WHY, YOU MAY ASK IN A TIME OF UBIQUITOUS REFRIGERATION, BOTHER TO PRESERVE MEAT? OR MAKE YOUR OWN BANGERS WHEN EVERY BUTCHER WORTH THEIR FLOSSY SALT IS MAKING THEM?
Well, the reason is plain and simple: flavour. If you want something better than money can buy, something unique, tasting more of itself and unlike many commercial products that frequently take shortcuts, then doing it yourself fits the bill.
It’s no wonder modern sausages have been termed ‘surprise bags’ for all the mystery meats that go into them. It’s no wonder people are disappointed by bacon that leaches water and smells like fish when it is cooked. It’s not surprising to realise that most people think that ham should taste like ‘smoke flavour’ instead of a smokehouse, when most of the stuff for sale has never actually been near real smoke or a flame.
Preserving your own meat is an inexact science, an endlessly rewarding project where the results are as individual as those who make them. Was it a wet winter? Then the prosciutto may be softer than last year. Is the pork for the bangers from a Wessex Saddleback rather than a Berkshire this time around? If so, the meat will be sweeter. Is the wood for smoking the bacon apple wood rather than eucalypt? The beef from a three-year-old rather than a 14-month-old steer? Everything changes, and with that change comes infinite possibility and variation. Get out the sausage cannon, fire up the smoker, ring up the butcher or kill the pig yourself and get prepared for the flavours of yesterday.
