Hmong sausage is a coarsely-ground, country style sausage, usually pork, rich with Southeast Asian flavors like ginger, cilantro, chiles and garlic. This is a beguiling sausage inspired by a similar recipe in Sheng Yang’s Cooking from the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America, which is the first-ever English-language Hmong cookbook; if you’re not familiar with
Charcuterie and Cured Meats
A huge selection of recipes for all forms of charcuterie, ranging from salami to fresh sausages, hams, bacon and other smoked meats and fish, to terrines, pates and even things like scrapple.
Some of my most popular recipes are for Basic Salami, Mexican Chorizo, a wintertime Wild Game Terrine, and Sheboygan Bratwurst for summer grilling.
Garlic Sausage with Basil
There is nothing exotic or unusual about this garlic sausage, except maybe that I am using venison along with the pork. You could use all pork or any combination of similar meats. I like to call this my “A Zone” sausage. It’s a California inside joke, as the state, in its infinite wisdom, makes us
Duck Terrine
Making a duck terrine is not as hard as you might think, although you do need some equipment. Why bother in the first place? Because terrines are the pinnacle of ground meat dishes, and can include all kinds of interesting bits inside. A terrine is essentially a firm pâté with something inside it. Either way, it
How to Smoke Shad
If you don’t know how to debone a shad, and that’s not easy, smoked shad is the best way to eat this most bony of fishes. Shad is little more than a giant herring, and is nearly as oily as a mackerel or a bluefish — and oily fish make the best smoked fish. The
Lardo, Italian Cured Pork Fat
Lardo is one cured product you will almost never see done with wild game; I’m not saying it’s impossible, and I’ve done it, but to make really good lardo — which is cured and dried back fat — you need that fat to be at least an inch thick. This used to be rare even on
Basic Venison Sausage
This is a rich, country-style venison sausage recipe where the dominant spices are ground bay leaves and garlic. These are especially good for grilling, as bay seems to go well with the flavors that come with cooking over an open fire. I like this as a coarse sausage, but you can grind it finer if
Wild Boar Salami
This is a special wild boar salami I developed to celebrate a set of ingredients that all came from within 50 miles of each other: A wild hog I shot in Monterey County, some native sage I found there, and some California bay laurel my neighbor brought me from Santa Cruz. And I also use
Wild Boar Sausage
I have an entire section of this website dedicated to wild game sausages, from wild hogs and other animals, but this wild boar sausage is my baseline. This is a coarse, country-style wild boar sausage recipe that highlights the flavor of the boar. I use only a few herbs for flavoring, which allows the taste