoons of smoke, Casale

0:32:21.4 S1: Use a regular to sell if we don't have smok, you

0:32:23.4 S2: Could... Yes, CSI, just like that to a... Everything, yeah, it's to add that little bit of something extra to it...

0:32:30.0 S1: Yeah, it's like a way to add a slight hint of smokies without having to deal with smoking.

0:32:35.0 S2: Yes, I also add two tablespoons of Coaster salt, one teaspoon of black pepper. And with the pepper, you could add more or less depending on your flavoring to scallions or green onions, mine, two table spoons of SAGE freshmen, how much we use if we use dried... Like dried powdered age. If you use dried, you're gonna wanna tone it back because the diet is always gonna be more pungent and stronger.

0:33:07.3 S1: And that's a general rule when you see herbs and a recipe.

0:33:10.7 S2: Yeah, so either way, so if you want to use Fresh Time, I would add more, if you happen to have that on hand and set a dry, and then with this age, if you wanted to use dried Sage instead of the fresh, just to make sure you're toning it back.

0:33:23.4 S1: I love learning guidelines like that in one recipe that I can use on all the recipes. Okay, alright, go on. So we got the sale scallions, black pepper, Sage a Calgary time. Ground me what else?

0:33:37.8 S2: Two teaspoons of paria. I use a sweeter, but you could use... If you like spicy, you could use a hat or you could use a smoke, so it's fun about this is you can play around according to your likes as well.

0:33:51.7 S1: Yeah, I feel like we can have a whole episode just talking about different kinds of pepper... Oh yeah, I'm Aryan Spanish, is that... Yeah. Okay, go on. And

0:34:01.0 S2: Then a half cup of real maple syrup, so...

0:34:05.8 S1: No, Mrs. Butterworth better.

0:34:09.3 S2: That out of there. I would obviously recommend a local maple syrup, if you have the access to it...

0:34:15.2 S1: Yeah, I mean, for those of you that are not in our region here in New York, if you can find a New York or Vermont or Canadian maple syrup, those are gonna be your really good... Real deal.

0:34:25.2 S2: Yeah, if you don't live somewhere where Maple serves a thing, maybe you live in the south and seram the thing, you know, you can sub that out as well, if you wanna kinda put your own spin on there.

0:34:35.0 S1: What would... How would honey do as a replacement?

0:34:38.7 S2: Honey, I would almost think would be too sticky. You could certainly do it, but I think that it would. So I think there's something about the people that... It's also that absolutely cooked. He did, He molasses orgasm thing that's a little bit richer, and then one cup of dried blueberries and I just rough chop those blueberries up.

0:35:04.1 S1: So not frozen or fresh to just

0:35:06.1 S2: Prior... Yeah, that would be even too much moisture.

0:35:09.1 S1: Okay, so dried blueberries or another dried fruit that you'd like to titrate

0:35:14.6 S2: Fun with it. Alright, so we got all our ingredients... What the heck do we do? Just ours, I do wanna say that if you have a grinder at home, I would always recommend grinding it yourself for incorporating those flavors together and also just to make it fresh, but you can definitely do this with pre-ground. I just wanted to throw that out there.

0:35:36.0 S1: Oh, so if someone has their own binder, like an attachment to their Kitchen Aid or something, they would buy, say, a pork chop and through what

0:35:44.4 S2: I would do in a park, but is what I would

0:35:46.5 S1: Do? Okay. Or chicken probably chicken thigh or Chinese that. Okay.

0:35:52.2 S2: Cool, so grinding, it's gonna incorporate a little bit better, but this one, or by program or by a pre-grams, if you have it, we got our pre-Grand part, so I like to take everything, all the seasonings and mix those together first, and we do that so that when we add it to the park, we're gonna get even distribution, so we don't want a big chunk of garlic, Arabic chunk of Peres, you kinda wanna get all of those seasonings mixed together first.

0:36:21.5 S1: Okay, so that means we're gonna take the time, the garlic, the salts, both Sisal and regular salt for Coach result, salian black pepper, sage and paprika ethos.

