I keep finding great Cuban recipes these days. The latest was from Len Poli’s sausage site, Making Sausages At Home, and it’s called Longaniza Cubano Caliente. Mr. Poli uses a very scientific approach to sausage making, even to the point of calling his recipes “formulations,” but don’t let that put you off. He knows the best ingredients and additives and has a more modern approach than the one used by the immortal Rytek Kutas in Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing, but he also experiments and develops his own recipes.
This Longaniza recipe is the first time I’ve added phosphates to a recipe. Why? Here’s the skinny from Len Poli:
PHOSPHATES - Phosphates are used to increase water holding capacity of meat products and have an antioxidant effect. They also help reduce rancidity as well as improve the color stability and flavor.
Speaking of formulations, I just opened a can of the brew you see pictured here, The label says it is “beer with caffeine, ginseng and guarana extract and natural flavor.” Sounds pretty disgusting, doesn’t it? It is. It is sweet and has a flavor reminiscent of grape soda.
Back to the sausage. The seasonings are unique: crushed pineapple, brown sugar, habanero chilies, anise, and soy sauce along with the more traditional paprika, salt, and garlic. I did the grinding (from the infamous Smithfield pork butt) and mixing last weekend and vacuum sealed it for this weekend when there will be a free day to smoke it. Can’t wait to taste it, but that might be another week until it is slightly dried.
On another note, I’ve been playing along with a wonderful program called Band In A Box by PG Music. All you have to do is enter chord symbols and it (nearly) instantly produces an arrangement for a small combo in the style of your choice. You can import MIDI melodies from a program like Cakewalk and produce a melody + accompaniment arrangement in less than an hour. That’s especially good for teaching tricky rhythms. If you know anyone learning an instrument, this would make a wonderful present.
8:06:09 PM 
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