PJS Food

Beef Sausages, a New Recipe and Disgusting Coffee

2012-01-24T12:19:00.000+02:00

We've made a couple of changes to the website that includes new videos and a song. I think we need the song here!

Beef Sausages
The experiment with a specific cut of beef has made an enormous difference to the softness and moistness of the Turkish Sosis. Everyone has commented on the improvement and the sales have increased as a result. If there's a demand for beef sausages then I will look to producing more...I have a Yorkshire Beef Sausage in mind...but let see what happens first.

Recipes
I have added a Sesame Sausage Recipe that is so easy to do as cocktail snack. You can use honey instead of the Maple Syrup if you prefer.

Restaurants

I'm not having a great deal of success this year having walked out of a couple because there was no interest in us being served. The most irritating was at Europa in Bedford Plaza. The food there is best avoided anyway but I did think that they might manage coffee after the bioscope.....that is word that seems to be dying out so I must use it! First of all there was the usual hot milk/cold milk problem and then the wrong one came! The coffee was so disgusting that I refused to drink it or pay for it. Coffee has become so trendy now-a-days that there is absolutely no excuse to serve undrinkable rubbish. And there seems to be no-one in charge there.

I almost forgot! Don't forget that you can order by clicking here and filling the form in!

Happy New Year, Sheftalia, Smoked Turkey and Abba

2012-01-10T11:33:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2012 is a good year for all of us. I was tempted to add an Abba video but instead we should look at new and inventive ways of making sausages and this is a good start!

Crepinette

I continued experimenting and did make a French-style one with black mushrooms, pork, garlic and truffle oil but it was rather disappointing. On the other hand the Cypriot Sheftalia was really nice and I'll definitely make some more as they freeze extremely well.

I tried them out at a braai we had the other day to celebrate International Inner Wheel Day and everyone really enjoyed them. I don't see them as being commercial, just a bit of fun, but if you would like some just drop me an email and I'll make you some. It gives me an excuse to make some for myself.

Smoked Turkey
I smoked a small turkey for cold meat during Christmas. I smoked it stuffed with lemons, onions and garlic with streaky bacon over it's breast. It worked out extremely well. My big concern was that it would be dry and too smoky but I caught it just in time.....I actually thought it would take much longer than it did so it was almost left much too long!

The left-overs have been made into a turkey, bacon & mushroom pie!

Beef Sausages
I am always concerned about the possible dryness of the beef sausages and always suggest that they not be overcooked. A suggestion was made that I use a specific cut of beef and this solve the problem. Today I am making Turkish Sausages with the new meat and it will be interesting to see the result. The suggestion came from a Moroccan butcher and I am sure he is right.

Peter's Ham
I've had rave reviews on the Ham over the Christmas period. Here's one from Brian Beck headed "Unsolicited Testimonial".....

Hi Peter,

When I ordered the ham I was confident it would be good, even very good, I did not dream it would be spectacular!!

We have just had our first real ham meal plus a little wine and salad and what a pleasure!!

I am so glad I did not ask you to cut the slight over weight of our original order off.

What a pleasure to eat real food(No exclamation mark the key has worn out)

Regards

Brian

Don't forget the ham is available all year round as long as you give me notice! Order here!

We are up and running again as everyone is back from the holidays. I was the only one who didn't go anywhere as my Son and his family were coming from Denmark. This meant that I was able to continue making bacon through-out the holidays as restaurants, generally, don't close! Click here to place your orders.

Oh let's have Abba anyway!

Christmas is coming, the Goose is getting Fat. Please put a Penny in the Old Man's Hat!

2011-12-05T17:01:00.000+02:00

A big thank you to all our customers! I felt rather depressed about the price increase but you have all continued to order! We are all caught in the price trap and there is nothing we can do about it, unfortunately!

Christmas is on the way as this Advent Wreath signifies.

We will be closing the factory on the 15th December and re-opening on Monday 9th January.

I am not going away as my son and his family are coming out from Denmark for Christmas so sausages in stock will be available, deliveries will continue and I will continue to make bacon through-out the holidays.

Crepinettes
I have had a bit of fun experimenting with crepinette, type of sausage wrapped in caul fat. Just for fun I took some Cumberland sausage meat, mixed it with Turkish and added a bit of curry powder. This was really to see if I could make them successfully and they wouldn't fall apart when I cooked them! They really were delicious and next time I will make them with pork sausage meat, mushrooms and a hint of truffle oil.

The French make many different varieties and often use them to stuff rather dry game birds. We of course, have one, the Skilpadjie, made with sheep's liver and herbs and the English go a little further down the scale with one made of pig's liver, kidney and spleen called the Faggot. I may make the Cypriot version, Sheftalia, which can be pork or pork and lamb mixed with garlic, parsley and chopped onion.

I cannot see that there is really a market for this sort of thing but it's really nice to make them for myself! They are wonderful on a braai or grill as the caul fat provides exactly the right amount of fat to cook them as well as holding them together.

Ham & Sausage Meat

We are very busy making sausage meat and hams at the moment. Don't forget to order by return if you want either for Christmas by clicking here! And that goes for any of our rather superior products!

If I don't manage to get another blog out before next year. A Very Happy Christmas and a successful 2012 to everyone! Thank you for your continuing support.

A Depressing Price Increase...among other things....

2011-11-22T10:07:00.000+02:00

Another price increase for pork is a fait accompli, 10% on the price of pork and about 30% on the price of back fat.....why the big increase in the latter I don't know. At the last increase, a couple of months ago, I was able to absorb some of it; this time I cannot and so I have had to increase prices 10% across the board for pork products.

Also I will have to ruthlessly cancel sausages that are slow sellers as I cannot afford to carry stocks for long periods. The price of Free State Boerewors even though it does contain pork, Turkish Sosis and Kensington Chipolatas are not affected. We have already had the big increase in the price of beef and the second one threatened at the end of October has not materialised......yet!

I imagine we are reaping the whirlwind of electricity and petrol price increases as my supplier's increase, passed on to me, comes from the farmers and they are not doing well, either. Here's a link to an article in The Star on food price increases that makes gloomy reading!

As I mentioned previously I do have access to pork that is not shoulder and using it would have the affect of reducing the price by R15 per kg. I don't believe in compromising the quality of the current range but I may consider using it for a cheaper range of sausages. I would appreciate your comments by email.

I was told that the price may drop after the New Year but I am not too sure of that.....it didn't this year!

Bacon

Loin ready for curing to make back bacon

Rubbing in the Cure

There has been a big increase in the demand for bacon and that has had me jumping around trying to three quarter satisfy everyone over the last two weeks.

I have now caught up....it takes a fortnight to be able to respond to a surge in demand because that is how long it takes for the bacon to cure!

Christmas Sausage Meat & Smoked Peter'sham
I am supplying 5kg of sausage meat for a function this week and the orders for ham are coming in. Let me know if you want any for Christmas. You can order by clicking here!

Christmas Holidays
The factory will be closing on the 15th December and reopening in the New Year...I haven't sorted out the exact date yet. I will try to maintain stock of sausages and will continue to make bacon and ham during that period.

A Power Outage, Bacon at Possum's, Smoked Petersham and the Spaghetti & Meat Sausage.

2011-11-15T09:20:00.000+02:00

Sorry the blog is late. We had a power outage for four days a week ago and then another of eleven hours last Friday. A large Blue Gum came down in a storm, blocked the road behind me and landed on the substation that rather spectacularly blew up! It took City Power two days to remove the tree and another two to put in a substation and re-erect the overhead cables. They were impressive.

Fortunately this hasn't effected the sausages as Plan B was implemented!

Bacon
Possum's Bistro & Deli, 7, 4th Ave, Parkhurst have been customers of ours since they opened and we supply them with bacon & sausages for their breakfasts. They have become the first retailer to sell our Streaky Bacon direct to the public in 250g packs.

The problem we have initially is that it takes 10 days to make our bacon and it takes up space. This means that there is always a bit of a delay in catching up with an increase in demand!

Smoked Petersham & Sausage Meat

Cynthia preparing the Pasta & Pork sausage

Please be sure that you order your hams for Christmas as soon as possible. as we will be closing on the 15th December until the second week of 2012. The hams are not an instant product so I need to know how many kg's you require well in advance. Sausage Meat is not so critical. Please let me know how much you want. You can order by clicking here and by writing in the comments.

Sausage with Pasta

Boniswa defrags the meat prior to adding the fresh spaghetti

I know that many of you serve the Italian Salsiccia with pasta,, either by slicing it and using it in a sauce or by removing the skins and using the mince to make a sauce. Maybe this is the way we should go with a Pasta & Pork Sausage! It has taken us hours of experimentation to get it right. The Spaghetti has to be picked at just the right level of ripeness otherwise it remains hard when the sausage is cooked. No, you can't order it!

Experimental Pork
I experimented with other pork for sausages. It is considerably cheaper than pork shoulder. The flavour was fine but the texture wasn't. I am very conscious of price increases and their effect on sales but I am not prepared to sacrifice the quality for a better margin or a decrease in price.

Don't forget that you can order any of our products here.

The Veritas Awards, Ham & Sausages!

2011-10-25T15:38:00.000+02:00

Duimpie Bayly, Chairman of Veritas

Cap Classique when you arrive

I said I'd give my comments on Veritas. The big surprise, for me, was the winner of most top awards, KWV with 5 double golds and 9 golds, the most ever won by a single cellar. This is all due to changes made by their head wine maker, Richard Rowe and improved vineyard selection. It is a tremendous achievement when you think of the scandal that hit KWV not that long ago about flavourants added to wines. In this industry change never happens over night and Richard deserves every accolade for turning KWV round.

The food has always been a bit curate’s eggish but this year it was amazingly good and not silly. My simplified descriptions give us Duck Salad to start with followed by Lamb Cutlets with Crushed New Potatoes, Vegetables and a Red Wine Jus followed by, and here I have to use the menu description, “Duo of dark chocolate mousse and coffee butter cream served on pistachio jaconde with mango crème Anglaise and a chocolate macaroon”. This year it all worked well and my lamb cutlets were almost medium rare!

I'm enjoying the evening!

At the end of the dinner you can help yourself to the award winning ports and brandies. Two brandies scored double gold, The Flight of the Fish Eagle which is certainly not an expensive brandy and the Van Ryn 12 year old Distiller's Reserve. I opted for the latter as van Ryn’s have always followed the Cognac style as opposed to KWV’s tendency to favoured the style of Armagnac. In ports Boplaas almost swept the board and I was delighted to see that they won a double gold for their Tawny. I hope this will encourage the general public to drink more Tawny as the producer has aged it for you!

For a full list of the award winning wines just click here for the Veritas website

Smoked Peter's Ham

Start thinking about ordering one of our hams for Christmas. I had a last minute rush last year and ended up selling mine! They range in size from 750g to 1,5kg so just let me know what you want. They are made from the pork loin as that is the cut I use for Back Bacon and it was really just an experiment to start with. Order by clicking here. If you want a specific size just email me saying what you want.

Sausages

I am experimenting with a different type of pork at the moment. I've just made some English Breakfast to see how it works out and will probably eat some of them tomorrow..a test run! I'm also playing around with the Kensington Chipolatas. Because they are beef they tend to be overcooked and then they are dry. I want to try and make it easier for people not to overcook them as there is nothing worse. The obvious way to solve the problem is by adding pork fat but I am well aware that many people buy them because they don't eat pork for various reasons. To order any of our sausages you can just click here and complete the order form.

