Hmong Sausage made w/ Ginger, Basil, and Spices

I've never had Hmong Sausage before. After reading about it I knew I wanted to try to make this delicacy because I love all of its ingredients individually. I first became aware of the Hmong and their sausages while reading Hank Shaw's excellent blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook. There Mr. Shaw outlines his recipe and the inspiration for it as well as walking you through his process. You can read my process here and see my recipe and inspirations after the break. This was the first sausage I made on my new STX Megaforce grinder. It worked like a champ and as you can see in the picture to the right it grinds well, all the meat was ground in about 2 minutes. 

(please read on after the break)

Sausage: A Novice Guide

Gyro Sausage

I'm an expert at exactly one thing, my chosen line of work, everything else is a novice pursuit. One thing I started doing last year is making fresh sausages. You might ask 'why?' but that should be self explanatory; when is the last time you walked in to a Super Target, Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, or Local Grocery Chain and bought lamb sausages? What if after eating at a Hmong place on vacation you wanted to recreate the sausages you had there? I'd bet my bottom dollar that the guy behind the deli counter at your local grocery couldn't tell you any more than mine could (unless he happened to be Hmong). Next you might be asking yourself, "Why read your guide? I am sure some expert has written a guide." Let me assure you that they have! My guide is my experience coming from being a novice going to being an amateur including what I learned and found helpful.

(please read more after the break.)

Beer Review: Enjoy By 4.20.14 IPA

Another beer style I want to brew this year is an IPA. Having a black IPA and an IPA on tap is something I'd like to do. I just need to find friends to help me drink beer. Also I need tax season to be over so that I have time to brew. In the lead up to eventually brewing an IPA I wanted to sample some of the freshest and newest IPAs I could find. Enter the devastatingly dank Enjoy By 4.20.14 IPA by Stone Brewing company. This beer was bottled 17 days before I'm drinking it. Wow. Stone sure does take their product seriously. 

This IPA weighs in at 9.4% ABV. Per a variety of webpages this is a mosaic of hops(not to be confused with mosaic hops) Bertus Brewery identified Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Nelson Sauvon, Galaxy, Target & Simcoe are all included. The Full Pint reports it as 13 varieties in a unique blend. They Tag it with probably some insider information as having Ahtanum, Super Galena, Simcoe, Delta, Target, Amarillo, Calypso, Cascade, Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Citra and Helga. So I'll have my work ahead of me if I want to draw out what I like about this beer.

(please read more after the break.)