2nd Sausage making attempt this weekend, nice improvement but not quite there yet.

Changed a few things, used pork shoulder only. Minced after a short time in freezer once on co plate to start with then mixed in rusk and seasoning with ice cold water. Put back in freezer to keep the temperature down and minced again half on co plate and half on finer plate, then chilled it again and stuffed into collagen skins after frying a bit of the mix. Texture was much better mincing this way and as advised, keeping temperature down helped with stopping the fat emulsifying.

Left them overnight and tried them now after brushing with olive oil , skins shrank and burst during cooking but the taste and texture was pretty good but a little too dry.

Next time I will go back to pork trim as I think the fat content of the shoulder was too low. Will also go back to hog casings, even though the collagen was much easier to use they split during cooking. 3rd time lucky hopefully.

Went boat fising on Saturday for the first time since November and managed to bag some nice, prime Summer cod (63 between us).



If only cod fishing was like this all the time, we were a lot closer to the French coast than the English coasthttps://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10463869_801194639899569_6766883941502417585_n.jpg" >

I've got four fillets currently at the smokers (cost 40p per lb), two are in the fridge salting down for carpaccio of salt cod with capers, chillies and preserved lemon. This is what they look like nowhttps://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10354626_739027906170327_3130553666808152152_n.jpg" >

The rest of them have all been vacuum sealed and frozen down.

I roasted four of the heads this morning in shallots, garlic and chillies

Beforehttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10415679_739028086170309_7826939761037151018_n.jpg" >

Afterhttps://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10420246_739217706151347_5123710023076356873_n.jpg" >

What was lefthttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10388095_739251396147978_6096208613809661598_n.jpg" >

Last weekend I had Aliccia over to stay and she loves her fish, so I cooked a couple of turbot fillets (each weighing over 450g and I've still got another two just like 'em off the same fish), steamed in white wine with spring onions, cherry plum tomatoes, lime zest and dill and served them with pan-seared Manx Bay king scallopshttps://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10311717_735280553211729_2249962796731036909_n.jpg" >

Hang on, it was you who said they wouldn't eat cod not that long ago...

I won't eat cod bought from anywhere, I only eat cod I've caught myself. That way I know it is in prime condition and isn't full of nematodes.

I'm not interested in big (over 20lb) cod either 6-15lb is the prime size for eating. The ones we caught the other day were stuffed full of brittle starfish. I prefer haddock to cod but I've only ever caught one down this way in the last 10 years. I needed to replenish the freezers and would rather have been fishing for flatties or bream but the turbot and brill are hard to find at the moment

Good old Morrisons