A Beef Price Increase, Bacon & Veritas

2011-10-11T10:41:00.000+02:00

The minced beef for Turkish Sosis

The most depressing news is that beef went up 12% last week and it is expected to go up again at the end of October. The reason given is that we probably had up to 100 000 cattle slaughtered owing to Foot & Mouth Disease in July and the demand for beef has increased. I stopped making lamb sausages as the price had practically entered the stratosphere and now beef is following suit.

I will have to put up my prices for beef and beef-based sausages when I have run out of current stock by 10%. Fortunately pork is my prime interest and we have already had that increase a couple of months ago...

I'm sure we all lose out on price increases because the end consumer just buys less of your product and that must impact right down the line.

Bacon
Streaky has now overtaken Back Bacon as the Bacon of Choice. I'm amazed as I always assumed that Back Bacon would be the more popular. Streaky is much more versatile and has more flavour. Maybe it is because PJS Streaky is not high in fat. I ensure that the Pork belly I buy has all the excess fat removed so you don't get it in your bacon! To order click here.

Kensington Chipolatas

We now have a regular order for this pure beef chipolata. Someone commented on the dark colour of our beef sausages. It's the real colour of beef. If your beef sausages look a lot lighter it is because of the addition of cereal, water and colourants or stabilisers.

Here is Boniswa making beef chipolatas. When she has finished stuffing the skins she will divide the lengths into the appropriate size and pack them.

If you want any of our beef sausages, Kensington Chipolatas, Turkish Sosis or boerewors please order now before I have to increase the price!

Veritas
Last Saturday evening I attended the annual Veritas Wine Award Ceremony in Cape Town. The public tastings of the Veritas Gold and Double Gold wines take place in Johannesburg on the 26th October. Watch this space for pictures and my comments!

Sold Out!

2011-09-26T17:08:00.000+02:00

This says it all! Heritage Day at Cheese Gourmet was a great success. I braaied my Free State Wors and Leipold Wors and we completely sold out despite the All Blacks v France match and it being amazingly cold!

The braaing was aided by wine from De Krans at Calizdorp...an exceptional Shiraz from the Klein Karoo of all places and one of my favourite wines, De Krans Tawny (Port). Always buy tawny as it is aged for you and you have to wait a long time for vintage to mature!

One of the pleasures of the day was meeting Oded Schwarz and tasting some of his delicious products. We have known each other for a long time but this is the first time we have actually met. What a delight!

I have is book "Preserving" and he gave me a very good tip. I had attempted to pickle walnuts a couple of years ago as I have prolific tree in my garden. They were just too vinegary! I bought some and they tasted the same! I think the English love the taste of vinegar! He suggested adding sherry and that will neutralise the strong vinegar taste. He has reprinted his history of Jewish Cuisine. I meant to buy it but, in the rush, forgot!

Bacon
I am amazed at how the demand for bacon has grown. It's not that long ago that we were making 8kg's a week, now we are making 24kg! What is gratifying is the increase in demand for streaky though the guest houses prefer back bacon. Since we have changed the smoking process for back bacon it has much more flavour and that has been commented on.

Leipoldt Wors & Free State Boerewors
It was very interesting conducting a tasting of both types of boerewors on Heritage Day because preferences were equally divided between the two. We sold out of both and there was slightly more of the Free State Boerewors in stock. I also thing that the balance of vinegar and red wine in the Leipoldt Wors is now spot on. Tasters were amazed at the difference in texture as well as more obviously in taste. Cheese Gourmet will have both in stock from Thursday 29th September.

Sausage Making Course
I have had some response to the request I received for a such a course. If I have about 10 people who are interested I will organize it as they can then go home with 2 x 1kg of different sausages. Just email me!

Our Website
We have made all the changes to the website now and all the sausages are now reflected including the new Kensington Chipolata. Just click HERE to order any of our products or to contact us.

Chorizo, Beef Chipolatas and Heritage Day

2011-09-16T17:26:00.000+02:00

Chorizo Fresco is back in stock. I had been slow in making it as was originally made for Fino Spanish Restaurant but the restaurant closed down a couple of months ago and it really seemed a minority taste! Suddenly there is a demand for it so I have made a small quantity just to see if people really want it. Part of the problem is that we are all so used to cheap Portuguese smoked chourico which is so often horribly fatty with lumps of gristle. (Don't be fooled it doesn't have to be like that!) Most Spanish Chorizo is air-cured, more like salami, but Fresco has to be cooked and has the smokiness of Spanish Paprika with a little heat from Cayenne. You can order by clicking here!

Kensington Chipolata

Since the upgrade of the Turkish Sosis there has been an increasing demand for it. I have also been asked to make beef chipolatas and the Kensington Chipolata is the result. I didn't want it just to be plain beef so there is a slight hint of black pepper and cloves but it is not enough to frighten people away! In the photo you can see the Turkish Sosis already labelled and the Kensington Chipolata without labels. I next intend to look at veal to see if it is economically viable as I am sure there would be people who are interested in a fresh veal sausage.

Bacon
The demand for bacon, particularly streaky, continues to grow. So much so that I am having to plan ahead for next year. I'm delighted because, in reality, quality products are so much more satisfying and nourishing and in real terms less expensive. One of my customers has a restaurant directly opposite a Wimpy. Let's assume their breakfast is R50 as opposed to a Wimpy Breakfast. Someone came in the other day and said "How can you charge R50 for breakfast when it's less at the Wimpy and you get 2 sausages?" She replied that the one sausage probably has more meat in it than the two at the Wimpy!

Heritage Day
Here are the details for the Heritage Day event at Cheese Gourmet, cnr 7th St & 3rd Ave, Linden. It's Saturday 24th September from 10,00 until 13,00. I will be giving tastes of my Free State Boerewors against the Leipoldt Wors, there will be wine and other food products and Oded Schwarz, the famed food preserving author will be there to sign, and presumably sell his books. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to meeting Oded. We are in contact on Facebook and I am an admirer of his but we have never met. I am taking along one of his books for him to sign!

Sausage-making Course
A number of people have phoned and asked about a sausage-making course. If enough are interested I will seriously consider it. Just email me if you are interested.

Website
I am going to rewrite certain pages on the website next week and make a number of changes...obviously the new sausage will have to be on there. Just click here to order anything you like and if it is not yet on the website just write in the block below.

Heritage Day, Non-Pork Sausages and a Price Increase.

2011-09-06T09:37:00.000+02:00

The Bad Newsm first. No wonder the pig is looking at you a little askance! The price of pork went up from the 1st September and this increase I am not able to absorb so everything has gone up R5 per kg. We haven't had a price increase for a long time but I still don't like having to do it.

The input costs have been steadily climbing all year and sometimes the leap is a dramatic one, nutmeg went up 70% in a month!

Heritage Day/National Braai Day
Saturday 24th September

This will be a fun event at Cheese Gourmet in Linden. I will be there to launch the Leipoldt Wors and to taste it against my normal Free State Boerewors. I was at the Cape Winemakers' Guild Pre-Auction Tasting last week and one of the wine people rushed up to me and said, "I'll be with you at Cheese Gourmet on Heritage Day with Wine!" That's encouraging, isn't it! I am sure there will be lots of other interesting products there too so come along!

Sausages other than Pork

I have never been particularly interested in beef as a sausage ingredient until very recently with the success of the Boerewors and the interest in the Leipoldt Wors. The Turkish Sosis is the only sausage we produce that contains no pork. I have made a great effort to improve the beef in sausages and it has worked. I think you will find a marked improvement in the Turkish Sosis.

I am also looking at Chicken Sausages. A year or so ago I experimented with Chicken & Tarragon but found the sausage too dry. Now I have the opportunity of using indigenous chicken meat that will have much more flavour than standard free-range meat.

Leipold Wors
I thought that there was too much vinegar and red wine in the Leipoldt Wors that I produced for the Slowfood Evening so I cut down on the quantities in the second batch I made. Howls of horror! I had taken the guts out of it! You'll be pleased to hear that it's back to its original state!

If you wish to order the Leipold Wors or any of our products just click here for the on-line order form.

Leipoldt Wors, a Spaghetti Recipe and an October Poem

2011-08-26T16:40:00.000+02:00

The Leipoldt Wors really seems to have captured people's imagination so I made 5kg's and it has nearly all gone. I did rather wonder if there wasn't too much red wine and vinegar in my first attempt.

Those who tasted the first version have heaped opprobrium on my head saying that the sausage has now lost it's "bite". Oh dear, I will have to increase the red wine/vinegar mix next time I make it.

Those of you who have bought the wors and are tasting it for the first time please note! I may have dumb it down!

The Dijkman Wors, made with veal, pork and beef suet, seems to lose its orange zest flavour if it is not eaten immediately and I really cannot see that there will be a groundswell of public opinion in favour of the Slamsewors even though we all enjoyed it.

I have added the Leipoldt Wors to the repertoire and it can be ordered HERE. If you look at the Order Form you will see that we have now incorporated the new size of pack.

New Pack Size
This seems to have been welcomed by everyone! Thank you! It also speeds up the packing process as we don't have to weigh every individual pack.

Spaghetti

I have been asked for a spaghetti recipe using the Italian Salsiccia. (My salsiccia is technically Salsiccia con Finocchio.)

Spaghetti con Salsiccia
Ingredients
Spaghetti
4 PJS Salsiccia con Finocchio
1 red onion, peeled, diced finely
2 medium carrots, peeled, diced finely
1 stalk celery, leaves included, diced finely
rosemary, finely chopped
tomato paste
diced fresh tomatoes or canned Italian crushed tomatoesfinely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to serve
Just take the quantities listed as a guide only.

Method
You can cut the vegetables by hand but you can also put them all in the food processor and process until they are finely diced.

Heat olive oil and a small knob of butter in a large pan and when the butter has melted and the mix is sizzling add the vegetables including the rosemary. Sauté this until golden over a medium-low heat. Stir often to prevent the mixture from burning.

It's important that you not rush this as so much of the flavour depends on the slow caramelisation of the vegetables. Aim for this to take somewhere between 10-15 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking prepare the sausages.

You need to break the sausage meat into small pieces (the sausage skin is discarded). I do this using the back of knife - it makes indentations through the meat but doesn't break the skin and it makes it easy for the meat to be pushed out from the end of the sausage.

When the vegetables are ready, increase the heat slightly and add the sausage in stages. Once they have changed colour, add some more sausage pieces. It's done this way so not to lose too much heat from your pan. Once all the sausage is added, continue cooking, stirring often for another 5 minutes.

Add a tablespoon of tomato paste, mix this in well and cook it off for a couple of minutes. This will also help intensify the flavour and give you a better end result.

Finally add in diced fresh tomatoes or a can of crushed Italian tomatoes, stir this through and then let the whole thing bubble away and reduce for at least 15 minutes.

At this stage you could probably put the water on to boil the pasta.

If you find the sauce is getting too thick just add a little of the pasta water to thin it out.

When the pasta is ready, toss it through the sauce and serve with a grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

It is nearly September so let's have C Louis Leipoldt writing about October:

Oktobermaand

Viooltjies in die voorhuis,
Viooltjies blou en rooi!
Viooltjies orals op die veld,
En orals, ai, so mooi!

Dit is die maand Oktober,
                       die mooiste, mooiste maand:
Dan is die dag so helder,
                       so groen is elke aand,
So blou en sonder wolke
                       die hemel heerlik bo,
So blomtuin-vol van kleure
                       die asvaal ou Karoo.

Dit is die maand Oktober:
                       die varkblom is in bloei;
Oor al die seekoegate
                       is kafferskuil gegroei;
Die koppies, kort gelede
                       nog as ‘n klip so kaal,
Het nou vir welkomsgroetnis
                       hul mooiste voorgehaal.

