I finally took the plunge and created a page for Socolofsky Farms on Facebook. If you use Facebook, look us up and become a fan. I'm finding it easier to give quick updates on Facebook than on this blog. I'll try to keep both the blog and Facebook around for a while and then make a decision as to whether both are needed.
Lately we've been continuing the development of sausage and processed meat recipes. Our goal over time is to develop a whole list of sausages that we can make that offer unique flavors, contain no artificial ingredients, and, if cured, use our natural cure ingredients rather than synthetic sodium nitrate. We continue to sample our sausages out to our friends and customers for feedback, and tweak recipes until we achieve what we consider is a fabulous, one-of-a-kind product.
I think we're there on several sausages: medium and mild Italian, breakfast, andouille, tasso ham, Mexican chorizo are examples. I think we also finally settled on a brat recipe yesterday, offering a nice round flavor profile while not letting the spices completely overpower the excellent pork inside. With its natural casing, it also has a nice bite, or knack as the Germans call it. Last night we made what I hope is the final attempt at a German farmers sausage, which we'll be ready to sample today after it's smoked.
Continuing the German theme, I'm still working on fleischkaese, a sort of German meatloaf. We are also developing a pizza fleischkaese, a version of fleischkaese that includes bits of peppers and cheese. Both of these will use our natural cure ingredients, rather than artificial nitrates, which will make them unique products that I believe no one else in the US offers. Another German specialty meat is kassler, a cured and smoked pork loin. Again, the goal with this is to make a fabulous product that uses no artificial nitrates. This one has been hit or miss so far. A few attempts have worked out, but the last batch really did not work out. I made another one last night and will see if I finally nailed it. Our taste testers are first generation German immigrants who own a German restaurant and deli in Colorado Springs, so I think we'll get this right eventually.
