My Narrative
Beer has been around humanity for centuries. Although made popular by the European cultures, recipes have been discovered in Middle Eastern, Asian, South American, and African cultures. I chose to focus on the early history of beer as it affect European cultures. I find it fascinating how much the history of beer was intertwined with various faiths. Recipes were often used as part of prayers, beer was sacrificed to the gods and left in the tombs of kings, and beer was produced often produced by monks in European and Asian countries. This article could go on much longer, looking at the different cultures, beer’s religious effects on religion, and its importance to local economies. I encourage you to research the history of beer from other cultures.
Chicken and Apple Sausage
Similar to my prior recipe of Bangers and Champ, my chicken and apple sausage recipe is rumored to be pretty good. Below is a shortened version of the recipe, but tasty nonetheless. Follow the ingredient and procedures below and enjoy!
Ingredients
2 teaspoon(s) canola oil
1 small onion, diced
1 medium sweet apple, such as Gala or Honeycrisp, peeled and diced
1 pound(s) ground chicken
1 tablespoon(s) finely chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon(s) packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon(s) fennel seed, chopped
3/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1/4 teaspoon(s) freshly ground pepper
Directions
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add apples and cook, stirring, 2 more minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cool for 5 minutes. Wipe out the pan.
- Add chicken, sage, sugar, fennel, salt, and pepper to the bowl with the apples and onions. Gently mix to combine.
- Stuff sausage mixture into prepared the casings, compacting the sausage firmly. Prick any air pockets with a pin.
- The chicken and apple sausages may be poached, grilled, braised or fried. Raw sausages will keep up to three days in the refrigerator and 3 months in a freezer. Cooked sausages may be refrigerated up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.
Bangers and Champ – Renaissance Magazine Article
On March 17, many Americans and their European counterparts will be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day. On this particular day, I tend to visit a pub or two and partake in the food and as well as the lively company.
Over the years, several Irish dishes that have grown in popularity include Guinness lamb stew with soda bread, seafood boxtys (seafood stew served on a thin potato pancake), colcannan or champ (mashed cabbage or green onions and potatoes), coddle (a simple, slow-cooked stew made from pork, sausages, potatoes and onions), Irish boiled dinner (corned beef and cabbage), and, my favorite, bangers and mash.
Bangers and mash are simply a course ground pork or beef sausage served with mashed potatoes. The sausage earned its moniker of “banger” from the noise the sausage casings make while popping or making a bang as they cooked.
Making bangers and mash can be a simple or complex task. Course ground sausages can be bought at a store and serve with regular mashed potatoes, but, as a traditionalist, I thought I would provide a recipe to make bangers and champ at home. 
Banger Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground lean pork
1/2 pound ground lean veal
6 ounces ground pork fat
3 slices white bread with crust, crumbled or finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp mixed grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp mace
1/4 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp minced fresh marjoram or 1/8 tsp dried marjoram
2 tsp minced fresh sage or 1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp loosely packed, finely grated lemon zest (see Note)
1 large egg
Prepared hog or gelatin casings
Preparation:
Combine ground pork, ground veal, pork fat, and bread.
Whisk together salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, mace, thyme, marjoram, sage, lemon zest, and egg.
Knead into pork and veal mixture
Stuff sausage mixture into prepared the casings, compacting the sausage firmly. Prick any air pockets with a pin.
Bangers may be poached, braised or fried. Raw sausages will keep up to three days in the refrigerator and 3 months in a freezer. Cooked sausages may be refrigerated up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months. While they are cooking, the mashed potatoes, champ, or colcannon can be made. To make colcannon, follow the same recipe below, but substitute green cabbage for the green onion.
Champ Ingredients:
4 pounds potatoes
1/2 pint whole milk or cream
1 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup butter
Salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Thoroughly wash the potato skins and cut the potatoes into medium sized cubes. If you do not like the potato skins in your mash, peel your potatoes before cooking them in boiling water until tender.
Simmer milk and spring onions together for five minutes. Once tender, drain potatoes, add the hot milk with the spring onions, salt and pepper, and half of the butter.
The banger recipe will yield 2 pounds raw sausage
The champ recipe will yield 8 servings
To serve in the traditional manner, the champ or mashed potatoes would be placed on the plate first and the sausages would be served on top. Depending on your tastes, I have seen this dish served plain, with onion or sausage gravy, and/or with horseradish. In the photograph, I’ve prepared gravy from the rendered fat from the bangers.
Bainigí sult as an bia! (“Enjoy the food” in Gaelic)
Moussaka
Moussaka is a very rich casserole that originated in Greece. The recipe takes some time to put together, but like good lasagna, it’s worth it.
The best way to make moussaka is in steps. Start with the meat sauce, and while that is simmering, prep the potatoes and eggplant. Make the béchamel last because it is not a sauce that holds up very well.
Moussaka Recipe
NOTE: All sorts of cheese can be used here. To be authentic, I recommend using kefalotyri. In this recipe, I used mizithra, which is becoming increasingly available in supermarkets. No need to search the globe for these cheeses, however, as a pecorino or any hard grating cheese will work fine.