Dit is die maand Oktober:
                       die akkerboom is groen;
Die bloekoms langs die paaie
                       is almal nuutgeboen;
En orals in die tuin rond
                       ruik jy sering en roos,
Jasmyn en katjiepiering,
                       lemoen en appelkoos.

Al was die dag soos yster,
                       lank in die vuur gesteek,
Die varings in die klofies
                       deur hitte geel verbleek,
Tog as die son daaronder
                       agter die berge gaan,
Dan word oor heel die wêreld
                       die mooiste geur geslaan.

Dit is die maand Oktober:
                       die kokewiet is uit;
Boomsingertjies en kriekies
                       die hoor jy orals fluit;
Fiskaal is op die oorlog:
                       daaronder by die sluis,
Daar is ‘n dor ou doringboom
                       sy spens en sy kombuis,

Dit is die maand Oktober:
                       ek dink, die mense vier
Vir ewig in die hemel
                       Oktobermaand soos hier!
Wat wens jy meer as blomme,
                       as helder dag en nag?
Wat kan jy beter, mooier,
                       of heerliker verwag?

Ek is nog in Oktober:
                       my tuin is nog so groen,
So wit met al wat mooi is,
                       met bloeisels van lemoen,
So pragtig in die môre.
                       so heerlik in die aand!
Ek is nog in Oktober,
                       die mooiste, mooiste maand!

Wat gee ek om die winter?
                       Wat praat jy nou van Mei?
Wat skeel dit, as ons later
                       weer donker dae kry?
Ek is nou in Oktober,
                       die mooiste, mooiste maand,
Met elke dag so helder,
                       so pragtig elke aand!

Viooltjies in die voorhuis,
Viooltjies blou en rooi!
Viooltjies orals op die veld,
En orals, ai, so mooi!

The Slowfood Extinct Sausages Evening and a Change in Packaging and Size of Pack.

2011-08-21T15:08:00.000+02:00

A chopping parsley picture is a bit more fun than packaging so let's start with a picture of Cynthia! Parsley goes into many of our sausages but it is only the Italian Salsiccia that has an overload! The Turkish Sosis includes parsley and fresh coriander in equal quantities but the coriander is not chopped finely otherwise it loses flavour and everything else!

Slowfood
Last week we had the Slowfood Extinct South African Sausage Evening. Everyone seemed to enjoy the whole thing! Making the sausages was quite fascinating as really we have no idea what things really tasted like then. I made three sausages for them. Firstly the Dijkman Sausage because I took it from Elizabeth Dijkman's book, the first published South African recipe book, Kook, Koek en Resepte Boek. The sausage is 1/3 Pork, 1/3 Veal and 1/3 Beef Suet. It has orange zest in it and it really is unusual. I followed that up with a Slamsewors from Cape Town and finally, the sausage everyone raved about, Louis Leipoldt's idea of what boerewors should be like. I'm calling it a Leipoldt's Wors. It was just so different from our usual idea of boerewors as it is very finally minced, is 80% pork with a little lamb and beef added and so many herbs and spices as well as a glass of red wine and a glass of vinegar!

Everyone seemed keen for me to produce these sausages, particularly the Leipoldt's Wors.

On Friday I was on Radio 702 with Jenny Crws-Williams talking about them and everyone there was also taken with the Leipoldtwors. I have to be able to make 5kg minimum and I have a waiting list so we obviously will make it once I have worked out the cost! The tall person in the picture is Howard Shenker who organised the evening for Slowfood.

Packaging

What a problem! This is what a packet of sausages looked like before last week. A 500g pack on a white tray.

I tried to get away from the tray and produce something more appealing to the eye and smaller as 500g is rather a large pack for just two people. This was the result:

Four standard size sausages in an environmentally friendly pack that you can put in the oven or microwave but it will work out at R6 per kg more than the current packaging and that is far too much!

Instead I have had to go back to the tray but using a smaller black tray with 5 standard size sausages. The weight is approximately 350g, a little more for sausages that are coiled. I think it is a good compromise as 5 sausages are a reasonable number for a couple to buy,

When I sell direct to the public I have always charged per 500g pack. This means that I will, in future, have to charge per kilogram. Bacon has always been sold this way.

To order any of our products just click HERE!

Slowfood Evening, Videos on the Website and Recipes

2011-08-05T12:18:00.000+02:00

We have made all the necessary changes to the website and put on a couple of videos as well. These we will change from time to time. We have also added the Bandit's Sausage Recipe from his comments in The Times.

Slowfood

The Johannesburg Convivium of Slowfood asked me to lay on a special evening for them. They had previously come to the factory and seen how sausages were made and tasted some of them whilst listening to me carry on about the history of sausages. This time I am making three historic South African Sausages that are now extinct. I will talk about them, they will taste them, have some for supper and have a little gift pack to take home. I know that they will be amazed by the earliest recipe for "Boerewors" as it bears no relationship to what we think of as boerewors today. The evening is at Amamus Cafe Parktown North on Thursday 18th August . If you are interested this link will take you to their Facebook Page.

Bacon
I have had such excellent feed back on the "new improved" back bacon from quite a number of people. Our regular weekly orders for bacon have increased and that means that we will soon struggle for space. I just need a request for another 7kg's a week and then I will have to solve the problem! It doesn't end there, of course, because if things get too big my smoker will be too small..............

Recipes
I have always been a little unsure of putting recipes on the website after somebody told me that I sold sausages not recipes! Then I met someone who looked forward to a new one appearing and tried them all!
Please let me know if you use them and even take a photo of the dish and send it to me as I will happily put it on the blog!

Newstime

My article this week is on restaurant reviews. Everyone has an opinion on them!

Orders
To order our products just click here!

Packaging and the New Improved Back Bacon

2011-08-01T10:54:00.001+02:00

This is one of the options that I am considering for new packaging. A black tray with a sleeve. The problem is the large quantities I would need to print and the range of sausages. Incidentally this particular pack was rejected by Yorkshire Dales Meat Co, there were lots of comments about putting the animal you are going to eat on the pack! I don't know what they eventually chose but it wasn't by this design house!

I have decided to move away from the current 500g pack to a specific number of sausages in a pack, for example a pack of 4 Lincolnshire Sausages rather than the 6 that generally make up the 500g. That will happen when I have sorted the packaging out. If you have any comments or suggestions please email me.

Another way of doing things is to use pre-printed labels with a computer generated difference for each sausage but this can sometimes go wrong as you can see here! Also it's not really any advance on the way sausages are currently packaged.

Turkish Sosis
We made a small amount of the the Turkish Sosis just using beef. I am sold out already, probably because people just want to try it. I actually preferred it to the predominantly lamb mix. But there is nothing like a pork sausage, is there?

Back Bacon
I am delighted with my experiments changing the smoking procedures for back bacon to improve the flavour. It definitely has a much better flavour now and is a much improved product. All the back bacon is now being smoked using the new method and everyone who has sampled it has commented favourably. Next time you order be prepared for something even better! You can order by clicking here for bacon or any of our products.

Newstime
This week I'm discussing England's search for a National Vegetable and discuss our alternatives. Just click on the Newstime link.

Turkish Sosis, the Spar & Packaging.

2011-08-01T10:54:00.000+02:00

Having said I was scrapping the lamb sausages because of the dramatic increase in the cost of lamb I have been asked to make the Turkish Sosis with beef instead. It was originally 20% beef anyway. We'll be making 5kg next week as an experiment. The price will be considerably less!

Just looking at this picture you can see that we will have to do something about the packaging. It has worried me for a long time and now the Broadacres Super Spar have asked to have our sausages again I really have to think of some way of making them look more attractive in the freezer because, at the moment, they don't look very appetising. I had a discussion about it at the Spar and I have a few ideas. I am also going to look at having a specific number of sausages in a pack; 6 English Breakfast, 6 Lincolnshire something like that. It would also make it easier for you, the customer, to know exactly how many sausages you are buying.

Bacon

I have been experimenting with the bacon as well. The Streaky Bacon has much more flavour than the Back partly because it is smoked differently. Last week I experimented with a small piece of Back Bacon to see if I could adjust the smoking method to see if I could be made more flavoursome without making it too smoky. I'm pleased with the result so far. We really do try and improve our products all the time without compromising in the way we do things. What makes PJS Food products individual is that they really are hand made. If you try to speed things up something is lost in the process and we would become just another manufacturer.

Newstime
I am really enjoying writing my Friday Food Column for Newstime . This week I write about The Fruit of the Testicle Tree. You can read it by just clicking here!

Ordering
You can also order any of our products directly from this blog by clicking here!

A National Champion Boerewors Judge!

2011-08-01T10:53:00.001+02:00

I am now an official Boerewors Championship Judge!

I was invited to attend a Boerewors Judge Training Session at the SA Chefs' Association last week and here is Jeff Schueremans, the Chief Judge, opening the training session. A number of people asked why I wasn't entering and the reason I gave was that Shoprite/Checkers, if you win, take your recipe and then they would need to adjust it for commercial production by adding some of the things I mentioned in last week's article. I hope you noticed that I'm assuming that I would win out of the thousands of entries! Unlikely! For more about the experience look at my weekly column, Hot Potato in Newstime as I am writing about it this coming Friday under the heading "For Better for Wors". If you need PJS Boerewors or any other of our products just click here!

It's quite a busy week as tonight I will be chatting about sausages to Mimi Jardim's Portuguese Cookery Group....more about that next week........and on Thursday a talk to the SA Military History Society on the dramatic changes in food preservation in the 19th century that were really driven by the Prussian and French armies.

Bacon
The demand for our bacon seems to be growing and it looks as if a retail outlet may bravely stock it. If that is the case I will let you know next week. Certainly the restaurants that use it give me very good feedback and they also prefer the streaky though they have to stock back bacon for some customers! If you haven't tried our bacon just click here to try some.

Website
There will be some changes to the website in the next week to update our stock, amongst other things.

Incidentally, if you want to comment about anything just send me an email by clicking here.

Pre-packed Spices, Lamb Sausages & Chipolatas

2011-08-01T10:53:00.000+02:00

I was emailed this weekend by Angela asking if my sausages are gluten-free as it is so difficult to find sausages that she can eat. Angela obviously loves sausages and is feeling deprived!

My sausages are gluten-free though I didn't think about that when I started making them. I just wanted to make a good sausage without cereal or any additives and preservatives. That created its own problems. Vacuum packing seemed to be out as fresh herbs will ferment without oxygen. I have since discovered that if I wash them with Milton added to the water it will prevent this happening. At the moment I am still freezing them though that doesn't help their appearance!

I was at Crown National last week buying casings and assorted other things such as plastic bags. I had to wait as they had to fetch some plastic bags from the warehouse so I took the opportunity to jot down the contents of a pre-pack of spices for Kalahari Boerewors.

The pack consists of: salt, cereal (wheat), spices, spice extract, dextrose, acidulent, monosodium glutamate (MSG), flavourant (egg), sodium sulphite & flavour enhancer. You add the pack, 900g, to 15kg Beef trimmings, 7kg pork trimmings, 700g water and 700g spirit vinegar. The meat/fat content of the trimmings are specified.

I tasted the spices and they tasted exactly like the sort of boerewors I like! It made me wonder if I taste any meat flavour at all...probably not, only texture.

Crown make pre-packs like this for every sort of sausage you can think of as well as sosatie marinades etc etc. There is nothing wrong with them at all as they are scientifically prepared, hygienic and perfectly safe unless you have an allergy or are intolerant to one of the components. Probably 99% of butcheries use them, or those produced by their competitors, as they are quick and easy to use.

