Contributed by: Chef Jamie Bissonnette
Vietnamese Bologna
Vietnamese Bologna from The New Charcuterie Cookbook by Jamie Bissonnette Page Street Publishing/August 2014
Ingredients:
2 lb Pork shoulder, deboned and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 lb Pork fat back, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
5 lb Ice cubes
5 oz Fish sauce
4 oz Palm sugar, grated
2 T Kosher salt
2 t Garlic powder
1 Red Thai bird chili pepper, seeds removed and minced to a paste
1 T Whole black pepper corns, toasted
1/2 t Cure salt no. 1
1 Banana leaf
Directions:
- First, dice the meat, and throw it in the freezer for an hour. Doesn’t need to be frozen, but should be wicked cold. The ice should be in small pieces, and held in the freezer as well.
- Put 1/4 of the ice into a bowl and set a smaller metal bowl inside it. Set up a meat grinder with the smallest grinding setting and grind the meat and fat together into the metal bowl inside a bowl of ice to keep it cold. Add 1/4 of the ice and repeat the grinding. Add 1/4 of ice and repeat again. Repeat these steps until the ice is gone. On the last grind, add the sugar.
- In a small bowl combine the salt, garlic powder, peppercorns, cure salt, Thai chili, and fish sauce. Stir to combine. Add the salt mix to the meat, and knead like dough until it sticks and all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in. Pan-fry a small amount of the farce and taste for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning in the raw farce as needed.
- Chill the meat in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- When ready, cut banana leaf into 10 inch by 30 inch rectangles. Towards the front of the leaf, place 1/2 of the farce. Roll the farce in the leaf so the leaf overlaps a bit. Wrap again in plastic wrap, tying tightly with twine at both ends and three times throughout the length of the sausage.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Place the sausages in the water, turn the heat off and cover with a dishcloth. After 15 minutes, check the temperature of the sausage. Remove and let cool when it hits 160°F/71°C. Cool in the fridge. When ready, remove plastic wrap and banana leaf. Slice or dice as desired.
