Charcuterie Class – Stuffin’ Casings

We finished week 3 of our Charcuterie class at Saint Paul College. It’s being taught by Chef Nathan Sartain. This week, we ventured into the realm of salt-packed sheep casings. This product needs to be soaked in water and rinsed inside and out before it can be utilized.

If I thought that hog casings were easy to breach, stuffing sheep casings took some getting used to, as they are even more delicate. For all the teams, it was full steam ahead making sausages.

Some of the many varieties that we fabricated included a Lamb Merguez for which I made a harissa condiment which was added to it. Our team also finished the Moroccan Pheasant and dried Apricot sausage, and made some Squash Pickles. In addition to this, we smoked off our Portuguese Linguica. We started curing a rabbit and veal tenderloin for making a terrine next week. These were two of three products that we were given to construct an “item” as part of our final. My partner and I decided that the final “item” would be a Confit of Rabbit and Veal Terrine. We were also given a slab of pork belly which we will also confit, then sear and serve with possibly a rabbit demi glaze.

Other teams last week made a Char Siu Lop Chong. The Lop Chong is a BBQ Style Pork Sausage which is smoked for 30 minutes.

They also made a breakfast sausage and Tuscano, Toulouse, and Spanish Longaniza sausages. We enjoyed the Black Forest Ham, the Spicy Italian Sausages with grilled bell peppers and onions, and a Cajun Gumbo with the Andouille that was finished last week.

Sadly, there is only one more week of this class. I have learned so much and now have a stockpile of recipes to try this fall and winter.