I mix my own spices, and I buy the best quality I can find. It's the only way to produce a unique product and it does mean that you don't have to add cereal, water, vinegar, MSG, sulphites or a flavour enhancer. Vinegar was originally added as it is a preservative but you don't need it today....especially cheap spirit vinegar! I also believe that you want to taste the meat itself and the spices must not overwhelm it.

You must also look out for the shrinkage in cooking. My son bought 1kg venison wors from the farmers' market in Pretoria. It was made with a pre-pack, hunters are a portion of the target market, and after cooking it had shrunk to 480g...more than 50%!

Lamb Sausages

I have decided to cease production of lamb sausages. I still have a few in stock but I will not replace them. I really specialise in pork products and the cost of lamb is just too high for the sausages to be financially viable.
If you want to order "the Last of the Few" just click here and that is for anything else you may require!

Chipolatas
South Africans don't seem to like chipolatas very much as standard size sausages sell much better.

Chipolata is actually French, probably from the Italian cipollata which means "made with onions" probably as part of a sausage stew. They are certainly very popular in England for breakfast and wrapped in bacon are known as "Pigs in Blankets". Try some of our English Breakfast or Twickenham Chipolatas with PJS Streaky Bacon. Just add a Fried Egg on half an English Muffin. The muffin keeps the egg warm in this cold weather!

Order Now!

Sausage Meat for stuffing, Sausages in The Times, I write a Weekly Column for Newstime and Chorizo.

2011-08-01T10:47:00.000+02:00

Christmas in July is upon us and I have just received a request for sausage meat for stuffing a turkey. What do I recommend?

I always recommend Lincolnshire because it has a sage and thyme flavour but it is not too strong. We always double-mince sausage meat orders because it makes it just that much finer and this means that it will also bind well without the need for anything such as breadcrumbs or egg yolk for something like Scotch Eggs.

The way we make Scotch Eggs is to hard boil the hens' eggs and then cool them down in cold water. Take the shells off, and roll the eggs in flour. Then, as a chef would say, en-robe in about 110g of sausage meat, dip in beaten egg, roll in breadcrumbs and then deep fry at about 180 degrees for about 8 minutes. Allow to cool....but they are great hot! You can order sausage meat by clicking here to email me.

The Times, not the one of London, the Sunday Times sibling, had such nice things to say about PJS Sausages last week. See below!

Not one sausage

Bandit at Large | 21 June, 2011 22:00

Heritage sausages and veggies smothered in freshly made cheese sauce

Squinting into the harsh, taut shimmer of Highveld winter light, the Bandit sets out on a late-morning quest for a decent boerie roll.

Maybe one of the roadside operations proliferating in Johannesburg's most northern suburbs. Maybe not.

Life's too short and the wind too icy - especially when the chances of even the faintest of brushes with drool-worthy excellence are so slim.

Instead, a plot hatching as he drives, the Bandit heads south and sort of central. More specifically, to Cheese Gourmet in Linden. Which stocks veteran food and wine journalist Peter James Smith's fine range of sausages - and equally fine cheeses, of course.

By the time the Bandit hits the corner of Seventh Street and Third Avenue, the plot has, as they invariably do, thickened.

And as a tribute to menlish - the language of menus, which is not dissimilar to Chinglish, the language of user guides for anything electronic - how about a "trio" (just a short French segue from "melange") of sausage.

Top of the list is saucisse de Toulouse, humbly billed by PJS ("sausages you can trust") as "the basic French garlic sausage" that is "a standard component of cassoulet", the standard ingredients of which are haricot beans and forms of pork and sausage.

In the cassoulet of Castelnaudary, pork and pork products account for all of the meats. Cassoulet from Carcassonne may include mutton and partridge, while in Toulouse, the dish that takes its name from the glazed earthenware dish in which it was traditionally cooked, will feature Toulouse sausage and, possibly, duck, mutton or goose. All, according to Alan Davidson's indispensable The Penguin Companion to Food, are most frequently cooked in goose fat.

The second sausage in the Bandit's thickened plot is the medium-ground PJS Lincolnshire, a thick, pale pork sausage distinctively flavoured with sage and thyme.

Third spot in the "trio" goes to the peppery, "with a hint of marjoram" coarse-cut Cumberland sausage, which, the PJS website informs, "works wonderfully on a braai as long as it is cooked slowly over coals that are not too hot . the same as boerewors".

The authoritative cheesemonger suggests a "mild but with a slight Emmenthaler tang gouda from Belgium" for the mustard and cheese sauce. A taste of the gouda confirms that she's got the picture in one.

Most of the veg comes from Woolworths, where the Bandit learns a lesson in the relative meaning of organic while shopping for underwear. Under signage emblazoned with the words "organic cotton", the Bandit finds scants that contain, wait for it, five, yes five whole percent of organic cotton. That's fewer than five potatoes in a pocket. Free range - for five days in every 100?

Roast sweet potato, parsnip, butternut, beetroot, onion. Winter earth tones. A pinch of Maldon. Et voila! Salt of the earth. Red and yellow pepper for colour and sparkle.

Under a seasonal blanket of cheese and mustard sauce. None of that "draped", "drizzled" or "on a pool of" nonsense. We're talking smothered. No hints of anything.

Cut the vegetables into chunky angular pieces. Toss in a little olive oil and into an oven preheated to 220C, for 25 minutes. Add sausage and peppers and bake for a further 15 minutes, during which time bring 125ml of cream to the boil. Add a generous teaspoonful of English mustard and about 80g of grated gouda to the cream. Whisk over low heat until smooth.

On a rack low under the grill, slowly grill the veg and sausage for about 10 minutes.

Smother vegetables and sausages with the cheese and mustard sauce. Sprinkle liberally with chopped chives.

THE SCORE:

PJS Saucisse de Toulouse: *****

PJS Lincolnshire: ****

PJS Cumberland: ****

Belgian gouda: ****

Woolworths' notion of organic: *

I'll put the Bandit's Recipe on the website next time we update.

Newstime

I bumped into Dave Bullard at the Brandy Festival and as a result I'm writing a weekly column for Newstime. It really is an excellent on-line newspaper with a surfeit of columnists. My column is loosely about food and the first one appeared last Friday. A sausage is never mentioned. You can find it by clicking here. This Friday I'll be writing about Pizza.

Chorizo Fresco

Fino Restaurant in Parktown North is no more. It was for Fino that I originally designed the Chorizo and named it after the restaurant, Chorizo Fino. With the demise of Fino I'm changing the name to Chorizo Fresco because that is what my chorizo is, a Spanish-style fresh chorizo that needs to be cooked before eating as it is not cured. It is more smoky than hot as I use Spanish smoked paprika. Any heat, that is really discernible in the after-taste, comes from Cayenne Pepper and it is the only sausage to which I add a liquid...White Wine! To order Chorizo Fresco or any other sausages or bacon just click here.

Making Bacon..we're at it again! Cumberland Sausage and District 6

2011-06-20T17:45:00.000+02:00

Streaky Bacon is beginning to outsell Back Bacon. I think more and more people are realising that it is not necessarily more fat and it certainly has more flavour and is much more versatile. If you don't want it sliced and would rather cut it into lard-ons or slice it yourself just let me know and I will supply it any way you like.

Here's Boniswa applying the cure. We then seal it in thick plastic bags, turn it over every day or two and then take it out just over a week later, soak it twice and then smoke it. A day after that we can slice it though I prefer to keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 days before I do that; a week is even better. It's been quite difficult trying to keep up with demand because of this time lag! Order your bacon here.

Cumberland Sausage

In March 2011 Cumberland Sausage was granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). To display the PGI Mark the sausage must be produced in Cumbria and consist of at least 80% meat. It must include seasoning (not specified) and be sold in a long coil. I thought at first that I would have to rename my sausage "Cumbrian Sausage" but it's not the same as South Africa having to drop the names Port & Sherry. It just means I cannot display the PGI Mark....a bit meaningless if you ask me!

I love this sausage as really enjoy the pepperiness. It's the addition of white pepper and cayenne to the black pepper base that creates the depth of flavour. There's marjoram, sage and parsley as well. I quite like to braai it but the photo shows the traditional way of serving Cumberland Sausage after it has been baked in the oven. Order it here!

District 6 Eatery, Emmarentia, Johannesburg.

It's wonderful when a restaurant, of which you expect nothing, turns out to be marvellous. I've been there twice now and it just gets better! The first visit was a Rotary social outing. My immediate reaction was "What an imaginative name! I bet the food is dreadful!" I lived in Cape Town longer than anywhere else in my life so my expectations were low. How wrong I was! The first time I went I had Green Bean Bredie preceded by Samoosas (the Cape ones, not the Indian ones) and followed by Koesusters. The food was really good. On the second occasion it was a Grub Club outing. (If you want to know about the Grub Club email me.) I had Denning Vleis, Samoosas and the irresistible Koesusters. There was a lot of singing and dancing by the owner, Clarence, the waitresses and everybody else. It must be about the only restaurant in Johannesburg where the waitresses hug you! What a lot of fun! District 6 is not licensed so take your own and you have to book because it is just impossible to get in otherwise. 011 486 7226.

PJS Boerewors becomes Famous! Turkish Kebabs & Pots too!

2011-05-30T12:49:00.000+02:00

My Boerewors was mentioned in the august pages of Wine Magazine for May! Wow! I only saw a copy of the article this weekend and I was one of the few producers mentioned!

I think it's because our boerewors is not over-spiced and there is very little shrinkage and weight loss. I bought some venison wors at a farmers'market recently and after I had cooked the 1kg, I ended up with 450g! I certainly didn't cook it to death as I like wors to be moist inside. It actually tasted rather nice but it cost double, in reality.

Just click on Boerewors to order. And that means other sausages and bacon as well!

Streaky Bacon
I am delighted that more people are interested in the Streaky as it has much more flavour than Back Bacon. I always have some in stock now. There has been a bit of a problem with bacon recently because of all the public holidays, suppliers being shut and the length of time it takes to cure. The result is that I now smoke a little earlier in the week than before!

Turkish Kebab House

A friend of mine, Aydin Inal, who is the Director of the Turquoise Harmony Institute, invited me to lunch at a Turkish Kebab House in Mayfair, Johannesburg last Saturday because that is the only day they make schwarma. It's very different from the usual schwarma that is produced in Johannesburg. It's an addition to the Turkish Butchery next door that is sparkling clean and makes Sucuk, a Turkish Dried Sausage that is quite spicy. I suppose it's nearest equivalent that we know is an air-dried Spanish Chorizo but in other ways it is nothing like it as it is made with beef, not pork! Well worth a visit! The schwarma or kebab comes wrapped in paper in a flat bread. I wish they did the kidney and liver kebabs they make in Turkey!

David Schlapobersky & Felicity Potter

I can't resist an exhibition of ceramics, especially if there is some thing I can afford! David and Felicity are based in Swellendam so it was wonderful to be able to see and buy some of their work at a one day exhibition they held on Sunday. I thought you would enjoy seeing the quality of their work.

And don't forget to order Sausages and Bacon by clicking here!

Lamb Loin Chops, the Bacchanalian Society & the Truth about Chorizo!

2011-05-21T17:33:00.000+02:00

A customer asked if we would supply 30 lamb loin chops with our boerewors for a company braai for clients which we duly did. One of the benefits of constantly looking for the best quality meat available for sausages means that we have access to other meat as well. The lamb we are using at the moment is from Namibia and so it was easy to supply the lamb chops and as we don't believe in supplying an inferior chop it had to be a loin chop weighing 100g.

If I had been buying chops to braai for myself I would have probably gone for about 140g but 100g is quite adequate for a function and a lot better than the extremely thin chops you would buy in the supermarket and there is no comparison when it comes to quality. Price-wise we were marginally more than the supermarket and that was surprising.

