On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 337

Sausage casings were traditionally various parts of the animal digestive tube Today, most “natural” casings are the thin connective-tissue layers of hog or sheep intestine, stripped of their inner lining and outer muscular layers by heat and pressure, partly dried and packed in salt until they’re filled (Beef casings include some muscle.) There are also manufactured sausage containers made from animal collagen, plant cellulose, and paper Cooking Fresh Sausages Since their fragmented interior guarantees a certain kind of tenderness, sausages are often cooked very casually But they benefit from being heated as carefully as other fresh meats Five centuries ago, Platina remarked on the need to cook liver sausage gently (see box, p 169), and said that another sausage was called mortadella “because it is surely more pleasant a little raw than overcooked.” Fresh sausages should be thoroughly cooked to kill microbes, but no hotter than well-done meat, or 160ºF/70ºC Gentle cooking prevents the interior from reaching the boil, at which point the skin will burst and leak moisture and flavor, and which hardens the texture Intentionally piercing the skin will release moisture throughout the cooking, but provides insurance against more disfiguring splitting toward the end Pâtés and Terrines Most medieval European cookbooks offer several recipes for meat pies, in which chopped meat and fat are cooked inside a pastry crust or in a well-greased earthenware pot Over the centuries, French cooks refined this preparation, while in other countries it survived in rustic forms And so England has pasties and patties, France the pâté and the terrine These last two terms are largely ... well-done meat, or 160ºF/70ºC Gentle cooking prevents the interior from reaching the boil, at which point the skin will burst and leak moisture and flavor, and which hardens the texture Intentionally... chopped meat and fat are cooked inside a pastry crust or in a well-greased earthenware pot Over the centuries, French cooks refined this preparation, while in other countries it survived in rustic forms And so England has... this preparation, while in other countries it survived in rustic forms And so England has pasties and patties, France the pâté and the terrine These last two terms are largely