Just to revisit this on the off chance anybody is interested, we've had a couple of goes at sausagemaking since the last post - with mixed results. Everything has been kept ice cold, grinding has been various consistencies and I have used both home made seasoning and also a pre purchased butchers seasoning mix. Effort before the latest one left a nice flavour sausage but the texture was terrible - far, far too dry and crumbley, on blooming they lost some water and on cooking they seemed to lose whatever was left. The mix was also far too 'rusky'. www.weschenfelder.co.uk/home Today I used the seasoning mix purchased from this website, but rang them before starting for advice. The guy on the helpline said I wasn't mixing the meat anywhere near enough after grinding and adding the seasoning so as a result the salt didn't have chance to breakdown the meat and the water wasn't penetrating the fibres or something - so when they were left to bloom or cook the water escaped - result: extremely dry sausage with crumbly texture. What was also making it worse was in an attempt to keep some texture in the final sausage I had mixed it less than the previous time, mistakenly thinking that I was overworking the meat loosing texture - this was making it even worse. Latest attempt today is a much, much better effort. Again have kept everything ice cold to stop the fat emulsifying and mixed for much longer - grinding again after mixing. have tried the sample patty and it seems very tasty and much better texture, more like butchers sausages. They are currently blooming so will try them tomorrow.

Just to revisit this on the off chance anybody is interested, we've had a couple of goes at sausagemaking since the last post - with mixed results. Everything has been kept ice cold, grinding has been various consistencies and I have used both home made seasoning and also a pre purchased butchers seasoning mix. Effort before the latest one left a nice flavour sausage but the texture was terrible - far, far too dry and crumbley, on blooming they lost some water and on cooking they seemed to lose whatever was left. The mix was also far too 'rusky'. www.weschenfelder.co.uk/home Today I used the seasoning mix purchased from this website, but rang them before starting for advice. The guy on the helpline said I wasn't mixing the meat anywhere near enough after grinding and adding the seasoning so as a result the salt didn't have chance to breakdown the meat and the water wasn't penetrating the fibres or something - so when they were left to bloom or cook the water escaped - result: extremely dry sausage with crumbly texture. What was also making it worse was in an attempt to keep some texture in the final sausage I had mixed it less than the previous time, mistakenly thinking that I was overworking the meat loosing texture - this was making it even worse. Latest attempt today is a much, much better effort. Again have kept everything ice cold to stop the fat emulsifying and mixed for much longer - grinding again after mixing. have tried the sample patty and it seems very tasty and much better texture, more like butchers sausages. They are currently blooming so will try them tomorrow.

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