Salsiccia

 

This morning I went to the macelleria (butcher shop) just so I could have something to write about.  Meats are popular in the Catania region.  You can walk down the main street here in town and pass by 5 shops within less than half a mile. They are all good and may vary as to what they specialize in.  One is the Macelleria Equine that specializes in horse meat.  We did have a good meal of horse and ass awhile ago.  Father Giuseppe, who works in Catania, returned one night with horse meet and donkey.  The horse meat was in the form of meatballs and they were excellent.  The donkey was in thin fillets that were grilled.  All was good.  I know, this can open up a whole discussion about whether it's right to eat horse and donkey.  But, if you eat cows, pigs and chickens, what's the difference.

Anyway, I love good sausage, and both sides of my Italian families made their own sausage.  The Calabrian (Pingitore's) and the Sicilian (Clemente's) had very similar recipes.  Pretty simple, just ground pork butt, fennel seed, red pepper and salt.  I used to find reasonably good sausage that was similar in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but recently, I haven't found any that I like.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that we have now made our own a few times, and now nothing seems to compare.  Thanks to Douglas Schubert, who can be a pretty good butcher/sausage maker himself, we now have been able to make a pretty good sausage for ourselves,  Doug, who is a hunter, has a great set up at his place where meat can be ground, and pressed out into casings for whatever recipe you have for sausage.  He has let us use his facilities, and assists in the making of our family sausage recipes.  The result has been great.  (With the added bonus of then relaxing at Doug's bar for some excellent bourbon.)

Our first stop at a macelleria here in town was to get some good pork chops.  We happened to be behind a man who seemed to be taking forever.  There was only one butcher, and he was busy tending to this guy. We soon figured out the guy had ordered sausage to his specifications, and the butcher was busy preparing it as the guy waited.  We watched as the butcher hacked off chunks of pork, ran it through the grinder, put together the spices to add, and then stuffed it into the casings and tied it off.  Customers started backing up, but no one seemed to be impatient with this process as it was obviously what was expected. We saw several links of sausage hanging behind the counter, that were waiting to be picked up by other customers.  We learned from our host here, that you can go into any butcher and have them prepare sausage for you based on your recipe.  Also, for the pork chops, they grab the rack of pork and then carve off the number of chops you want.  I decided I had to give the sausage a try.

I asked Vincenzo to recommend a butcher, as there are several to choose from. For sausage, he recommended the one that is about 2 blocks from our front door.  I walked in there this morning all set to make my special order for my grandpa's sausage recipe.  I was behind one man and his young daughter.  They ordered a ton of meat, veal, chicken, beef, all very thin sliced.  I was next, and told the woman butcher that I wanted sausage.  This was all in Italian, and while not very complex, I was happy I was able to communicate everything clearly.  I told her my Sicilian grandpa had a simple sausage recipe, and I started listing the ingredients,  She immediately understood and filled in the rest of the ingredients before I was finished.  I asked if I should wait for the sausage or return later.  She didn't at first understand my question, but then did and said to stay as it would only be "cinque minuti." I did let the woman who walked in behind me fill her small order, before the butcher popped into the back room to make my sausage.  

As I was waiting, the guy with his young daughter was also still hanging out, I think waiting on the rest of his order.  As an aside, I always get strange looks from people here.  Everywhere I go, the people I meet stare at me with puzzled looks trying to figure out why this guy who mangles the Italian language looks like a native.  They either ask me or Vincenzo, or whatever local I am with, why I have such a classic Sicilian face when I'm obviously not from here.  Easy explanation is that all four of my grandparents and other ancestors, came from within about a 130 mile radius of this place.  I think the other customer was having similar thoughts when in walked the neighbor lady, Giovanna, who recognized me and we launched into a conversation as to what I was doing there, and how our Christmas was.  She had come in to talk to her friend the butcher.  Now I was being treated like a local, with the butcher talking to me and the other customer greeting me with new eyes as a local as I walked out with my purchase.  Nothing very impressive, but it is the simple things here that give me pleasure. 

We spent a beautiful afternoon, seaside at Aci Castello, exploring a Norman castle followed by a nice stroll along the water front in 60 degree weather. We stopped at a local bar that was pretty busy for a Monday evening, I had a refreshing Campari, and Karen had a Prosecco, before we set out for home.  We came back to pick up some salad, vegetables and fresh bread to go with our sausage.  All was very good.  A perfect way to unwind following the Christmas holiday.