0:36:35.4 S2: Okay, and then you will add that to your pork along with the maple syrup and the blueberries, and I like to actually use my hand, my physical hand to mix this together, if that grosses you out and you don't have gloves, you can use a spoon or... I would use a flat wooden spoon if you really had to use a spoon, or if you have a paddle attachment for a mixer, like an electric mixer, that would work as well, but I just use my hand, but

0:37:07.5 S1: Don't use any mix or that has a bullied 'cause you don't wanna go see.

0:37:10.8 S2: Yeah, we don't wanna pay... If you were to mix it with an electric mixer, I wouldn't use a whisk, it would only... Probably a paddle attachment would be the only thing that I would wanna use there...

0:37:22.2 S1: Yeah, UBS, I have a hand mixer and it has do hook attachment, and I completely bent the condo, which is the thing you should be able to use it for, so even though some of our machines have those attachments, sometimes get your hands in there or using a good. Sturdy wooden spoon or I like those big wide ban Bosman. Yeah.

0:37:44.3 S2: Yeah. Cool, Emilia, bench scraper, whatever you have that you feel comfortable, but again, I use in my hand and I just mix it and you really wanna mix it together, it's probably gonna take you about two to three minutes because you really want everything incorporated together, and that's really important, so that you have even distribution and it finds... It helps find that all together to a salt, I know you don't like as much salt, and I do wanna know that I tried it without the salt first and it did hold together in a Patty, but I really wanted the salt, so it into the rest of mine. So I think the overall lesson in making sausage is this, this is a delicious-based recipe, and you can adjust a little bit for what your preferences are, and that's kind of the fun of sausage, there's so many flavors out there for you buy premade sausage or if you get into making your own... It's like an outlet for a lot of creativity and a... It can be really expensive, and ground pork is not expensive, so if you buy a ground pork and all you're doing is adding some seasoning and some salt, you're saving ourselves a couple of bucks per pound there, so it's a great money-saver to...

0:38:51.7 S2: And

0:38:51.9 S1: Sausage adds so much flavor to whatever it's with... Yeah, alright, so we mix everything for two or three minutes, either with our sticky hands or with a spoon or something, and know what.

0:39:01.6 S2: And then just form into patties, you can do it whatever size you want to... I do them kind of like silver dollar size of small little patties, but if you want bigger ones, if you wanna make it big enough for your breakfast sandwich, whatever you wanna do, and there's a couple of ways you can cook it, so if you wanted to keep it raw and just kinda cook it as you wanna use it, you can just do it in a hot frying pan, heat up your pan to medium, medium to low, you don't want it to burn at a little bit Ali oil or whatever, or you

0:39:37.9 S1: All don't need to add a lot of oil, 'cause not a lot.

0:39:40.7 S2: Not a lot, just a little tiny bit, then that kind of helps get the sear, so that's the point of adding that extra oil or fat into the pen, I wouldn't use butter because that's gonna burn. And then you're just gonna serrated at Brown on each side, just make sure it's cooked through... Another thing you could do that I did today after I was done just cooking the couple that I wanted to cook, is I formed on my patties, put him on a baking sheet, I baked him at 350 for about 10 minutes, took them out, let them cool and store them and freeze her bags and now I have my breakfast for the week, so

0:40:17.5 S1: I eat... Wanna summarize that again? So if you don't wanna eat all of them or you wanna make them ahead for future use, poem on a cookie sheet or even a 350 victim for about 10 minutes and then let them cool and then you can put them in a freezer bag... Yes.

0:40:32.2 S2: Definitely let them cool. Before you store them?

0:40:35.1 S1: Yeah, yeah, I also know from freezing berries and peas and corn and things like that, I've actually done things where I put the cookie sheet in the freezer, that way they phrase as separate entities, and then you go put them in the bag and they won't all stick together, so another little kitchen trick for you, you could do the same... I know I've run into problems phrasing bananas, he's later and cutting and breaking him up, appealing him bringing in pieces and putting him in as a black bag, and then when you gotta take them out to make a smoothie, it's all one giant clump. And so a way it would be to break them up, put them on a cookie sheet or Sprite out on a dish or whatever, free them most of the way that way, and then dump them into a bag and then they won't stick to each other... Yes. Cool, and so then if you do that, do you need to de-frost them before you pan-fry them, or can I throw them right in the pan from the freezer or how would you reheat them?

