Making Bratwurst!

Kim and I mixed up our seasoning for the Bratwursts on Friday night. We packaged it up in 25 lb packages; until we ran out of rosemary and nutmeg. And then, Kim re-figured the math, and discovered that I am not to be relied upon when quadrupling a recipe. Let's just say I had
oct-tupled the rosemary. But, we figured out how to fix it, and went on our merry way; mixing spices.

Those spices we added to the ground pork and mixed it all in good on Saturday, letting the flavors blend overnight before we put it all in the casings. Our meat grinder came with sausage tubes, so that's what we used.

Bob bought real hog casings from his local butcher shop. Since they come in a salt brine, we had to wash and rinse them before using. (I don't have to explain what hog casings are, do I?)

The above shot is of the Casing on the sausage tube, with Kevin filling the casing.

This one looks a little obscene...however, it's the first brat off the assembly line and the meat had escaped out the end of the casing.

These

look much better! We made 3 kinds, plain, jalapeno, and cheese brats.

Bob, showing off his nice string of sausages...and all look to be pretty close in size too!

I can assure you, they are delicious.

Tired

I'm tired. We butchered 6 pigs and one goat this weekend. That was all accomplished on Saturday. Yesterday, we made bratwursts. 100 lbs of bratwursts. "Plain" ones, cheese ones and jalapeno brats. I'll post pictures later...cause I'm tired.

I would have preferred staying in bed today, but I got up and went to work...but I'm tired.

I'm also proud. Kim and Bob only brought one of their three children--Tate. Bailey and Dual had work and play practice, so they "got" to stay home. We weren't about to leave Miss Kat and Tate home alone--together--alone all day, so we made them come along to help us process our pigs.

Tate worked out in the shed with the other men while Kat stayed inside with us girls. And they worked. Tate deboned meat and got it ready for grinding for hamburger. I asked Tate what he learned out there with the guys and he replied, "What happens in the hog shed stays in the hog shed..." Which makes me wonder exactly what was said out there...

Miss Kat taped and wrapped packages of meat. Some packages she illustrated with pictures of flying pigs, pig angels, pigs withhearts and what-not. Somehow, she ended up with 5 goat shoulders--from one goat. Guess we forgot to tell her that one package is probably ribs and the other two are simply legs--not shoulders. But, still, she was a great help. And I don't even think we embarrassed her...too much... (and WE didn't have to put a "gag" order on her!)

We had great meals though. Deanna had some Taco rolls for lunch and I took enchiladas out for supper topped off with all the fixin's and finished with a pear pie and apricot pie. We went home tired but full.

This was our last butchering session of the year...I hope. Our freezers are plum full. On the other hand, we've got a year's worth--or more of good meat for our family. I might be tired, but it's a satisfying tired.

Now if I could just curl up in my office and take a nap!

A night at the auction

Kev and I went to the "Small Animal" Livestock auction last night. We were shopping for pigs to butcher this weekend. Now, we have pigs already lined up, we were just hoping to get some for a cheaper price.

This was our first time at this particular auction. When we got there, they were auctioning off chickens and other poultry. We saw quail, lots of roosters, some pullets, several peacocks and even parakeets. Kevin wouldn't buy me any peacocks. The cheapskate...on the other hand, while I appreciate their beauty, I really dislike their voices. So, I'm glad he didn't buy me any. I was confused by the parakeets--there were 8 cages of them with 10 to 12 birds in each cage. I think each cage sold for $10, but why on earth would you want a that many parakeets? You can't eat them, can you?

We've been told that the local Mexican population will drive up the price on chickens--paying as much as $10 per bird. While there were a lot of Mexican folk in the stands, not many were buying and as near as I can tell...these chickens didn't go anywhere near that high...unless the bid price was per bird in the cage and not the total for the cage. I'm not sure...see, we couldn't understand the auctioneer.

I hate the auctioneer "song". Some, you can understand, some you can't. The two last night were in the can't understand category. Most good auctioneers make their starting point clear and then you can follow along as they try to get a higher bid. These guys last night mumbled something terrible and we struggled to understand what the bid exactly was. At times, we figured it out, at other times, we had no idea. And it's not like we haven't been to auctions before!

After we watched the birds sold, they auctioned off a box of...crap. Tape, gloves, two camo hats...crap. Up next were some rabbits. I have no idea what they went for; I simply couldn't figure out what the bid was. Then came some calves. The first few sold for around $200, after that, they sold for $100 or less. Calves were followed by some cow/calf duo's. But most of the cows were either Longhorns or other beef type, not milk cows although they had one who was very tame and they said she could be milked. They also threw in some newborn calves with heifers (not their mothers) which I thought was interesting. Most of those sold around $600 per pair. I tried to get Kev to buy a couple of them too, but he just sat there and pretended not to hear me.

Finally, they brought in the pigs. Two boars sold for--I think--$700 each. Then a couple of market/butcher sized pigs...but we couldn't understand the darn auctioneer to know what they were going for! We could never figure out what they sold for. Then they brought in groups of pigs--6 or 7 at at time. Most weren't big enough to butcher yet, and you had to buy the lot. Since we didn't want to be stuck with 4 pigs we couldn't butcher yet, we passed.