INGREDIENTS
Meat sauce
2 pounds ground lamb or beef
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
4 chopped garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tbsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
Zest of a lemon
2 Tbsp or more of lemon juice
Sea salt to taste
Bechamel sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
The moussaka
3 large globe eggplants
1/2 cup salt
8 cups water
2-3 Yukon gold or other yellow potatoes
1 cup grated mizithra cheese (or pecorino or Parmesan)
Olive oil
METHOD
Prepare the meat sauce
1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and brown the ground meat. By the way, the meat will brown best if you don’t stir it. Add the onions about halfway into the browning process. Sprinkle salt over the meat and onions.
2. Once the meat is browned and the onions have softened, add the garlic, allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, oregano and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the red wine and mix well. Bring the sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat and continue to simmer gently, uncovered for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Add the lemon zest and the lemon juice. Mix well and taste. If the sauce needs more acidity, add more lemon juice. Set the sauce aside.
Prepare the potatoes and eggplants
1. Mix the 1/2 cup salt with the 8 cups of water in a large pot or container. This will be the brine for the eggplants.
2. Slice the top and bottom off the eggplants. Cut thick strips of the skin off the eggplants to give them a striped appearance. A little skin on the eggplant is good for texture, but leaving it all on makes the moussaka hard to cut later, and can add bitterness, which you don’t want. (Some moussaka recipes leave the skin on and have you slice the eggplants lengthwise, which is an option if you prefer.) Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds and drop them into the brine.
3. Let the eggplants sit in the brine 15-20 minutes, then remove them to a series of paper towels to dry. Place a paper towel down on the counter, layer some eggplant on it, then cover with another sheet of paper towel and repeat.
4. As the eggplants are brining, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch rounds. Boil them in salted water for 5-8 minutes – you want them undercooked, but no longer crunchy. Drain and set aside.
5. To cook the eggplant, broil or grill the rounds. You could also fry the eggplant rounds but they tend to absorb a lot of oil that way. To grill the eggplant rounds, get a grill very hot and close the lid. Paint one side of the eggplant rounds with olive oil and grill 2-3 minutes. When they are done on one side, paint the other side with oil and flip. When the eggplants are nicely grilled, set aside. To broil, line a broiling pan or roasting pan with aluminum foil. Paint with olive oil. Place the eggplant rounds on the foil and brush with olive oil. Broil for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned on one side, then flip them over and broil for a few minutes more. Set aside.
Prepare the béchamel
1. Heat milk in a pot on medium heat until steamy (about 160 degrees). Do not let simmer.
2. Heat the butter in a small pot over medium heat. When the butter has completely melted, slowly whisk in the flour. Let this roux simmer over medium-low heat for a few minutes. Do not let it get too dark.
3. Little by little, pour in the steamy milk, stirring constantly. It will set up and thicken dramatically at first, but keep adding milk and stirring, the sauce will loosen. Return the heat to medium. Add about a teaspoon of salt and the nutmeg. Stir well.
4. Put the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk to combine. Temper the eggs so they don’t scramble when you put them into the sauce. Using two hands, one with a whisk, the other with a ladle, slowly pour in a couple ladle’s worth of the hot béchamel into the eggs, whisking all the time. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the béchamel while whisking the mixture. Keep the sauce on very low heat, do not let simmer or boil.
Finish the moussaka
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Layer a casserole with the potatoes, overlapping slightly. Top the layer of potatoes with a layer of eggplant slices (use just half of the slices).
2. Cover the eggplant slices with the meat sauce. Then layer remaining eggplant slices on top of the meat.
3. Sprinkle half the cheese on top. Ladle the béchamel over everything in an even layer. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
4. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.
Let the moussaka cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Yield: Serves 8.
Keeping it Local
When cooking at home or at a show, I pride myself in using local ingredients when ever possible. Locavore, is a movement best described as people who are interested in eating food that is locally produced through family gardens, farmer’s markets, CSAs, etc.
I’ve previously written about Farm Girl at Large, a farm owned by a friend of
mine, but today I wanted to let you know of another local food provider – Funky Little Farm. I’ve had the pleasure of acquiring beef, lamb, chicken and duck eggs, fresh herbs, and a chicken or two from this farm located in Winthrop, Minnesota. The owner, Barb Everson describes her farm, “Most of the work on this farm is done by hand and by one person. We own very little machinery. We raise heritage breeds of poultry and sheep and lean heavily toward heirloom vegetables, antique fruits and herbs, and a wide variety of soay sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and guinea fowl.”
What makes Funky Little Farm unique from other farms is the fact that the own, Barb, used to be a cook historian (like me). She understands that by using quality ingredients can provide a higher quality product. I like utilizing local ingredients from Funky Little Farm and Farm Girl at Large as I know they take great care with their animals; they know how they lived, what they ate, and were treated well.
As a meat eater/omnivore, I feel a little better knowing that the animals I eat were not penned up and enjoyed a life in the sunshine, eating sweetgrass, and doing what animals do.
Some of my readers are vegetarian, vegan, while others are not, but I ask you do you buy your groceries from a large supermarket which requires more fuel from the trucks that deliver the stock from out of state and, in some cases, out of the country, or do you buy your ingredients locally, reduce your carbon footprint, and help the economy in your community?
The products I get from these local, independent farms, have a higher quality than those I find at a local supermarket. The vegetables and fruits are fresher and the ingredients as a whole are tastier. If you haven’t already, check out Funky Little Farm at http://www.localharvest.org/funky-little-farm-M21667 of Farm Girl at Large – http://www.farmgirlatlarge.com and taste the difference.