Sausage Fest

Today we finished up Meat ID & Fabrication. Over the last couple of days we covered pork, where we were shown how to break down an entire side of a hog:

And we also learned how to break down a lamb; basically imagine your family Labrador up on the counter and thats the size we were working with:

Yesterday we started the sausage making process. We seasoned chunks of meat overnight for the grinding we did today. After the grinder, the meat went into the casing machine. Almost ALL of the sausage you eat is cased with lamb, pig, or veal casing (intestine). They were DELICIOUS!

Ribs from the pig were brined overnight, and then thrown on the grill. Chef had a recipe up for an awesome BBQ sauce, just keep in mind it's 4 servings so scale it down a bit!:

It was pretty staggering to stand back and really take it all in. Seeing the animal in its primal form, before it ever comes close to a plate, is a strange experience. It hasn't made me want to be a vegetarian, but it has made me want to respect and honor the animal that gave it's life so we could enjoy things like breakfast sausage and baby back ribs smothered in Orange BBQ sauce. The fact of the matter is that we are blessed to live in a country that gives us choices.

There is a laundry list of effects that stress has on the meat of an animal. Having an animal live under stressful conditions before it is slaughtered can effect things texture, flavor, and moisture. Our chef instructor put it a good way, he said that "animals should be able to live a stress-free, humane life, with one really bad day." Holding pins, over populated cages, confined spaces all have serious impacts on the quality of food you're consuming; but there is a solution. Because we have the option to choose things like free-range, humane, and organic meats, we have the power to shift how our animals are processed. And I say "our animal" because it is yours! When you buy chicken, or steaks, you are buying that animal and you should have a say in how it's raised, fed, and slaughtered. Vote with your dollar, let the choices you make when buying meats dictate how our meat industry operates.