Bacchanalian Society

It's not often that you have a dinner that is almost perfect but Coco Reinatz of Sel et Poivre served one up for the Bacchanalians recently. How often does a chef taste the wines to be served and then works out a menu accordingly? I would have thought it was the norm for a dinner for a group like the Bacchanalians but it was actually the first time that it had ever happened for them!

There are so many food & wine pairing dinners provided by restaurants and hotels as a means of attracting custom and it's obvious that very few do it properly and just work on the list of wines supplied by the winemaker. I imagine the chef keeps his/her fingers crossed that the food & wine approximately match.

They probably work on the assumption that the customer won't notice anyway and will believe what they are told at the presentation.

Here is the menu:

Braised Beef Cheeks Terrine served with Green Fig Puree and Hazelnut Vinaigrette (2004 Overgauw DC Classic)

Roasted Sea Bass Fillet served with a Provencal Pear Chutney and Fennel Jus (2008 Ataraxia Chardonnay)

Thick Lamb Chop coated with Sea Salt & Lemon served with a light Garlic Jus (2001 Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon)

Kudu Tournedos caramelised with Pomegranate Syrup on a Sweet Potato Rosti (2001 Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon)

Crunchy Pineapple Mille-feuilles with Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream (2008 Usana Nectare Noble Late Harvest)

The wines, with the exception of the Usana, came from the Society's own cellar. It was a wonderful evening!

Chorizo

The PJS Chorizo Fino is a Spanish-style chorizo fresco, in other words it is not air-dried or smoked like a Portuguese Chourico and needs to be cooked before eating.

In Mexico the chorizo is also usually fresh but chilli is used instead of Spanish smoked paprika and white wine is replaced by vinegar. Mexican chorizo tends to be produced in an artificial calogen casing instead of natural hog casings. So Mexicans tend to use cheaper ingredients!

Unfortunately Spanish smoked paprika is an expensive spice here but there is no substitute for it. It is not hot like chilli but has a depth of flavour and a smokiness that really adds to the complexity of the product. The "heat" comes from the cayenne pepper but it is more noticeable in the after-taste than at first bite. Garlic is an essential ingredient and I naturally add white wine, a small quantity of which is used to toast the new sausage from the measuring cup. Click here to order....and if you order the Chorizo Fino the measuring cup will be put to good use!

All these holiday has meant that I haven't got my act together with the smoked chicken breasts though I have succeeded in finding a good source of supply. I was shocked at the price in an upmarket supermarket. We can produce a superior product for less than that!

If you are interested in any products that are not on our stock list such as chicken breasts or cuts of meat just
email my by clicking here.

Toulouse Sausage and Cassoulet.

2011-05-05T22:39:00.000+02:00

Every time a sausage pops up with a recipe it is usually the Italian Salsiccia so I decided to talk about our Saucisse de Toulouse because it's popularity is puzzling.

Boniswa and Cynthia are busy packing it here and you will also see some chipolatas on the table. They are a special request for a particular restaurant that likes to have a small Toulouse for the cassoulet they have on the menu.

I really enjoy Toulouse as an addition to Pea Soup because the garlic really adds something to the soup and the sausage itself has a very high meat to fat ratio so it doesn't break up. I fry the sausage first, slice it and then add it to the soup whilst it's cooking.

An amazing number of people buy the Toulouse because they enjoy it fried or grilled. Cooked that way it is a very firm sausage because of its low fat content and quite garlicky and peppery because it contains both black and white pepper. Everyone is so sold on black pepper straight out of the grinder that we forget the wonderful flavour of white pepper and the punch it packs. Chinese Hot & Sour Soup is made with white pepper, not chilli and as a result it it has much more depth of flavour and is more complex. Chilli took over from white pepper simply because it is easy to grow and is much cheaper.

Toulouse Sausage is generally thought of as the quintessential French garlic sausage though many Toulouse sausages are in fact quite mild in flavour with very little spicing and little garlic. To order Toulouse or anything else just click here.

Cassoulet
The most important ingredient of cassoulet is haricot beans because they give the dish its creaminess and foundation flavour. Haricot beans replaced fresh broad beans in the 19th century when they were imported from Spain. The original cassoulet comes from the Languedoc but there are many regional variations. Montagne called them the Holy Trinity of Cassoulet. The Father comes from Castelnaudary with pork loin, ham, leg, pork rind and sausages with a piece of preserved goose. The Son is from Carcassone and includes leg of mutton and partridges when available and the Spirit is from Toulouse where the ingredients are the same as Castelnaudary but in smaller quantities with the addition of Toulouse sausage, fresh lard, mutton and duck or goose. Now-a-days it is a very expensive dish and no French peasant could possibly afford it! Click on this link and it will lead you to Delia Smith's Poor Man's Cassoulet recipe. It is really excellent!

Bacon
The demand for bacon continues to grow, particularly streaky, and as I said before, I am struggling to accommodate the curing meat! I can see that I will have to lash out and buy the necessary fridge.

Duck Sausage and Smoked Chicken Breasts
The final marketing tests have just been concluded for this sausage. It is interesting that the least spicy one is the one that most people like. I'll find out tomorrow if it is worthwhile going into production. We will also be experimenting with smoking local organic chicken breasts. The previous chicken breasts have been imported and they are the only ones that have been big enough to smoke properly. Now we have sourced some large local ones.

Wine Magazine
I haven't seen the article but apparently our Boerewors got a rave review! Amazing!

A Short Break & cafe billibi!

2011-05-05T21:08:00.001+02:00

We are half-way through April already and Easter is almost upon us. All the Public Holidays at the end of the month has meant that we will be closing the factory from Good Friday, 22nd April until the 3rd May as Cynthia & Boniswa would like to visit family. We will make sure that there is enough stock to meet everyone's requirements during that period so you can still order by clicking here.

In the meantime ensure that you are well stocked up with chocolate for Easter as it is a necessity rather than a luxury.

Website
We have updated the website and added the recipe Salsiccia all'Uva sent to me by John Hudson. We have also reorganised the Home Page to make it more consumer friendly.

Developments
We have been experimenting with a number of different sausages for a particular client, some of which have been more successful than others. The two most successful have been a Rosemary Lamb Sausage and a Duck Sausage. This week sees the first Duck Sausage being made to our client's specifications.

Bacon
The bacon continues to grow in popularity and I'm delighted that I now have a regular weekly order for Streaky. I am currently looking for a second-hand large Cool Drink Display Fridge as this will be perfect to cure bacon in.....anybody got one lying around?

cafe billibi

Clifford Correia is a chef I've always admired but he is practically unknown to the general public. He was the Sous-chef at Ile de France some years ago and then opened his own restaurant, The Bell Pepper in Kensington, Johannesburg. It was immediately successful as he has a rare ability with fresh, good quality, simple ingredients and I always felt he undercharged!

He gave up The Bell Pepper some years ago as he had a young family and was persuaded to open up a day-time restaurant for Cremalat, the Cheese Merchants. Now he is back on his own with cafe billibi in the Stone Ridge Centre behind the Greenstone Mall. It's in the middle of a gastronomic desert surrounded by purveyors of processed food to the masses so I am sure he will do well as I'm certain he will be able to wean enough people away from reconstituted meat burgers to delicious real food. Needless to say he uses PJS Sausages and PJS Streaky Bacon but I tried one of his chicken wraps,. It was beautifully made with really subtle flavourings and a true appreciation of texture combinations and it was served with a small side salad in a ramekin so that the wrap itself is not able to become soggy. There are cakes as well but not of the "all from the same supplier" variety.

Unlike Cape Town, Johannesburg is very short on places for a good light lunch as most of our lunch restaurants belong to some franchise or other.

This blog is fast becoming more than just a sausage blog....I'll be introducing the Grub Club to it next!

Hobart Super Spar, Bryanston and a few musings on Prices, Restaurants etc

2011-04-10T16:40:00.000+02:00

Here's the new Hobart Super Spar in Bryanston where we delivered the complete range of Sausages you can Trust last Friday. The sale of our Sausages has not been successful in Spars in the past, probably because a pile of frozen sausages in a display freezer is not exactly enticing! Our thanks to Vernon who has faith in our products and is convinced they will sell. We produce far more sausages that do not have fresh herbs in now-a-days and they can be preserved by vacuum packing so maybe we will look at that in the future as the products will certainly look a lot more appetizing!

One welcome site in the new shopping centre in Hobart Rd was a new independent Book Shop. They are as rare as hen's teeth! Helen, I don't know her surname, is the person behind it and, as she worked for Penguin for many years I suppose you could refer to her as "The Face that launched a 1 000 Books". I hope she is successful as we need more independent booksellers. Helen seems to be in "Have I made a terrible mistake?" mode at the moment.

Bacon
My ability to store the bacon whilst curing takes place has exceeded the current demand for bacon. I have had to tell a client who wants 30kg a week that he must wait until I sort myself out. It looks as if I have effectively solved the problem, it is just a case of installing some equipment and then we will be on our way!

Orders
We have fulfilled orders from a wide range of restaurants and caterers recently. Is this the beginning of a major change of direction? Certainly there is more demand for bacon and the Smoked Petersham has a loyal following but only time will tell. Already this year has been a marked improvement on last year and we certainly have the ability to expand production.

Prices
It's those input costs that are worrying. Lamb has gone up in price dramatically and we have had to put the price up though our profit margin is actually lower. Pork went up but this didn't mean a dramatic increase. The worry is the cumulative effect of the fuel and electricity prices but we can only keep our fingers crossed that it won't have a too detrimental affect on our prices.

Moonlighting
I looked after a friend's restaurant for a Saturday night as the manager was away. It was very interesting as very few bottles of wine were ordered and many more people opted for a glass of wine. As the restaurant does not stock Château Cardboard but serves a decent 250ml wine by the glass I would probably do the same from a cost point of view. It was quite an eye-opener to see the financial squeeze in action. It was only a large party who ordered endless bottles of wine and ate three courses. Couples opted for two only and tended to have only glasses of wine. So, the restaurants are just as full but serving less food and drink though the billing per head is probably the same as it was last year.

And don't forget, you can Order through the Website by clicking HERE!

Sausages, Bacon, Sardines & Roydon.

2011-03-27T13:41:00.001+02:00

Boniswa cubing Pork Back Fat

I'm more than a bit late with the blog owing to an influx of family from Denmark! They have all returned now and are, no doubt, longing for their Summer!

There have been two major steps forward. Much to my surprise there has been increased interest in the spicier sausages coupled with requests for cocktail versions. In fact requests for sausages outside our range is quite an exciting development as that is where we can provide a service....the Bespoke Sausage! We have already developed a Lamb & Rosemary Sausage for a client. It was a little low in Rosemary on the first batch probably because I was so aware of the herb's ability to overpower the meat! There are many more exciting experiments in the pipeline. Watch this space.

The other development has been an increased demand for the bacon, both back and streaky. This is going to require some changes just to accommodate the extra meat and to be able to smoke it. It's an exciting challenge that we must meet. Incidentally the back bacon is very lightly smoked, not salty and has a subtle flavour where-as the streaky is smoked longer and has a much more robust flavour though it is still not salt.

Slow Food

Slow Food's Johannesburg Convivium has asked me to make some ancient South African Sausages for their June Meeting. I will be making three 19th century recipes including the Leipold Boerewors I mentioned in my last post. It's going to be fun making them and even more fun watching their reaction to the taste!

Sardines
I'm rather fond of a tin of sardines for a light lunch; I admit to enjoying sardines on toast! I've tried all sorts of smart imported sardines and they have been disappointing and sometimes worse. Quite often you get an unpleasant metallic taste. In sheer desperation I bought the cheapest South African "sardines" on the shelf, Lucky Star, and they were fantastic. Serves me right for trying to be clever!

