Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book: Recipes from America's Premier Sausage Maker [A Cookbook]

by Denis Kelly and Bruce Aidells

Book Overview

Fans of Aidells sausages know there's a whole world beyond kielbasa, and it starts with Bruce Aidells gourmet sausages. In BRUCE AIDELLS' COMPLETE SAUSAGE BOOK, the king of the links defines each type of sausage, explains its origin, teaches us how to make sausages, and treats us to his favorite recipes for cooking with them. Hundreds of related tips and essays on Aidells' never-ending quest for yet another great sausage round out the collection,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580081592
• ISBN13: 9781580081597
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Source on Fresh Sausage. Buy It!

`Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book' by meat and sausage experts Aidells and Denis Kelly is the third book by Aidells I have reviewed and it easily maintains the consistently high quality I have come to expect from this writing team on the subject of meat. Along with the team of Schlesinger and Willoughby, they seem to be the reigning kings among culinary writers on the subject of meat, more especially on the subject of pork and sausage. For starters, I strongly recommend this book for all people interested in reading about food and in cooking, even if you have no interest in making sausage yourself. In many ways, it is as good as the recently published book `Charcuterie' by the team of culinary journalist Michael Ruhlman and charcuterie expert and chef, Brian Poleyn, if only because Aidells and Kelly are better at staying focused on their primary topic. `Charcuterie' is very good, but if what you really want to know about is sausage, Aidells and Kelly are much better. One thing these two books do for me is to completely reassess my opinion of Emeril Lagasse and his `Pork Fat Rules' mantra. It is so easy to take this as bluster, yet both books in one voice say that pork fat is the cream of the crop when it comes to animal fats. Beef suet is too grainy and chicken fat melts at too low a temperature to be useful for a lot of cooking applications for which pork fat is so good. It is important to note that while this book does touch on the subjects of smoked and cured sausages, its primary subject by far is fresh sausage that you can make at home. Next to the affirmation of pork fat, I was most pleasantly surprised by the great variety of fresh sausage recipes and in the antiquity of so many of these varieties. It is easy to believe that hot and sweet Italian sausage and German bratwurst and Spanish chorizo and Polish Kielbasa have been around a long time and it is not unexpected to find that the Cajun specialties boudin and andouille are pretty old. However, it is surprising to find that ingredients such as apples and dried tomatoes are not modern foodie concoctions, but easily as old as fennel and garlic as sausage ingredients. Another major epiphany I take from this book is the fact that along with pasta, canned tomatoes, olive oil, onions, garlic, parsley, anchovies, eggs, flour, milk and capers, sausage is one of the most versatile items one can have on hand in your pantry, as it can be used as a flavorful addition to a really wide variety of dishes. The only caveat is that fresh sausage must be frozen in order to keep it safe and it's frozen shelf life may not be much more than two months. Even so, this book will give you more than enough good ideas for using that sausage to keep you from forgetting about the stash of charcuterie goodness. The book is divided up by three major topics. The first and shortest is on basic fresh sausage making techniques and the methods for hot and cold smoking fresh sausage. Even if you never use these tech

Insanely great book (if you want to make sausage)!

I really bought this book to make cajun boudin, as well as andouille sausage. My dream was to make gumbo with my own andouille, and darned if it didn't turn out perfect the first time. We've made Chorizo, Linguica, and are looking at a poultry-Thai sausage next!To truly get the most out of this book you need the following:1) a meat grinder (I use my Kitchen-Aid with an attachment2) a sausage filling attachment for your meat grinder (not required, if you're just going to make patties!) 3) some medium hog casings (again, not required, if you're just going to make patties!) 4) a smoker (not required, if you're not making smoked sausages, of course!)However! The second half of the book is recipes USING sausage, so you could just buy the sausage at the market and enjoy the recipes (but what's the fun in that?)This is a fantastic book, highly recommended, with interesting background essays on several of the sausage varieties. The sidebar on "Hot Boudin and Cold Beer" is right on the money.

Want to make sausage? Buy this book!

While visiting from Indiana, my brother told me about making sausage. He bought a grinder and a book. Said I would no longer wonder about the fancy sausages I got in Portland. He convinced me. I bought an attachment for my Kitchen Aid, picked up Bruce Aidell's book and that was that! I bought some casings from the local whole foods store and some meat, spices and stuffing goodies and started making the best sausages I have ever eaten! This book has all the recipes and they are wonderful! Easy to follow. No pictures, but it is a book about grinding and stuffing. Who needs pictures? The book is great! Want to make your own sausages? Buy this book. Adds a new dimension to cooking...or grilling!

absolute keeper

Okay, I bought this book, went out to get the food grinder and sausage stuffer attachment for my KitchenAid. I read and scanned the book over and over again. I finally decided to try the fresh Italian sausage and the chicken and apple recipe. I kept stalling and putting it off..well finally I got so sick of postponing that I actually got out of bed at 2 a.m. in the morning. Rolled up my sleeves and went right into it. From grinding, to mixing, to clean up took me at least 4 hours. You have to remember that this is the first time I ever attempted something this crazy. I was petrified. What did I get myself into? But know what... the sausages were incredible. I practically ate the first batch of Italian sausage all of 3.5 lbs by myself. I had the hardest time sharing it with my kids who stared at me drooling with those puppy eyes begging to have a taste of what Mama was eating. And when I have to use these sausages for a pasta dish for some visiting friends, I actually regretted inviting them over since I wanted to eat the sausages myself. That bad..and that good!!Sorry for the long story..but anyways here's the lesson for me. I won't know till I try and that's all it took me. Once. So for you who are intimidated with the whole thing but who loves to eat like me it's all worth it. Here's an excellent book to start your journey to becoming a sausage maker. And you will see the great difference between a store bought and something you made yourself. Another book I found useful is Home Sausage Making by Charles something. Have an incredible time eating!!!

Easy recipes and colorful descriptions

These sausage recipes gather dishes from across the country, providing a treatise on different kinds of sausages and regional variations. Recipes blend with Aidell's travels across America in search of great sausages, providing a wide range of sausages and ethnic insights. No color photos, but the easy recipes and colorful descriptions don't need them.