0:41:28.3 S2: I would be for... Ask them first.

0:41:30.0 S1: You Rose and then pan for them, and that they're partially cooked already.

0:41:33.2 S2: Yes, I... Well, for me, like I just... I'm gonna eat them cold, so I took them all the way and I'm just gonna grab on it, I'm a big a, I grab and go.

0:41:43.6 S1: And so... Awesome, and then the other choices to cook all of them, and then you can keep them in the freezer, you probably are a fridge... I mean, I... You also all the way Cooked.

0:41:52.3 S2: If you want to, you could take that ground, if you didn't wanna cook them yet, you can start in your free would last a couple of days, probably about four or five days and you're a fridge raw, but I would inform them because they're just gonna stick it back together, so if you want to freeze it, maybe take some, put it in a freezer bag, make it air tight, and then you can pull it out and form them as you need them. If you wanted to do it that way.

0:42:17.4 S1: Thank you. Do sound delicious. I don't think I'm gonna have to show up at your house for breakfast this week, I might

0:42:22.2 S2: Have so many, so...

0:42:25.8 S1: That's awesome. And what do you like to eat with these... I

0:42:28.7 S2: Like a good soft boiled leg, I'm just a very basic breakfast person, I don't like to eat a lot for breakfast, so I'm kind of a boring breakfast person, I would just eat it as is with maybe a Soft Oil day with little everything seasoning on it. Yeah, it's funny you say that. I always think that about shops like... What do they cook at home? Do they even wanna cook when they get home, like Do... I do like to cook, but in the morning, I like coffee for breakfast, I'm not a big breakfast person, and then I get to work and I'm starving, so I try to force myself to eat a little something, but I just... I don't know, I just note.

0:43:06.3 S1: We were just having this conversation at breakfast and my household this morning because I made a nice breakfast, but I have all these waffles leftovers in The Bridge, and the other person, the house was like, Well, why don't you eat Waffle for breakfast, I'm like, I love making the law falls, but I can't eat sweet for breakfast, rarely, or just a bit of sweet with savory love breakfast, but I love a severe breakfast.

0:43:31.7 S2: Yeah, yeah, I'm not desert for breakfast person either, unless like if I go out to eat and I get paid is like I have to get a side of bacon, like I need that, so...

0:43:41.7 S1: Yeah, yeah, when I make waffles, I'm like, Oh, we need making or sausage or something, and now I have a sausage recipe... Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for giving us this recipe, I... God, we talked about so much stuff, we talked about some of your journey and story and how you came to have a passion for women in food and passion for farm to table and eating local, we talked about sausages and the literature, history and how they're made. We give you a recipe. Having talked about all those things, Jessica, I'm curious, our listeners, what would you like them to walk away with, if there's one takeaway you'd like our listeners have, what would it be?

0:44:16.8 S2: Be kind to one another, have respect for your food, feel good about what you're feeding your loved ones and your neighbors and your customers, if you work in a restaurant, and just always try to have that mutual respect.

0:44:31.2 S1: On that note, I love that. Thank you so much, this has been so much fun. And once again, I love acknowledging that this whole Women in food vision started with a conversation with you and I, and it's been so fun to share this journey with you and continue to share this journey with you, thank you so much for giving us a wonderful sounding recipe, I can't wait to make it... Can't wait to hear how our listeners enjoy it and sharing some of your stories with us, I hope everyone enjoyed this episode of women in food and got a bit of inspiration for your next meal, a last request, if you could go over to iTunes or whatever, app you're using to listen and give us a rating and review. It's a simple act that really helps us a ton. Thank you so much for joining me on this delicious adventure. Join me next time. Around the table and get ready to eat.

Previous
Previous

#3 | Tanja Westfall-Greiter: No Two Carrots Are Alike

Next
Next

#1 | The Story of Women in Food