Roydon Cheese

Cynthia with a whole Pork Shoulder deboned and derind.

Fairview's Roydon Camembert is a very pleasant local cheese. I bought a 125g box, exp 30-3-2011, that was amazingly salty and none of us could eat it. I wrote to Fairview to tell them what had happened and received a note saying that there was nothing wrong with the batch but offering to refund me. I wasn't interested in the refund but did feel as if I wasn't quite believed. I'm sure the supermarket rather than Fairview are the one's who are really at fault and the manufacturer is the one who gets the blame.

To order Sausages, Bacon or Ham just click here!

The Times, Historic Boerewors & a Recipe!

2011-02-26T08:20:00.000+02:00

Thanks, Andrea, for such nice comments!

Andrea Burgener has owned a number of really interesting and excellent restaurants in the past but three small children have rather cramped her style!

Let's hope she returns to the cooking front in the future as we miss her culinary mind.

Boerewors
Much to my amazement the boerewors is doing well. Anna Trapido phoned me the other day to discuss boerewors and it's history...she is writing an article for Wine Magazine. I went through all my 19th century South African recipe books and there is no mention of it. The only sausage with beef in it is from Ally Hewitt's book, Cape Cookery - Simple yet Distinctive and then the pork and pork fat make up 75% of the meat. The other books, Hildegonda Duckitt and Elizabeth Dijkman refer to sausage or wors and the meat is usually mutton and pork. Here coriander is mentioned for the first time but only by Elizabeth Dijkman.

Hildegonda Duckitt and on the right she is with her Aunt, "Mrs Cloete of Constantia"

Louis Leipoldt is the first person to use the word boerewors and then he has farm sausage in parenthesis as if the term needs explanation. Again the principal meat is pork with a little beef and mutton added. It is also very highly spiced with coriander, ginger, mace, cloves, nutmeg, thyme, rosemary, mint, salt and pepper with equal parts of vinegar and wine added!

Anna and I laughed about this at length and we came to the conclusion that the name boerewors was almost certainly a product of the rise of Afrikaner Nationalism and the sausage is a construct along with Volkspieler!

My son added an interesting gloss to this theory as he pointed out that beef probably replaced venison. I think he may be right as you have to be settled to have cattle to eat rather than pull wagons and ploughs around. I don't think an old trek ox would be suitable for sausages!

To try the Boerewors just click here to order.

Smoked Petersham
I couldn't keep up with the orders for ham before Christmas and even sold the one I made for home on Christmas Eve. I'd received no orders since then until this week. Don't think it was just a Christmas Fancy. You can order any time.

Experimental Sausages

Danish Medisterpolse

I've remade the cinnamon flavoured sausage and now it doesn't smell like pancakes when you cook it. The other sausage I made from Elizabeth Dijkman's recipe and it included beef suet. It looks very European. You can see the white of suet through the skin that would put most people off as they would assume it was fatty. It certainly is moist and has an "old fashioned" taste and texture that I'm not sure many people would like. My Danish daughter-in-law says that it is just like a Danish Medisterpolse (the o should have a stroke through it) and loved it! I'm probably going to make a couple more ancient South African Sausages but I don't think I'll attempt Leipoldt's Boerewors!

Streaky Bacon
I'm delighted that it seems to be attracting a few fans.....I'm one of them! I've doubled my production of streaky but it comes off a very small base! Just email me with your comments peter@pjsfood.co.za

Recipe
I'll be adding this new recipe to the website soon sent to me by John Hudson using my Salsiccia:

Hi peter,

Here is a recipe for Salsiccia with grapes. I tried it last night. Wonderful.

Salsiccia all'Uva

Sausage with Grapes

Really simple but looks stunning and tastes wonderful. Frying grapes feels and sounds strange but it works. Try to find sausage with fennel.

4 PJS salsiccia sausages (serves 2 for a light lunch)
1 cup seedless grapes

Place the sausages in a frying pan and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning from time to time. When they are brown all over remove the sausages to a warm platter.
Remove any excess fat (you want a teaspoonful, at most, in the pan) and add the grapes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until some of the grapes collapse.
Slice the sausages into small bite sized pieces and add to the grapes. Stir for a couple more minutes to brown the sausage on all sides.
Serve on a bed of lightly oiled penne.

Ian Fleming, Boerewors, more Experiments and Streaky Bacon!

2011-02-14T19:54:00.000+02:00

Here's Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. He was a bit of rake and very successful with women. Apparently he would ply them with Champagne and feed them with Sausages. I'm not sure how seductive PJS Sausages are but we all know that they are Sausage you can Trust!

I know that Champagne is delicious accompaniment!

Boerewors
Yes, I've added Boerewors to our product list. It all started with Elsabe Hanekom of Centurion who asked me to make some wors for her husband who is gluten intolerant. She sms'd a thumbs up and then ordered more for friends. Now completely independent orders are coming in so it's on the list.

Experiments.
I've been smoking chicken breasts and I have actually had a request for them but so far I've been unable to find a suitable supplier. Just watch this space!

On the sausage front and the search for a traditional South African Pork Sausage I've been looking through my library and found a recipe in the first South African recipe book ever published commercially, Elizabeth Dijkman's Kook, Koek en Resepte Boek published in Paarl in 1890. The recipe is mildly spiced with nutmeg but includes beef suet. I've made a small quantity and it is rather pleasant and different though it looks very fatty through the skin, very continental! It isn't, of course but I have a feeling that the average South African consumer will assume it is! I want to taste it again before I decide what to do next.

I've continued with the Cinnamon-flavoured Sausage and made a second batch reducing the amount of cinnamon. I haven't tried it yet.

Streaky Bacon
Here's bacon in the smoker ready for it's 10-hour smoking session.

I am now receiving some orders for Streaky Bacon so I am making it regularly in small quantities. I prefer it to Back Bacon as it has more flavour and is much more versatile...you can crisp it up if you like it that way. I usually sell it sliced but you might prefer it in the piece to cut it into lard-ons.

You can Order Here or by emailing me.

The Food Studio, Boerewors, Experimental Sausages, Streaky Bacon and Warm Wine by the Glass.

2011-01-23T22:41:00.000+02:00

Here are our efforts at the Food Studio last Tuesday. Top left myself and Peter Short who presented the wines from Vergelegen that were matched with the sausages. There are pictures of happy people attending, Boniswa who demonstrated sausage making and Jean who organised the cooked sausages to taste. The salad is the Warm Chorizo Fino & Bread Salad. The Recipe appears on our website. The sausages that we matched, other than the Chorizo in the salad, were Lincolnshire, Cumberland, Italian Salsiccia and Turkish Sosis. It was a fun evening with wonderful wines and you can see that everyone is enjoying themselves.

Boerewors
Yes, we are making it again. More of it this time for a specific customer. If other people show interest I'll put it on the Order Form.

Experimental Sausages
We've been asked to experiment with a specifically South African Pork Sausage and a Beef Sausage. I made a pork sausage flavoured with cinnamon and dried apricots that I tested out at the Food Studio tasting. It was the sausage that we made there. Everyone seemed to like it or they were just being polite! I thought it had too much cinnamon but you never get these things right first go. This week I am using an ancient South African Pork Sausage Recipe that uses beef fat! That should be interesting.

Bacon
We back up to speed with bacon and I am also making some streaky at the moment. Not much, as it is a special request. If you want some email me on a first come first served basis.

Wine by the Glass

It's a great thing but not when the Cap Classique is served warm! The wine bottle was cooled down...and that took time.....and then we were told we could drink the warm ones at no charge. I demurred. How can you complain and then drink what you have complained about! I though afterwards that we could have put the glasses in the ice bucket with the bottle and drunk them too. Why do you think of these things when it's too late! The restaurant handled it very well, so no names!

Here's the wine in question. One of my favourites, the 2005 Krone Cuvee Brut Rose. I love all the sparkling wines made by Nicky Krone because they age well and they have almost a "French" characteristic.

Sausage Workshop at Good Food Studio and Smoked Chicken

2011-01-10T13:09:00.000+02:00

Benedict, the Sausage Dog, ripped these two apart in 5 minutes!

We are back to normal and busy filling up the gaps in stock. Bacon is busy curing and will be ready on Monday 17th January. Please let me know your order for bacon and ham as soon as possible so that I don't run out of stock!

We have also updated the website and tidied up the Recipe Page adding a Chorizo Fino & Bread Salad that is served warm and is delicious.

On the Tuesday 18th January we've been invited by Good Food Studio at Pick 'n Pay on Nicol to give a Sausage Workshop and Wine Evening.

Here are the details:

Sausage making demonstration with Peter James-Smith, paired with a variety of South African wines.

Date: Tuesday 18^th Jan

Time – 6pm – 9pm

Cost: R200p/p

Venue: Good Food Studio at PnP on Nicol – cnr William Nicol and Republic Road, Hurlingham

Book now to secure your spot – call Kerrin on (011) 998 3310 or e-mail: goodfoodstudio@pnp.co.za

We will be showing how we make sausages and matching some with wines. Then we will be demonstrating the Chorizo Fino & Bread Salad. I'll make it an entertaining evening!

Yes, we have to do Smoked Chicken because it is so good. It will cost R55 per kg so let me know if you would like one. I'll put it on the Order Form if it proves popular but we will start by smoking to order! Just email me.

We will be back with all our stock by the end of the week so please place your Order now!

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T10:24:00.000+02:00

My Best Wishes for 2011 to all of you. Many thanks for your support last year. It is less than a year since we moved into the factory and we have made considerable progress. I really believe that this year will be one of growth for PJS Food and you are the foundation upon which that growth will come about.

Bacon & Ham
I totally miscalculated the demand for bacon and ham last month and I couldn't supply some people. It is very exciting that more and more people obviously enjoy the bacon and if that continues I'll have to make provision for it. As it takes roughly 2 weeks to make physical storage can quickly become a problem.

Mediterranean Lamb
The demand for types of sausage has changed as well. Interestingly there has been an increase in demand for the spicier sausages and less demand for lamb. I've decided to stop producing Mediterranean Lamb simply because it is so similar to Tunisian Lamb and the introduction of the Turkish Sosis, that contains 20% beef, has quickly become the biggest selling non-pork sausage.

Smoked Chicken

This was one of my experiments over the holiday period. I really enjoy a cold smoked chicken but I am rather put off by those expensive flat tanned versions you see in some supermarkets. This is the result of my experiments using free-range fresh chickens. It is the preparation prior to smoking that is the most important and they were hot smoked at a high temperature. The chicken was pleasant eaten straight out of the smoker but it really came into its own eaten cold. It was moist and really delicious and the skin was not the usual leather! I haven't worked out a price yet and I also want to experiment with chicken breasts. I think that they will only be really tasty and moist if smoked on the bone with the skin on. If you are interested please let me know by clicking here.

Re-opening
The factory opens on the 10th January though I am already beginning to cure bacon. I do have some stock so if you want to order now we will happily deliver.

Washing Down, Bacon & Smoked Petersham and Dishonesty on Menus

2010-12-09T17:44:00.000+02:00

We wash the factory floor and surfaces every day but once a week we wash down everything. We move everything in the factory and wash behind it....even the sink........and we wash the walls down too. We also ensure that all the equipment has been properly cleaned as well.

We only use SABS approved cleaning materials otherwise it would probably be a waste of time!

It is probably worth your while using them in your own home as they are much cheaper than the branded bottles you buy from your local supermarket!