From there, the pigs got smaller and smaller. Feeder pigs down to pigs just a few weeks old. The little pigs sold for $10 each. If we had a pen...we'd have bought them, but we don't, so we passed. They then brought in a Pot-Bellied pig. A sow. Behind her, they brought in a dozen or more Pot-Bellied piglets. At least two of the piglets belonged to the sow who wasn't happy about being separated, and the piglets were so little they went between the bars of the pen, running straight to their mama. The sow sold for $200, but the piglets...all of them went for a grand total of $1.25. Crazy.

At that point, they moved on to goats. We didn't stay for the goat auction. Maybe because we wanted to go home, maybe because Kevin knows I have a real weakness for goats and I might have bid on some...and he didn't want any. So, we went home.

We decided that we should go again--and maybe pick up some feeder pigs and feed them out ourselves. Of course that means we need to build a pen. I'd really like to pasture raise pigs which would be easier on our land, but I'm not sure how successful that would be out here with just 2 acres of pasture, no trees and not a lot of water. The auction was fun, but it would have been better if we could have understood the auctioneer and if we could have found the pigs we wanted. Who knows...maybe next time we'll go home with a goat or two, some pigs and maybe even a cow and calf...you never know what I'll talk Kev into buying!

beef

We butchered our first beef on Saturday. I took the camera to get photos to document the process, but then got busy watching the guys cut her up, and then wrapping up the meat myself, and completely forgot to take pictures!

Dad had this heifer at the ranch who broke her leg or something, and so they kept her separated, but whenever they'd try to load her on a trailer or anything she'd go berserk on them. Knowing they'd never be able to sell her, Dad asked Kevin if he'd be interested in butchering her himself. Kev was, so 3 weeks ago, they put her down and quartered the carcass. Kev then ran the quarters up to our friend Mark's house. Mark happens to have cut up a couple of beef before and he also has all the necessary equipment, so his house tends to be our butchering headquarters. We let the meat age for 3 weeks.

Now last week, as all of us in Kansas are aware, we had a warming trend. On Saturday, butchering day, the temp outside was 70. Our meat had thawed, but was still nice and cool. It really was a nice day to cut up meat. Dad came and helped Kevin and Mark cut up the meat and Deanna and I wrapped the meat. (Mom was assisting with a 90th birthday party...or so she says.)


We didn't get a final weight on how much meat we had, but I know we had well over 100 packages of hamburger. Dad took 1/2 and we got the other half. They guys figured she weighed 1400 or more pounds.

We started around 12:30 and the guys finished up their end close to 7 p.m. I thought they did a fantastic job, because cutting and trimming all that meat is a job and they are amateures. We meat wrappers are too. Our packages aren't as pretty as commercial butcher packaging is, but we don't care. Besides, Commercial packagers don't label meat "boogers" or "Buger" or "Eye of Newt steaks"!

Last night, Kev grilled T-bones. They were huge, but oh so tender and tasty. Just melted like butter in your mouth. Miss Kat and I ate one steak and Kev ate the other. So wonderful! There's nothing better than home grown and home butchered meat. I, for one am very happy to have a freezer that is full of beef and chicken. In two weeks, we'll be butchering pigs.

There's nothing better than a freezer full of meat.

Glenn's Bulk Foods

Last weekend, we drove to Hutch to see Kim and Bob and their family. We hadn't seen them since sometime last fall and we were long over due a visit. One of our favorite shops to visit with Bob and Kim in the area is Glenn's Bulk Foods, just west of Hutch on Highway 50.

Glenn's caters primarily to the Amish and Mennonite populations that are prolific around that area. We like it because we like a full pantry and it's much cheaper to buy in bulk. Now, Glenn's isn't like Costco or Sam's. They only sell bulk foods--as in spices, dried fruits and veggies, pantry staples, some frozen fruits and veggies and even some locally made cheese and butter.

Our primary objective was to stock up on some spices, as we'll be butchering at least 4 pigs in February. Those spices we bought will be used for Brats and sausage. I also nabbed other spices that we use a lot of--like chile powder and poppy seeds. I got a nice big tub of poppy seeds for $3.00. It's probably double the quantity of what you buy for the same or more money at the grocery store at a much higher quality.

We also bought a four pound bag of oatmeal for $4.00, a five pound bag of blueberries for $15.00 and a 50 lb bag of Hudson Cream Flour. Hudson Cream Flour is all I use and it's a Kansas product. I paid $18.79 for 50 lbs of flour which figures out to be $.37 a pound. CHEAP.

It's funny, when I buy 25 lbs of flour at the grocery store, someone always comments that they don't do that much baking...but no one batted an eye at Glenn's. To them, it was just another typical sale.

When we got home, I discovered that I already had a 25 lb. bag of flour in the freezer. So, I now have 75 lbs of flour. Since we're getting ready to butcher beef this weekend, I knew that I needed to get my flour out of the freezer. I gathered up all my large Tupperware canisters and started filling them. I only needed 8 canisters for my 75 lbs of flour. I was very happy and surprised that I had enough bug-safe storage for all my flour. Now to find time to bake bread again!

We probably spent an hour in Glenn's looking at everything. It totally amazes me what all you can buy in bulk for your pantry. Glenn's Bulk Foods...one of my favorite stores.