It's time to get the ingredients ready ...

As you can see by the drying hot peppers

below ... it says that it's getting that time

of the year when the words 'Nădlac Sausages'

are in the air.

That is only less than 20% of the actual amount of

peppers that are needed to be dried and stored for

the upcoming sausage making season. It's really a

pretty thing to see in person.

For those of you who haven't seen a prior article

from 2006 that explains the sausage making

process just ( click here ).

In the past they explained to me that it was
more expensive to make their own sausages
as opposed to purchasing.

All the ingredients are natural, as is the feed
grown organically for the pigs, the type
of meat used for making these sausages.

That was last year, as the price of food increases,

it is actually becoming less pricey to make their

own. They grow the pigs from birth, plant the feed

and except for electricity and fuel for the tractors

and harvesters ... the farmers are almost
self-sustaining.

My sister visited last year and brought a

Nădlac sausage home with her.

As they say, a picture speaks a 1,000 words ...

so the best way to describe the delicacy that is
a Nădlac Sausage ... would be ... by a picture

of my sister's friend Kathy below.

That picture says it all !

The 411 despre ... Shaorma

Shaormas are a pretty popular thing here and I am
going to explain what's needed to make one.
Of course for people who've never heard of a Shaorma,
just continue reading and you'll see a work of art unfold.
I have seen other spellings of the word 'Shaorma'.
I am using this version because it is written on the wall
of the building where I go to get one of these babies.

This is where you start ...

Add (in this case) chicken ...
(If a vegetarian ... ignore this step)

Then a few french fries ...

Pop it in the microwave for about 3 minutes ...

Add some onions and cabbage ...

A few tomatoes ...

Then some cucumbers and lettuce ...

Place some yogurt on top ...

Then ketchup ...

A little mayonnaise ...

Then some cheese (they used a yellow cheese) ...

Then just fold it ...

They put it in aluminum foil ...

There you are ... a Shaorma ... it was told
to me that it is of Arabic origin.

As they say in Romanian ... Pofta Buna
or Bon Appetit.
Also, please ... do this at home !!!

So how does one smoke a ham?

This is probably one of those questions that have been eating
at you for so long. Well if it has been bothering you and you
need to know how to smoke a ham, then I will explain it to you,
as it was explained to me.

This morning my next door neighbor was hanging out these
( pig flanks ) hind legs from pigs.

As you can see they are processed and ready to eat. I
asked him what was involved in preparing these flanks and
he told me how it is done.

So I am writing this article to share the knowledge that
I've received.

First, after of course harvesting the flanks, you need to
cover the flanks in salt. But as he explained, not just any
salt, a salt product that is used for preserving. These flanks
are covered for between 5 to 6 weeks. This depends on the
humidity at the time. The more humid the quicker the salt
will be absorbed by the meat. During this 5 to 6 week period
the flanks must be turned over approximately 3 or 4 times
and salt applied as needed. After this time the flanks are
washed off of residual salt then hung up outside to air dry.

The next step is to smoke the flanks and they have a little
smoke room that holds about 20 or 30 pieces depending on
the sizes. They smoke the flanks for 2 or 3 nights, until the
skin gets a golden color ( see in picture below ).

During the day they open the door to the smoke room to
allow ventilation and cool air to enter.

What they use to create the smoke is sawdust, but not
just any sawdust, they want it to be from good smelling
hardwoods. If they used softwoods it would give a bitter
taste to the meat and would actually ruin the whole flank.
I think that he used the sawdust from the 'stejar' tree
( the word for oak in Romanian ).

But the key to smoking is to make a lot of smoke with
little heat. Coolness throughout the process is needed.

Here is a bird's eye view of a flank that is finished. It is
hanging outside in the cool air.

So there you have it, if any of you were staying up nights
due to the fact that you needed to know how to smoke the
flank of a pig ... then ... pleasant dreams.

* Goulash or how they spell it here … gulaş … is
the topic of this article.
It was told to me that it is originally an Hungarian
dish and the following recipe is one from the
Transylvania region.
They started with an approximately 45 liter or about
47.5 quart metal cooking dish. This batch was one of
about of about 30 liters or 31.7 quarts. You can see that
a barrel was altered so that the dish would fit into it.
The wood is placed at the bottom and you can see the
chimney in the picture below.



This batch was made from pork and the best they said
is when gulaş is made from a 50% pork and 50% beef
mixture.
Onions are added in an approximately 20% quantity of
meat. So, for every 10 lbs of meat one would add
2 lbs of onions.
Wine was added ( a homemade red ) and that was
till the desired taste was achieved.
Tomatoes or tomato sauce/juice was again added
until it arrived to the preferred taste.
Chili powder was introduced till the sauce becomes
a nice red color. In picture below.



This is the next door neighbors making this and they
have many chili pepper plants behind their house.
Here is a picture of some harvested peppers that have
began to dry out.



It is dried well and then made into powder.



Salt and …



‘Foi de Dafin’ ( Bay Leaf) are added.



After that kidney meat was added.



Of course one needs to stir it every so often and below
you will be able to see the chef as he stirs the pot.



It is cooked until the sauce thickens and
the meat is tender.



This chef’s preferred gulaş is made from pig’s
ears, kidney and feet.
There are gulaş cooking contests where usually
10 or more pots are cooking at a time. I have to
say that it smells great. I can just imagine that
magnified by 10 times.
The best tasting is from a tripod with a hanging pot
above a wood fire. It is probably because it gets a
‘smoked effect’.

In the end the chef says that the best gulaş comes
from the ability to make it to taste. So there is the
secret.
It can probably be said that there is no fixed recipe
but I hope that this article can give you the basics on
how it is made here in our town. It is up to you to give
it that ... ‘je ne sait quoi’ ... taste.

It is the time of year to make sausages

   It all started with 3 home grown pigs of approximately
200 kg or a little over 440 lbs each. They were huge and
they are supposed to get even bigger than that.

  They worked very hard for 2 days butchering the pigs
and dividing the meat and parts into categories. The
majority of the meat was used to make sausages and
other parts were prepared for storage.

   I have left out the beginning stages of the process and
the first picture shows the guys mixing the ingredients
into about 120 lbs of meat. They wouldn’t tell me the
exact portions of the paprika … etc. They said it was a
secret.
  
   After it is all mixed then it is time to make the
sausages. In the next picture you can see the
machine they use and a sausage in the process
of getting filled. That is a cow intestine that is
being filled.
  
  The next picture shows the finished product,
a proud looking sausage.
  
  It is more than making sausages, it is also a social
event where everyone participates.
  
  Also there is another important ingredient
in the whole process. That is a little of the
homemade moonshine ‘Tuiska’. (I am not sure if I
spelled it correctly).
  
  Everything goes smoothly with 'Tsuika'.