Bacon & Smoked Petersham
I really under estimated bacon and Smoked Petersham quantities. I have a regular customer for bacon, a guest-house group and it naturally winds down for the Christmas holiday period. So I naturally assumed that there would not be the demand for bacon and I thought that Smoked Petersham, being a new product, would not be much in demand. How wrong I was as I sold out of both and as the bacon and the Smoked Petersham take quite a long time to cure there maybe a gap when I will be unable to supply. I am just keeping my fingers crossed! To order Sausages, Sausage Meat,bacon or Smoked Petersham just click here!

Misrepresentation of Products on Menus

This is something that really annoyed me last week! My Rotary Club was holding a dinner to raise funds for Children's Home Project. We needed to raise R10 000 to refurbish the lavatories. (We succeeded, by the way.) Three of us were preparing the food at the SA Chefs' Association Kitchen during the morning and we decide to have a quick lunch at Vovo Telo Bakery at 44 Stanley. I was quite pleased because I haven't eaten there though I had tried their bread and it is a very pleasant setting as you can see.

Much has been made of Vovo Telo, a chain, or is it a franchise? of "artisan" bakeries originating in Port Elizabeth and they have been very successful in achieving publicity. I always judge bakeries on either croissant or brioche and the Vovo Telo croissant, that I had tried some time ago has a slightly rancid taste and that was subsequently confirmed by someone else completely independently.

I decided to have the Smoked Salmon and Avocado on Rye Bread and I asked the waiter what smoked salmon they use. I make a habit of asking this because you can really end up with something quite disgusting, especially with scrambled egg! He said "It's not Norwegian it's Cape Salmon". I said "You mean it's Smoked Salmon Trout?" "Yes". Then why not say so on the menu!

Smoked salmon trout is locally produced and is usually 100 times better than cheap smoked salmon! In any case it is dishonest to try and pass salmon trout off as salmon and it is not the first time that this has happened to me. The last time it happened I picked it up on the appearance and taste and when I raised the matter the restaurateur said that the general public didn't know the difference anyway!

It does make me wonder about the ethics of a business as a whole when it misrepresents a menu item. Is it really stone-ground flour that Vovo Telo use in their bread or is that just puffing?

Contact me at peter@pjsfood.co.za

Sausages for a function, the Great Boerewors Experiment and Canapés you cannot eat at Cocktail Parties.

2010-12-02T15:23:00.000+02:00

Here we are packing English Breakfast. When these white trays are finished we will be using black trays as the product shows up much better.

PJS Streaky Bacon

We have just produced 150 of these English Breakfast for a dinner and they were wrapped in our streaky bacon in threes.

We also produced sausage meat to stuff four turkeys and 150 thin slices of Smoked Petersham for the same function.

Boerewors

The boerewors is ready and will be delivered to the customer who "commissioned" it tomorrow. I was a little apprehensive about making it as everyone is an expert on boerewors. I eventually increased the pork and spek content a little from the 20% and used ranched beef. I braaied some last night and I am delighted with it as it doesn't shrink at all and the flavour balance is just right. So often you you have a wors that may as well be made of coriander and though you need to taste coriander it mustn't overwhelm the meat and the other spices. The knack is not to be able to taste the coriander in the raw wors and then the balance will be right in the cooked wors. The cost is R75 per kg. And I forgot to photograph it!

Incidentally, avoid the dreaded "Braaiwors". There is a degree of control over what you may put in boerewors but braaiwors can be almost anything from dye to make it pink to an artificial casing. It never browns because soya doesn't and all that fat bubbling away under the skin isn't fat at all, it's the water to help the soya bind! In any case you know how much meat costs so anything that cheap can't have much meat in it!

email me if you have any queries or anything you want to say. You can order through the website by clicking here!

Canapés

I've been to a couple of functions recently where canapés were served in a cocktail party environment. Both of the functions were at up-market hotels and both had the same faults.

I would have thought that it was obvious that if guests are talking standing up with a glass in one hand that what-ever they are offered to eat should be bite size finger food and so designed that it doesn't spill down your front. Does that look possible with either these two? How do you get rid of the dish or the stick afterwards? Don't forget you are holding a glass in your right hand.

I would also hope that there would be a good variety of canapés, that they haven't been prepared the day before and kept in the fridge so that they are tasteless and that waiters would know that savoury comes before sweet. Everything generally seems to taste the same whether it is fish or fowl simply because most things are just warmed up though, if it is supposed to be cold, it is usually closer to frozen.

None of this is rocket science but it makes a huge difference to the reputation of the establishment serving them. Just take one very simple thing. I ordered a number of platters from The Sandwich Baron for an AGM. If small triangular sandwiches are served on a platter they should be slightly staggered so that they are easy to pick up otherwise you are not sure where the sandwiches separate.....and it doesn't take a second to do it either!

Boerewors, a Petersham for Christmas, the Whisky Live Festival and trying to buy Bread at Pick 'n Pay

2010-11-25T16:21:00.000+02:00

I've added a bit of Christmas Sparkle to the Website as the Smoked Petersham seems to have captured people's imagination. If you need one for the Festive Season order now as they take about two weeks to cure.

Boerewors

I have had an order for boerewors, something I haven't made for a very long time. It's really because of my gluten-free policy. I think I've learned a bit since then too as I have been playing around with a wors for droewors that I make for home only. This will include 20% pork shoulder and back spek because otherwise it will be too dry. I haven't worked out a price yet but if you are interested send me an email.

From Boerewors to Whisky and Wild Wild Women!

The woman in question is Karen Fullerton, Global Brand Ambassador for Glenmorangie. I met her at the Whisky Live Festival in Gauteng where she was launching Glenmorangie’s Signet into the South African market. This appears to be the first time that Glenmorangie has launched itself into the blended single malt market pioneered by Johnnie Walker Green Label. They have certainly done it with style as the whisky, once you have fought your way through the adjectives that are used in every whisky press release such as old, rare, sophisticated and so on, is a real cracker. This is a whisky to be savoured as it has a richness and a multilayered depth of flavour that is really delicious. It was like drinking liquid spiced Oxford Marmalade with hints of the Smoking Room and old leather armchairs and it is a beautiful dark amber colour. At R1 090 per bottle I thought it was value for money though I have subsequently seen it on sale for R800 more!.

Karen Fullerton showed me the joys of a “Sonic Tasting” of Signet and I also attended a Master Class on Glenmorangie. The Sonic Tasting was highly entertaining. We sat with earphones on watching a screen with sound waves of the commentary over idyllic pictures and patterns whilst a soft male and an equally soft female voice waxed lyrically about what we had in our glass. I can’t remember what was on the screen as I was too busy watching my companion sonic tasters. They moved in unison, sniffing the glass, holding it up to the light…it was like Ti Chi, only one young woman wasn’t in quite in unison and she caught my eye and laughed! It is one way of giving a tasting without giving a tasting!

Master Classes have a tendency to be the same, a tasting of all the not too expensive whiskies with a few instructions on how to taste and nose properly. For example, don’t stick your nose into the glass to nose the whisky as you’ll just get an anaesthetic from the high alcohol content, rather nose from above the rim. Karen was excellent at this as she has obviously had lots experience of handling people who have probably had enough whisky long ago! Not only was she good at telling people about what they should be smelling and tasting but had the gift of appearing amazed at what she was smelling or tasting herself!

The Whisky Live Festival has certainly dropped down a notch. It used to quite an elegant affair with wonderful food and people of considerable expertise, usually from Scotland, talking about their whiskies with authority and pride. Karen Fullerton was the exception this year; many stands were populated by young women who were not only displaying their charms but also their ignorance of the product they were trying to promote. The trays of canapés that whizzed round the room in the past were gone and you had to go to a supermarket stand to eat anything. The Whisky Live Festival has just become another Booze Market.

The Packaging may be different but the Attitude remains the same!

I have been asked to give a sausage -making demonstration in the Food Studio at the new Pick 'n Pay Flagship Concept Store off William Nichol Highway, Sandton sometime in the New Year. I was driving past so dropped in to have a look at the Studio and ran into Peter Short who is the wine buyer there and runs a smart in-house wine boutique.

On the way out I saw they were selling ciabatta for under R10. You can see the smart bread counter in the photograph. I picked one up and took it to the counter to ask where I had to pay. I was told it had to be in a bag and was sent back to a surly individual who was putting bags next to the bread. I asked for bag with the ciabatta sticker, "No, we don't have any of those", so I slung it back on the heap and walked out. No, I thought, I'll say something and then went back into the store to tell Peter Short what I thought of the service in this Flagship Store. All he could say was "They've all been on the training!". A lot of use that was!

Our service at PJS Food is much better so place your orders through our website now!

A Smoked Petersham for Christmas and tasting Meerlust Rubicon

2010-11-14T21:28:00.000+02:00

Christmas is coming the Goose is getting Fat....well perhaps not the goose! We've been eating Smoked Petersham in this hot weather and it is an ideal Christmas Ham.

The average size is about 1,5kg, so it is not too big and there are smaller ones available that would just suit a couple. It costs R135 per kg and if you want one for Christmas click on Order Now and let me know the size you want and when you would like to have it.

Also I can produce Sausage Meat for stuffing or making Scotch Eggs. I use the Lincolnshire Sausage Meat but double mince it so that it is a bit finer and then you don't need to add anything to it to make it bind. Price on request as it depends on quantity.

The factory will be closing from the 17th December until after the New Year.

I've been wondering whether I should add other things of interest to this blog and not just limit it to sausages so this will give you an idea of what I have in mind........

Last week I attended a very interesting tasting of Meerlust Rubicon from the 1980, the very first release, through to the 2010 that has probably only just been put in small oak barrels and won't be released for a few years. I find these old wines to be more curiosities than wines you would want to drink and it was only when we reached the 1991 that I could really say that I began to find the wines enjoyable. The most delicious by far was the 2001 closely followed by the 1998. What was fascinating was the underlying similarity through-out despite changes of winemakers, improved methods and changes to the blend. Here are Eddie Turner (Marketing) Chris Williams (Cellarmaster) and Hannes Myburgh (Owner) standing in front the Jurgen Schardeberg exhibition at Arts on Main. The restaurant there is called "Canteen" and it is worth a visit.

What goes into a Sausage you can Trust?

2010-11-03T18:38:00.000+02:00

So what goes into the Sausages you can Trust? Here is Mbali holding a pork shoulder. It is DDD, de-rind, de-boned and de-fatted. We buy it fresh and it is cut into cubes and any waste, very little, is discarded. We have a supplier who only provides us with the best possible meat, you can see how high the quality is just by looking at it. In fact it makes a really delicious roast. Pork Shoulder is the cut that has the most flavour as it comes from the muscle that does the most work. Leg is the favourite roast and is more expensive but give me shoulder any day.

Here is Boniswa holding the only other ingredient, back fat. It's the hard fat that comes under the skin along the back and shoulders and it is also cubed. It is used in the making of salami so it is sometimes called salami spek in South Africa. Fat is a necessary ingredient as without it there would be little flavour and sausages would be much too dry to eat. The meat/fat component varies, depending on the sausage.

Toulouse, for example has very little fat because it is often used in cassoulet where it adds texture and because of the garlic component, adds additional flavour to the dish....you don't want too much fat!

Similarly the Chorizo Fino has less fat than the average sausage because it is also often used as an ingredient but it can be eaten as a normal sausage as well.

Our other ingredients are just salt, herbs, both dried and fresh, and spices. There are no preservatives which is why we freeze them straight away. The one sausage with something extra is the Chorizo Fino where we add white wine. No water is added as it is not necessary because we don't add cereal in the form of rusk or bread or anything else such as soya.

The casings are natural intestine. The standard casings are hog casings and the thinner sausages use the more expensive sheep's casings. Not only are they more expensive but they are more difficult to work with and making the sausages is more time consuming.

