Fresh. Spicy. Italian.

This week's newbie in the meat case is a fresh Italian sausage. It's an all pork sausage, seasoned with red pepper, fennel seeds, chili flakes, black pepper + Cochon hot sauce - a sweet, yet spicy link that really doesn't need much company to shine. Salumiere Kris served a taste of it today 'as is', just rubbed with olive oil + stuck in the oven until nicely browned. Cut up in pieces, served with some whole grain mustard, it will make for a great, straight forward appetizer.
Kris also suggests to use the fresh Italian sausage for the classic southern treat 'sausage + peppers': We served a hot sausage with bell pepper sauté as a sandwich at the Butcher, but the combo is also great as an entrée, served over stone ground grits. Or think breakfast burrito: take the sausage out of it's casing (or not, you can eat the casing, it's all natural), brown it + then scramble some farmer's market eggs right in that meaty goodness. Season with S+P and add some hot sauce to taste. When done, wrap the egg-sausage mix with grated sharp cheddar in one of those giant tortilla. place the burrito back into the pan just for a minute or two on both sides until the cheese is melted + serve it with salsa. Ooh yeah,the day can now begin.

What is.... Chaurice?

Salumiere Kris made chaurice this week. Wondering what it is? Same here. This is what I learned: The newest addition to the Butcher case is a fresh, spicy, all pork sausage. Chaurice is the creole take on the Spanish chorizo - which most people know as a cured, dried sausage, but it's actually also made + eaten fresh. But we'll talk about chorizo next week.
The chaurice is flavored with some classic southern ingredients: green onions, onions, celery + garlic. There's also some fresh parsley, black, white + cayenne pepper, salt, dry thyme + paprika in it which makes for quite some spicy heat. And then there's all natural pork, of course.
The chaurize is, similar to an andouille, mostly used as seasoning sausage rather that eaten as is, like a brat. It's known to be the traditional Red Beans & Rice sausage: cut it in chunks + add it to the beans. Or pan fry it, before adding it to a hearty root vegetable stew. Use it when you make a lentil soup with carrots, onion, celery + garlic this fall. Or take it out of its casing, brown it in a saute pan + add it to your tomato based pasta sauce. Go ahead, be creative. By the way, there's nothing wrong with the casing we use. It's all natural, you can eat it or not. Voila.

Heads up, home cooks!

We love our meats, our condiments + jarred veggies. We love to cook with them + we want to motivate you to do the same. That's why we will share Butcher recipes with you now and then. Here we go, No. 1 is our Jambalaya - we stuff Chicken with it, but it's a fine dish as is.

Butcher's Jambalaya

6 each Bay leaves

1 ½ teaspoons Salt

1 ½ teaspoons White pepper

1 ½ teaspoons Dry mustard

1 ½ teaspoons Cayenne

1 teaspoon Black pepper

1 teaspoon Thyme

4 ounces Butter, unsalted

2 pounds Andouille

1 ½ pounds Tasso

3 cups Onion

3 cups Celery

2 cups Bell pepper

1 tablespoon Tomato paste

3 teaspoons Garlic

4 cups Rice

9 cups Chicken stock


MOP:

Combine Bay leaves, salt, white pepper, dry mustard, Cayenne, black pepper and thyme.
Melt butter in a large stock pot, add andouille + tasso, sauté for 5 minutes.
Add the Trinity, seasoning + garlic, sauté for 15 minutes.
Add rice + cook for 5 minutes. Add stock + cook until rice is tender.

Vive la France!

Just in time for today’s Bastille Day – the French National Holiday – Butcher’s Salumiere Kris Doll had the Jambon Persillée ready. A specialty of the French region of Burgundy, this parsley seasoned ham terrine is simple country food. It’s salty and bold in flavor and tastes great as part of a charcuterie plate or sliced with mustard and pickled pearl onion on a baguette, with a glass of crisp white wine.
But how do you actually make such a ham in parslied aspic? Kris Doll explains the process: You brine ham hocks for 2 days, and then braise the hocks with a basic mirepoix (onion, celery + carrots) + clove for about 3 hours. The cooked meat is then picked off the bone; the cooking liquid strained a couple of times to get a glass clear broth. The last step before the ‘big layering’ begins, is combining part of the meat with lots of fresh parsley, garlic + shallots in a food processor with some of the strained cooking liquid to form a coarse paste.
Now the art begins: Spread the bottom of the terrine (= the classic rectangular shaped ceramic or cast iron mold) with the ‘ham paste’, add a layer of the loose, picked meat and the some cooking liquid. Repeat this process, finishing off with a layer of paste. Then you pour more cooking liquid over the ‘meat lasagne’ to make sure all the gaps between the loose meat get filled and the terrine will hold together nicely.
The cooking liquid by the way is enriched with gelatin to support the naturally occurring collagen and form a firm aspic, once the terrine is chilled.
Last but not least the terrine is covered and baked in a water bath at 275 degrees for about 45 minutes. You uncover it and stick it in the fridge over night. Et voilà, le jambon persillée!

Retro on your plate

Chow-Chow is kind of old school. Not the dog, that is, the food with the same name. Some call it a retro food that’s back in fashion. In Cajun country it’s definitely a tradition. Chow-chow is a crunchy, savory condiment made of chopped + pickled vegetables. There are probably as many recipes for it as there are cooks who make it, but cabbage is usually one of the main ingredients as well as onions + peppers. Butcher’s chow chows recipe also asks for celery, green tomatoes + carrots. Sister Restaurant Cochon’s chow-chow sports cauliflower as well.

The condiment is appreciated by gardeners as a way of preserving veggies without cooking them to death. Cooks like it because it adds crunch to a plate as well as some tangy, savory, sweet + spicy flavors. At the Butcher, we love + make it, because it tastes great with meat. “Our chow-chow has a nice, developed acidity which works great with a grilled pork chop or a chicken breast, for example”, says Butcher’s Chef Warren Stephens. Use it as a topping of a juicy hamburger or slap it on a hot dog. Eat it with a bowl of pinto beans + corn bread. Top grilled gulf shrimp with it, like they serve it over at Cochon. If you like chopped pickles in your potato salad, substitute a couple of spoons of chow-chow for a change or pep up your mixed green salad with it.

Happy 4th

Traditional Independence Day foods are grilled hamburgers + hot dogs, steaks, potato salad, slaw, baked beans + apple pie. Food for a relaxing, fun day outdoors with family, friends, a keg, and a BBQ pit. All American classics, simple, and good. Just like the grilling goodies and sides the Butcher crew got in and worked on this week.

For the grill:

House Made All Beef Hot Dogs
All Natural Beef Hamburgers
Baby Back Ribs
House Smoked Baby Back Ribs
Brined Pork Chops
All natural Steaks: N.Y. Strip, Hanger, Skirt, Filet

The side dishes – all house made:

Bacon Molasses Baked Beans
Potato Salad
Cole Slaw
Pimento Cheese

The condiments - all house made:

House Made BBQ Sauce to go with those Ribs
Chimichurri Compound Butter + Ancho Chipotle Compound Butter to go with the Steaks
Cochon’s Hot Sauce
Chow Chow
Pickled Banana Peppers

Good grillin' and a very happy 4th!

BTW: We're closing this weekend to do our own share of grilling! We'll be back up and running on Monday, 10am.