A sausage by any other name
It may not be the prettiest process, but creating Signatures’ own sausage has been a labor of love for Sous Chef Joseph Foster for the Winter 2012 menu.
Sous chef Joseph Foster creates house-made buffalo sausage at Signatures.
Featured on top of the white bean cassoulet accompanying the Lamb Shank dish on the entree menu, the house-made bison sausage has gone through some revamps during the creation of the seasonal menu.
“We did some practice runs, and now we’ve perfected the recipe,” Foster said.
The country game local bison sausage includes a much more delicate creation process than one might imagine. Foster said they start with a base recipe–specific quantities of meat, salt, pork fat and pork shoulder–to begin the sausage. About 25-30% of the base needs to be fat to maintain a moist texture throughout the links. From there, Foster said they add specific spices and ingredients to compliment the game the chefs are looking to showcase through the sausage.
In the hours-long process, Foster said he will create 6.5-7 pounds of sausage, which will equal about 50 six-inch links: a perfect, hearty topping to any bean dish!