Smoked Asian Style Pork Sausages

中文菜谱： 熏猪肉肠

Summer has finally left Texas.  I have been enjoying the cool and dry weather lately, have you?

And of course, good weather means BBQ in the backyard!

This time I smoked some Asian style sausages.  They turned out great; golden brown and crunchy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside.  The reason it is called Asian style is that seasonings used here are all Asian seasonings.  And the ground pork would be whisked/ beaten along with seasonings and corn starch until meat mixture is elastic and glutinous.

Ingredients：

1 pack of pork shoulder; weighs about 4 to 5 lbs
1/3 to 1/2 cup of rice cooking wine
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 to 4 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup corn starch
3 to 4 tablespoons ground white pepper
4 to 5 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken stock / water
sausage casing

Directions：  

Rinse the pork shoulder under running water.  If the pieces are too big, cut them into thinner strips.

Use a meat grinder to finely grind all the pork shoulder.

Add ground pork to a stand mixer bowl, along with rice cooking wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, ground ginger, corn starch, sesame oil and salt.

Attach the flat beater to the stand mixer.

Whisk/ beat the pork at speed two.

When the ground pork mixture is well blended, slowly add chicken stock/ water.  Be sure all the liquid is absorbed before adding more.

It is becoming more and more elastic and shiny.

When the pork mixture becomes very glutinous, elastic and kind of feels like meat jelly, it is ready.

Cover with lid and chill the pork mixture in fridge overnight.

Attach the sausage stuffer to meat grinder.  

 Slip a piece of rinsed sausage casing to the stuffing tube.  Seal the end with a knot.

Stuff the casing with pork mixture. 

 Preheat the smoker to 250F/ 121C.  Load the smoking box with oak chips.

Add sausages.  

The waiting is really long and hard…

Two hours later, the sausages are half way cooked.  But the links are too close to each other.  So I remove them from hooks and lay them flat on a rack.

About another two hours later.  The sausages are done!

Aren’t they a beauty?  O(∩_∩)O~

The sausages are full of flavors and beautiful golden brown colors.  Score! O(∩_∩)O~

Smoked Sausage with Pork, Beef and Cheese

中文菜谱： 奶酪熏肠

After smoking ducks, chickens, ribs and beef briskets, I finally move on to sausages!  The electric smoker is truly a great addition to my kitchen O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

2 pounds pork belly
1 pound beef chuckeye
2 tablespoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon of your favorite grill seasoning （ I use McCormick Montreal steak seasoning ）
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly grinded black pepper
1 to 2 teablespoons brown sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1 to 2 teaspoons corn starch
salt to taste
chicken stock/ water（about 1cup）
sausage casing

Directions:

Dice up pork belly and beef chuckeye.  Finely grind them together with a meat grinder

Add paprika, ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, grill seasoning, black pepper, brown sugar, parmesan cheese, corn starch and salt.

With a pair of chopsticks or wooden spoon, whisk clockwise until the meat mixture becomes sticky and elastic.  Add chicken stock / water in between little by little.  Make sure all the liquid is absorbed before adding more stock. 

Switch meat grinder attachment to sausage stuffing attachment.

Prepare sausage casing

Start stuffing sausage

Use a thin bamboo stick to aerate the sausage.  By doing so, we can get rid of extra air bubbles inside the sausage to make sure even cooking and they will not explore during cooking process.

Preheat the smoker to 225F/107C

Add sausage.

3 to 4 hours later.  Aren’t they pretty?

The sausages are golden brown, smoky, a bit crunchy and crispy on the outside, but very tender and juicy on the inside.  All the spices in there and parmesan cheese are the reason how the sausages get so flavorful. O(∩_∩)O~

Stir-fry Smoked Pork Belly and Garlic Leaves

中文菜谱

蒜苗炒烟熏五花肉

Garlic leaves taste a lot like leeks, with a more intense garlicky and spicy flavor.  We usually use them in stir-fries.  I personally consider garlic leaves pair best with pork belly in stir-fries.  They help to get rid of mild hog flavor in pork belly, and add refreshing herbal spicy garlic flavor to the whole dish. 

Pork belly I use here has been marinated, smoked, briefly soaked and then stir-fried in a wok.  All the extra effort pays off in the end. 

For pork belly smoking：

1 large piece of pork belly (weighs about 3 pounds)
1 to 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon thirteen spices powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 to 4 tablespoon rice wine (sold in most Asian grocery stores)
salt to taste

Directions：

With a sharp knife, cut the pork belly into three thick slices.  Add Sichuan peppercorns, thirteen spices powder, sugar, rice wine and salt.  Rub the spices on to pork belly.

Cover with lid or plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for a couple days.

I twist some stainless steel paper clips to hook pork belly onto smoker racks.

Add smoking chips.  Preheat smoker to 200F/93C

Add pork belly

Smoke for about 2 hours.  Pork belly turns to beautiful golden amber color.

Please remember to tightly hook up the meat.  One of the three pieces slips off and half of it is burnt before I realize it.

When the smoked pork belly has been cooled down, we can slice and stir-fry it.

Ingredients：

Smoked pork belly
4 to 5 stalks of garlic plants
1 small piece of ginger root, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 tablespoon Pixian chili paste
1 to 2 low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar
a handful dried chili peppers, cut into pieces
1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt to taste

Directions：

Clean and rinse the garlic leaves under running water.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.

They look and taste similar to leek, just smaller sized and come with a stronger flavor.

With a sharp knife, thinly slice the pork belly.  If they are too tough to slice, soak them in the water for twenty minutes.  That will help. 

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers.  Sauté for 1 minute.  Add pork belly.

Stir fry for several minutes.  Pork belly turns golden brown.

Add garlic leaves, along with oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, Pixian chili paste and salt to taste. 

Stir fry until the garlic leaves turn into deep dark green color.  That means they have been cooked through.  Once they are cooked through, garlic leaves’ flavor become mild and sweet.

Serve hot immediately.

The dish is served in a cast iron shabu pot. I use a Staub universal base with a candle or fuel burner inside to keep the dish hot through whole dinner time.  Pork belly taste best when they are hot.

Compared to the non-smoked version, smoked pork belly packs richer, more complicated flavors.  And the texture is pleasantly al dente.