We have overestimated the demand for bacon from our regular customers over the next couple of months primarily because it takes roughly a fortnight to make so we can't just stop the process immediately. If you need back bacon it is available at a discount.

If you need sausage meat for stuffing or making Scotch Eggs over Christmas just email me as I like to provide you with Lincolnshire Sausage Meat but double-minced as it is much easier to work with.

This link will take you through to our website order page so you can Order Now!

Identity Problems........

2010-10-26T14:26:00.000+02:00

I was sent this photo just to confuse me and it just has to go on the blog!

You can see that they freeze straight away just as I do and use smart black trays. Just look at the price! I particularly like the "Uniquely Australian" tag....and we think we have identity problems!

I am going to look again at our range of sausages. The Thai is the one that sells the least and I am just waiting to see if the Turkish Sosis totally eclipses the Tunisian Lamb before I make a decision.

There are good sales of the Mediterranean Lamb but since I introduced the Turkish Sosis, Tunisian Lamb sales have slumped probably because it is too similar to the Mediterranean Lamb and the Turkish is much more aromatic.

Meat prices have gone up by about 10%...higher for Pork Loin from which back bacon is made.....at the moment I am trying to negotiate it down a bit, without much success! I am trying to absorb the increase where the sausages are concerned but will have to put the bacon price up.

Having looked at the photo of myself and the bacon I've started growing my beard again!

Don't forget you can order by clicking on here!

Making Bacon!

2010-10-18T16:52:00.000+02:00

Here is the back bacon drying out after it's post-cure soaking. Then it will be smoked for 10 hours. It is a very long, slow process. 10 days for curing, another day for soaking, 10 hours smoking and then I usually slice it the next day

Commercial bacon is wet-cured in brine and injected with the brine to speed up the process. It depends on how this is done but I find that a lot of water tends to be left in there so when it is fried there can be a huge weight loss, as much as 45%, as the water has to be boiled out.

Some years ago I conducted an experiment in the kitchens of the Michelangelo Hotel, Sandton where we cooked various makes of back bacon under controlled conditions to measure the weight-loss. The least weight-loss was from wet-cured bacon produced by a butcher as opposed to one of the big commercial manufacturers. Next was Frey's who make bacon for Wimpy! I'm holding the finished product ready for slicing. As I am using a dry-cure it means that I cannot produce bacon at a price that makes it economical for a retailer to buy from me so all my sales are direct to you, the customer. I am holding the finished product prior to slicing.

Turkish sausages again, Streaky Bacon and what about some really good Pork Cuts?

2010-10-05T15:11:00.000+02:00

The website has been updated and the Turkish Sosis added. The Sosis contains a lot of fresh coriander and parsley as you can see from the bowl that Boniswa is holding. That is what goes into 10kg of sausage. It really seems to have taken off and it was supposed to be a once only sausage! I'm astonished by the number of orders that have come in this week and I have had to start from scratch as I have no stock.

I have also added another recipe to the website, Salsiccia and Potatoes. I was amazed to meet someone who tries all the recipes on the website...here you are!

Now here is something I would love a response to!

Often when I order from my pork supplier I sometimes keep a bit to eat. For example I have been buying a small amount of Belly Pork to experiment with making Streaky Bacon. Some of it I have saved to roll and roast. I buy Shoulder for the Sausages and Loin for the Back Bacon and I eat both in various ways, even spit-roasting the Shoulder on the Weber. Someone commented on the quality of the pork and how much better it was than the pork she was used to eating so I offered to get something for her with my weekly order. Is there an interest in top quality pork cut to individual requirements? The price would be reasonable and the quality the best that I can get. If you are interested; what are you looking for? Please email your comments to me.

The Streaky Bacon has now been perfected. You can see that there is more meat than fat as Mbali holds it up and it's a good colour. Let me know if you are interested.

Tonight I am talking to the Rotary Club of Bedfordview about the history of sausages and a little about food in general.

2010-09-26T23:04:00.000+02:00

Cheese Gourmet of Linden held a special Heritage Day event with some of their suppliers. Unfortunately I was unable to be there as I was busy judging the Kensington Boerewors Competition. As a Special for the event we produced a Turkish Sosis in 250g packs. I though it would be interesting to see if it was more popular than our standard 500g pack. As you can see you get 4 sometimes 5 Turkish Sosis in a pack. All I can say is that 4 packs were sold in the short period of 5 minutes that I was there!

The Turkish Sosis is a very aromatic sausage. It's 25% Beef and 75% Lamb and is spiced with cumin, coriander and fennel seeds. Fresh coriander leaves and parsley are also included.

The Kensington Boerewors Competition was great fun. Fortunately I had made a radio feature on the Thaba N'chu Boerewors Competition many years ago so I knew what to do. My fellow judge is Rochelle Oberholzer, the President of the Kensington Club.

Every entrant had to braai 5kg of wors which was weighed before braaing. Rochelle and I first examined the wors raw to look at the content and to taste it. As you can see beer is very necessary to cleanse the palate between tastings. We judged on appearance, texture and flavour with additional points for weight loss. The minimum weight loss was 20%, 1kg but one wors was 1,7kg, 34%, that's a lot of money just evaporating!

Two particular boerewors really stood out and we both agreed on the overall winner. They were also the only two wors that had a good texture. Over all the quality of the boerewors was a little disappointing......maybe my 8 years in the Free State have effected my judgement of boerewors from other provinces! The winner was Paul Coetzee. You can see him clutching the cup!

Turkish Sausages and Smoked Clove-studded Pork Loin

2010-09-14T10:06:00.000+02:00

Here's Cynthia mincing a batch of Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire is the first sausage I ever made and it has remained the most popular. Similarly "fat" sausages outsell "thin" ones. Maybe, as South Africans, we feel short-changed if we are given a chipolata!

From a producer's point of view the skins, sheep casings, are more expensive, more fragile and the sausages are time consuming to make. Just remember that if you are not a pork eater that thicker casings, if they are natural, are 90% of the time pig casings. Thicker beef casings do exist but the major suppliers do not seem to stock them.

The most successful sausage I made for the evening at Fino is a Turkish Sausage, 75% lamb, 25% beef. It was aromatic and the ingredients included fresh coriander and fresh parsley. I think it is superior to both the Tunisian and the Mediterranean Lamb. As it is double the length of a standard sausage I am trying it in smaller packs as an experiment.

I've also experimented with a streaky bacon, rind on. It didn't quite work out as it needed to cure a little longer, I must ensure that I use a thicker cut of belly pork and take the rind off first. It's Quiche Lorraine tonight to use it up! The next batch will be fine though I will only make about 1kg just to ensure that it is right!

Here is another successful experiment, Smoked Clove-studded Pork Loin. I got it right, eventually! Like the Smoked Petersham it can be sliced very thinly and is therefore economical to use.

Incidentally, if you are interested in the products that do not appear on the stock list just email me. Do so anyway, I am always interested in your comments and if you are using our products in recipes I'd love to put them on the website.

I'm delighted that the website is really beginning to work and I'm getting more and more orders through the website. Many thanks for your support.

The Cheese Gourmet Function and the Fino Function to Follow!

2010-08-26T22:01:00.000+02:00

Here's the cheerful crowd at Cheese Gourmet last Tuesday. Steven Gilmore is holding forth on the virtues of Real Ale and the products of his micro brewery and I'm doing the same thing about Sausages you can Trust and why they are so trustworthy. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the food from the Cheese Gourmet Kitchen was simple and delicious. Much to my amazement not everyone drank beer and quite a few people ignored Steven Gilroy's disparaging remarks about wine and drank quite a lot of it! Cheers!

Talking of beer, Zane Beer of Fino Spanish Restaurant, cnr 4th & 7th Ave, Parktown North, has come up with a wonderful menu for Tuesday 7th September, 19,00 for 19,30. I will be making a couple of unusual sausages especially for the occasion. Here's the menu:

Course 1:
Smoked Ham & Pork Loin Cold Tapas Platter .... served with Spanish Olives
(Stuffed & Queen Green), Pickles (Mild Yellow Peppers, Capperberries) and
Fresh Bread

Course 2:
Fresh Dates to be rolled in Bacon and served with small Herb Salad
and Reduced Prune Juice Dressing.

Course 3:
Turkish Sausage to be grilled and served on Crostini (Bruschetta) as in the North of Spain

Course 4:
Salsiccia Sausage served with Orecciette Pasta in a Neapolitan
Sauce

Course 5:
Hot Paprika Bacon Sausage served in the Fino Chick-pea Stew.

Course 6:
Chorizo Fino served in our famous Creamy Prawn & Chorizo Rice Dish
(arroz con gambas y chorizo)

Coffee or Tea

This is all for R150 per head including the gratuity. Book by phoning the restaurant at 011 447 4608 or email

I'm sure it will be a wonderful evening.

My invented ham has a name, Smoked Petersham and Broadacres Spar are the first to stock it. It is extremely thinly sliced and I've given a recipe for Croque Monsieur on the PJS Food Website

A Twickenham Porky, 702, the New Ham and lots of News!

2010-08-18T15:13:00.000+02:00

It's a busy week! Here are Boniswa and Cynthia washing the salt out of sheep casings and making Twickenham Chipolatas. I had a request for the Twickenham to be made standard size, easy enough to swop the casings and what a really tasty pork sausage it is. I suppose it is a "Twickenham Porky" ....... I hasten to add it is not named after the person who ordered it!

Much to my amazement there was a lot of chat about PJS Food, the sausages and the bacon, on Jenny Crws-Williams show last Friday, Carrie Adams and Anna Trapido waxing lyrical about our products. The first I knew about it was when a customer phoned me to tell me about it.

Here's a picture of the Smoked Ham I've been experimenting with. It's just right and consistent...well as consistent as any hand-made product can be. I'm trying to think of a name for it because it is really my own invention...any ideas? If someone comes up with suitable name I'll give them a prize...guess what that will be!

Pineslopes Super Spar will be stocking some of our sausages from Thursday19th August.

There are a few sausage functions coming up:

Wednesday 24th August is a Sausage & Mash and Gilroy's Beer Evening at Cheese Gourmet in Linden. Steven Gilroy and I will be entertaining the crowds. I don't know the exact details but phone Cheese Gourmet on 011 888 5384 to book.

Tuesday 7th September will be a special Sausage Evening at Fino Spanish Restaurant in Parktown North. We are busy sorting out the menu at the moment and I will be producing a special Lamb Sausage for the occasion.

Halloween is a Sunday this year and we are looking at frightening the devil away with sausages at Salvation Cafe, 44 Stanley....watch this space!

The Danish Sausage Cart.....an appropriate start!

2010-08-11T15:14:00.000+02:00

These Sausage Carts are only licensed to people with disabilities or some special need and they have to be removed at night...that's why the film starts with it being towed to its allocated site. This must be one of the best sites in Copenhagen! I have even eaten a sausage here myself complete with the appropriate Danish cart-leaning stance. Danish sausages are a bit bland so you have to have gerkins, fried onion and one of the squirt-ons on offer to add flavour.

I've been experimenting with a couple of cold meats over the weekend. One is perfect, a type of smoked ham that is my own invention. It slices very thinly and is perfect for something like Croque Monsieur. On a basic level that's a hot cheese and ham sandwich! It's not really very old, only appearing on cafe menus in the first decade of the 20th century. The secret is to use a good ham, Gruyere cheese and to fry the sandwich in unsalted butter until crispy. Don't worry about the cholesterol.

The second cold meat is a smoked pork loin. That is also very tasty but I intend doing it again with cloves stuck in it because I think that'll be even better. I had some for lunch on rye bread..great!

Photos to follow!