Pork Shank, Homemade Sausages, and hopefully some decent pictures.

Foghorn

All meat courtesy of our latest pig from our farming efforts butchering efforts described previously by @20stone, with assists from @caliking, @The Cen-Tex Smoker, and @pigfisher.

Thank you guys for your hard work and for sending me my share even though I was unable to participate in the last butchering episode.

My son and I are home together tonight without my daughter or loving bride so we figured we'd make it a guys night with some of our pig products.  

We rubbed the pork shank with Renaissance BBQ Rub which was a gift from my brother-in-law.  It is outstanding.  I had found some recipes for pork shank that suggested braising but we were feeling lazy so we just slow cooked it like a pork butt.  We won't do that again as there wasn't enough fat to make that work.  The flavor was good but the meat dried out - like a select brisket.

The sausages include Merguez Lamb sausage (top right package), Texas beef sausage, and Tejas (I honestly don't know what was put into these) - but I know that all the fat that went into these sausages was from our last pig.  

The lamb was outstanding.  The other sausages are great as well.  The Tejas tastes slightly sweet.  I know that we've been cutting back on salt as we make more sausages, but the Tejas might be able to stand a little more.  

Overall, a great night with my son.  He chose the beer.  It's pretty good if you like sours that are somewhat sweet as he does.  

StillH2OEgger

That looks awesome. A fun and delicious day, I'm sure.

Foghorn

Thanks @StillH2OEgger.  Definitely fun and delicious.

blind99

Killer plate! Your son has a heck of a palate for beer eh?

JohnInCarolina

That all looks outstanding.  

SciAggie

I would be happy with any of that. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Gotta braise the shanks. So much gelatin in there it makes the braise liquid super gooey and good. 

Foghorn

Thanks @blind99. As for my son’s beer palate, I think it’s fairly limited to liking beers that don’t really taste like beer at this point. He’s had a pretty warped exposure through me and my love of Belgian beers and he may never recover from that. 

Thanks @SciAggie, @JohnInCarolina, and @The Cen-Tex Smoker.

thetrim

yum

Foghorn

Thanks @thetrim.

lkapigian

Very Nice, great looking sausage!

Foghorn

Thank you @Ikapigian.  You would know the effort and care that go into making good sausage.  As previously mentioned, the rest of our pig gang get the credit for the sausage-making on this round.  And fortunately I had my son around so I didn't overcook them - when I am prone to do when I'm left unattended.  

20stone

Foghorn said:

All meat courtesy of our latest pig from our farming efforts butchering efforts described previously by @20stone, with assists from @caliking, @The Cen-Tex Smoker, and @pigfisher.

Thank you guys for your hard work and for sending me my share even though I was unable to participate in the last butchering episode.
...

The sausages include Merguez Lamb sausage (top right package), Texas beef sausage, and Tejas (I honestly don't know what was put into these) - but I know that all the fat that went into these sausages was from our last pig.  

The lamb was outstanding.  The other sausages are great as well.  The Tejas tastes slightly sweet.  I know that we've been cutting back on salt as we make more sausages, but the Tejas might be able to stand a little more.  

We had fund doing it, and am glad you had fun cooking and eating it.

Tejas - pork and beef, with pork fat
TX Beef - beef and pork fat
Merguez - lamb and pork fat

Thanks for the feedback on the salt.  I am beginning to think we have a mixing issue, as we thought some of our last batch was salty as well.

As for the merguez, I think that was the best we made, and was the product of an impulse lamb purchase to soak up some of our surplus back fat from Meenie.  Funny thing is, after looking at it, I realized that the impulse recipe implementation ended up with way too little paprika.  It didn't really mess with the flavor, but doesn't have the traditional red color of merguez.

It looks like you have been cooking up a storm.  Keep at it!  We've got more pigs to eat.

Foghorn

Thanks @20stone.

I just realized that I mistyped on the original post as the Merguez lamb sausage is obviously on the TOP LEFT - not the top right of the picture with the packaged meats.

I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the fresh sausages we make - as opposed to the smoked ones.  But that may just be me so that shouldn't necessarily drive the selection/production process going forward if that's not the consensus.

caliking

You're on a roll! Nice father and son time. 

 I was about to break out some of the lamb sausage yesterday, but was too lazy to light up a grill. I'm looking forward to it though, because the aroma of the spices in the mix was fabulous. 

20stone

Foghorn said:

I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the fresh sausages we make - as opposed to the smoked ones.  But that may just be me so that shouldn't necessarily drive the selection/production process going forward if that's not the consensus.

I agree, but like some people's smoked sausages, which leads me to believe we have some work to do on our technique. 

I think the merguez is the best we've made so far, but tend to like it all.

Foghorn

caliking said:

You're on a roll! Nice father and son time. 

 I was about to break out some of the lamb sausage yesterday, but was too lazy to light up a grill. I'm looking forward to it though, because the aroma of the spices in the mix was fabulous. 

Thanks @caliking.  Get off your lazy gluteus and cook some stuff.  We have to make room in our freezers for the next batch.

@20stone, I thought the beef with a hint of jalapeno that we made last summer was phenomenal - and the brats - but I haven't compared them directly to the Merguez.  

With that said, I'm splitting hairs as they are all really good.