Sausages

In the past month I have made several attempts at making my own bratwursts.

Even though there are multiple websites containing recipes and techniques, there seems to be no exact blueprint on creating home-made brats. This post will remain true to that tradition.



For my first batch I used a mixture of 60% pork to 40% veal with an array of spices such as Cardamom, Marjoram, onion powder, garlic powder, celery seed, Paprika, salt & breadcrumbs. The process was straight forward, grind the meat together, mix in spices, grind it all again and stuff the casings. For this batch, I used artificial collagen casings...this was a mistake. Stuffing went well, but it does take two people. The brats looked good, a little weird, but good. However, as soon as they hit the boiling water, the collagen casings shrank and the meat shot out the ends. They still got consumed. Oh yeah, I also put good cheddar and jalapenos (from the garden) into the mix.



The second batch involved the exact same recipe except for two things: I used natural casings and I used all pork, no veal. The natural casings, which I purchased at a very local butcher shop, were so much easier to work with. And best of all, they didn't shrink when cooked. Much more like a bratwurst should look.

Jelly Labels

Just an update on the first batch of blackberry jelly...

I had to make labels for the jars.

Blackberry Jelly

Just yesterday, we picked around 20lbs of blackberries from a local u-pick farm. Blackberry jelly had to be made. With this post, I am in no way saying that this is a my own recipe that everybody should use. I am mainly documenting the process for my own journaling purposes. I wanted to get lots of pictures of the process, but many times in the heat of the moment, I forgot.


I had never made blackberry jelly before, so I just looked at various recipes online and sort of formulated my own. My mom was also very helpful with over-the-phone tips.


The numbers I ended up using were:

10 pints of unprocessed blackberries

7 1/2 cups of juice (the 10 pints ended up making about 6 1/2 cups of juice, the remaining cup was made up using white grape juice.)

9 cups of pure cane sugar

and two 1.75oz. boxes of Sure-Jell



The 10 pints of blackberries were cooked down and hand squashed by Amanda. Slow heat no burny.


After a cook-down (approx 10-15 mins). The berry mush and juice were strained through cheesecloth. Yes, we did a little bit of squeezing. I know.


The berries yielded about 6 1/3 cups of juice. The rest was made-up with 100% white grape juice.


The total of 7 1/2 cups of juice was mixed with the two boxes of Sure-Jell and brought to a rolling boil. The 9 cups of sugar were added and the mixture was returned to a boil for one minute.


After one minute, the foam was skimmed off and the mixture was ladled into 1/2 pint jars. All jars were sealed and put back into a 5 minute boiling water bath.


And we are left with beautiful, clear and tasty blackberry jelly

Art in the Woods

A friend, Luke, and I recently undertook an art project officially titled, "Meet me in the Middle". This is a perfect project to discuss on this blog and, in reality, is a major inspiration for this blog.

The project involved Luke and I meeting at a campground and making art for a full week. It involved setting up a primitive working studio, dealing with environmental factors and seeing how these factors would affect the final product in the form of a suite/series of works on paper. There was makeshift construction and definitely consumption. We completed 10 drawings by the end of the trip.

Much more information will be coming soon including: the specifics of the project, additional images, and a short video documenting the site and working conditions. Watch for it. But here are a few sneak-peek images to get you interested. 
See more information on Luke's blog, The Land of LAF

Welcome to Construct and Consume

This is going to be a blog with a mix of art, food, agriculture, and general construction. There may be recipes, drawings, photos, and documentation of recent projects.

I like to build stuff, make art, and eat. Let's see how this goes...