My Amico Vincenzo Liberatore asked me to make some salsiccia with Prosecco to be served at Grano when the owner of Astoria Prosecco will visit in October.  I have made Prosecco-infused sausages before, but this time I felt like inventing something different...

I worked on the initial recipe all day Sunday 8AM to 11PM...so far so good.  Here it is:

I bought enough pork but shoulder.  The chunks already cleaned for pulled pork.  I also got some ham.  I removed all sinew and bad fat.

The pork is not heritage but free range Mennonite grown.

A whole bottle of Prosecco for 10 kg of meat.  Herbs from my garden, lemon peel, garlic, pepper hot pepper. phenol...

I did a different method of production.  Something like wieners and Barese sausage!.

Well here it is, 12 hours later.  A delicious one bite morsel.  Very delicate, smooth.  It tastes in between a fine emulsified sausage and real sausage.  I like it.  If I would have added 50 percent more fat, a lot of salt and tons of spices it would be a super hot dog but I could not do that! 

I covered the little bite size links in grated phenol and put in freezer.

I boiled, steamed, fried, baked, grilled... the best ones are on the BBQ.  The charred phenol flavour is amazing.

I feel that the sausage is fresh and delicate like the Prosecco with gentle fruity aromas.

So how do I emphasize the Prosecco sparkles?

The little links will be served on little skewers like lollypops.  Just before serving the links will be sprinkled with powdered `Citrato'  an Italian thing!  Sodium bicarbonate infused with lemon in a granular form.  Back home we would put some in mineral water to aid digestion.  We kids would put a whole spoonfull in the mouth and foam like we were dying!  Another Italian thing.

It looks like salt but the minute you put it in your mouth it fizzes and foams.  Wild!

So when you bit in the little sausage you get the fizz foam and a little acidity like you squeezed a little lemon on it.

I made some little meatballs with left over meat encrusted with phenol seeds and panko. (I ran out of small casings)  They look great on top of a flute of Prosecco

In the next few days I will come up with a foam sauce for dipping...molecular salumi gastronomy.

September 27, 2011

Next step:

Salsicce Pastellate all farina di Riso col Prosecco.

I made a beer batter with Ferron Rice Powder following his recipe. (click on recipes from the web menu); however, this time I substituted beer with Prosecco.  So now we have a Prosecco infused Salsiccino deep fried in Prosecco Tempura!

Now the only thing left is the Prosecco Sauce.  To recap: Prosecco infused Salsiccini deep fried in Prosecco Tempura dusted with Maldon salt and Citrato served on skewers along with a Prosecco dip!...non ce male eh!

When I have some time I will make a big batch and freeze them after deep frying, vaccuum packaged.  Then they only need to go into an oven and ready to enjoy on a skewer . 

October 15 2011

I have been experimenting with the Prosecco Salsiccini: Since the last batch were a little to healthy tasting with herbs and Prosecco only. I fancied some up with a fine puff pastry aromatic mashed poatoes and a very creamy Ontario blue cheese.  I wrapped a few in my Maple syrup and Late Harvest Vidal Bacon...

This week I made more Salsiccini using some of the Berkshire meat left over from my new batch of Shorthills Salame.  I added lot of spices and more salt to see if this time will be tastier...

They are tastier but not for me.  Would be excellent as an appetizer but you could not eat too many.  Somehow they taste "commercial".  Next time I will go little less with the spices...

 They are the typical hot dog size.  Will see how they taste on the BBQ and on a bun with the usual sauces...

I grilled some and vacuum packed right after.  The idea is to warm up the bag in hot water and serve...will keep you posted on the results.