Tag: pork
Maxwell Street Polish Sausage
Maxwell Street Polish Sausage
The Maxwell street polish sausage is a Chicago staple; developed by a Macedonian immigrant that took over his aunt and uncles hot dog stand in 1939; now known as Jim’s Original. This marvel of a sandwich consists of a grilled polish sausage on a bun with grilled onions, yellow mustard, and pickled sport peppers.
Equipment
- charcoal grill
- charcoal
- chimney starter
Ingredients
- Polish sausage
- hoagie buns
- diced yellow onion sautéed
- yellow mustard
- sport peppers
Instructions
- Start your charcoal in a chimney starter until they are gray. Pour in the grill and place on the grate. Place the Polish sausage directly over the charcoal.
- Grill them for 7 to 8 minutes a side, occasionally turning.
- Let them rest for 5 minutes before assembling.
Jambalaya Burger
Jambalaya Burger
I’ve seen multiple recipes online for jambalaya burgers; all using ground beef patties. What sets my burger apart from everything else on the internet is that mine uses a raw ground andouille sausage. And the reason why is that people might have a problem finding raw ground andouille sausage. Almost all andouille sausage you find in a grocery is going to be smoked. My meat department happens to make a raw andouille sausage. If you can find a raw andouille sausage, take it out of the sausage casings and form it into patties. If not, I’m attaching my recipe for andouille sausage below this one. Just skip the stuffing and smoking. Beyond this andouille rant, this is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had; by far. I’m such a big fan of Cajun and Creole cuisine, I turned one of my favorite dishes, jambalaya, into a spicy, juicy, burger of meteoric proportions. Once again, I made an andouille sausage patty topped with Creole shrimp, the trinity(onion, celery, and bell pepper), and sliced heirloom tomato; with creole mustard on top of a toasted brioche bun.
Servings: 2 burgers
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground andouille sausage
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil divided
- 1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
- 1/4 cup red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1/4 cup celery finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 8 large 16/20 ct. shrimp peeled and deveined; tails removed
- 2 tsp creole seasoning
- 2 brioche buns toasted
- heirloom tomato sliced
- creole mustard
Instructions
- Heat up 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onion, celery, and bell pepper for 4 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add in another tbsp of vegetable oil. Season the shrimp with creole seasoning. Add to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
- Flip the shrimp and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove the contents from the pan.
- Divide the ground andouille sausage into 2-8oz patties.
- Pan fry the patty for 6 minutes over medium high heat.
- Flip the burger and cook the patty for 4 minutes; covered.
- Put each patty on a toasted brioche bun. Place 4 shrimp on top the patty. Evenly distribute the sautéed vegetables on top of the shrimp. Top with creole mustard.
Smoked Andouille Sausage
Andouille sauasage is the famous staple of the cajun and creole cuisine of Louisiana. With it’s origins from French charcuterie, andouille sausage consists of coarse ground pork heavily seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, sage, paprika, and a large amount of garlic. The pork is stuffed into casings and slowly smoked with pecan wood. Andouille can be used in numerous cajun dishes such as jambalaya and gumbo.
Equipment
- food processor
- meat grinder
- sausage stuffer
- twine
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 8 lbs pork shoulder
- 40 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp sage
- 2 tsp pink curing salts
- hog casings
Wood Chips
- pecan wood
Instructions
- Place the garlic cloves in a food processor.
- Process until chopped.
- Mix together all of the seasonings.
- Grind the pork on a medium grind plate, one time through.
- Thoroughly mix the spices and garlic into the pork.
- Stuff the sausage into the casings.
- Twist into 6” links. Let cure overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cut every 4th link apart from each other. Tie in between the middle of the 4 links with twine to the grate of your smoker so they can hang.
- Place the grate on the very top rack of your smoker so the sausages can hang. Turn the temp to 130 degrees. Allow the sausages to dry out for an hour with out adding any wood chips.
- Turn the temp to 250 degrees and add your wood chips. Allow the chips to ignite. Turn your smoker down to 150 degrees. Smoke for 6 hours, changing out the wood chips every 2 hours. After 6 hours, turn up the smoker temp to 180 degrees and smoke for 1 more hour.
Grilled Baby Back Ribs
Grilled Baby Back Ribs
You definitely can say that making ribs is my thing. I’m more of a fan of spare ribs, but when I see a nice rack of baby backs, it’s hard to pass up. These were quite meaty being a 3lbs rack and needed to be mine. I typically do everything but straight up traditional bbq ribs, but I felt now was a good time to demonstrate how to do a simple version of ribs on the grill.There are a few things to know when making grilled bbq ribs. First, there is a membrane on the bottom side of the rack. Some people like it removed; others don’t care. Ask your butcher to remove it for you if you desire it off. Second, it is easier to handle half racks of ribs instead of full racks. So cut the ribs in half unless you’re looking for a full rack presentation. Lastly, use your favorite dry rub and bbq sauce. You know what you like. I used a rib dry rub that my girlfriend Val prefers on pork. She also made the homemade bbq sauce for this recipe. If you don’t have a particular dry rub that you like, I recommend salt, pepper, garlic, smoked paprika, and a little cayenne pepper if you like spice.The type of charcoal you use makes a difference. While I like using hardwood charcoal for flavor, it burns fast and more will need to be added since these ribs take more than an hour to grill. For these ribs, I used charcoal briquettes. They burn hotter and will last the whole rib grilling process. For the majority of the time, the ribs will be cooked indirectly. After they’re seared, it’s a low and slow process. A 3lbs rack will take at least an hour to grill; flipping every 5-10 minutes to ensure even cooking; plus at least 15 more minutes of grilling with the bbq sauce on.
Equipment
- chimney starter
- charcoal
- charcoal grill
- brush
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back ribs about 3lbs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup rib rub
- bbq sauce
Instructions
- Rub your ribs with olive oil. Aggressively season with your favorite rib rub. Let rest for 2 hours.
- Start your charcoal in a chimney starter until they are grey. Pour them on one side of the grill in a single layer. Place the grate on the grill. Brown the ribs on the top side for 8-10 minutes with the cover on the grill.
- Flip them over and brown 8-10 minutes on the other side with the cover on.
- Move the ribs to the outer edge of the charcoal. Grill for 40 minutes, flipping every 5-10 minutes to ensure even cooking. Brush on bbq sauce and grill for 10 minutes with the cover on.
- Let the ribs rest for 10 minutes before cutting in between the bones.
