Tuesday, December 1, 2015

How to Make Crepinettes – It’s Insane Not to Use this Membrane

Crepinettes are probably my favorite type of sausage, both to make and eat, and that’s all thanks to caul fat; one of the culinary worlds most interesting and useful ingredients. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most bizarre looking ingredients, and that does scare some people off, which is nothing short of tragic.

The food Gods always reward bravery, and here your prize will be a very moist, and extremely flavorful sausage patty, surrounded by a casing that literally melts into the meat. By the way, things like meatloaf, or even whole roasts, can also benefit greatly by being wrapped up in this magical membrane.

As I recommended in the video, be sure to get coarse ground pork from your butcher. The stuff in the meat case is ground too fine, and also probably too lean. I would say a fat content of about 25 to 30% would be ideal here. And yes, of course other ground meats will work using this same technique.

The same butcher you get the pork from should also be able to hook you up with caul fat, but if for whatever reason they can’t, it’s easy to find online. I think it’s well worth the effort, as anyone who has enjoyed these can attest. I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 4 Crepinettes:
1 1/2 pound coarse ground pork (about 25% fat)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/4 cup chopped pistachio
2 tablespoons diced dried apricot
1 rounded teaspoon very finely sliced fresh sage leaves
1/2 pound caul fat (this will be enough for probably 8 crepinettes, with extra to spare)

8 comments:

Unknown said...

How would this work as a burger?

Chris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Chef John, the search function on Foodwishes is not working

Unknown said...

I want to thank you for teaching my family how to cook in a whole new way. My family is a cooking family, but we always cook Korean food, and they never had homemade roasts till I saw one of your videos. Now we're eating roasts and the garlic anchovy olive oil pasta a lot! Since our culture doesn't really have desserts, BRING ON THE MEAT RECIPES BRA!

Cheers,
Chris

Skyjackie737 said...

Its not working for me either :-{

Michele Cryan said...

CJ, I'd say I'm your biggest fan but your fan base is nuts over you. But as loyal loving fan I just gotta say.....I can't believe your doing a Crepenettes video before doing Rabo Encendido!!!! A girl can't wait forever.

Okay maybe she can. ps. I brought mushroom bruschetta to a Christmas party yesterday and it rocked the food table!

Yianna said...

Hey Chef John!
In Cyprus we do something similar which we call "sheftalia" but in the minced pork we add chopped onions, parsley, salt, pepper. We cook them on a charcoal grill and serve them with pitta bread and either tahini sauce or tzatziki. I think you will love it if you try it.

Unknown said...

My favorite from the sausage family is blonde vink or slavink:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavink