Spice Place Blog

We like to have breakfast sausage every once in a while. Yet often the brands at the grocer are laden with fat. We do know of

that is fairly lean, but most store bought sausage is very fatty. It seems the manufacturers often can resist the tendency to want to use up the fat and make something off it. Often you hear that the fat is required for the taste. We haven’t found that to be the case at all, and make our own sausage using store bought ground pork.

Sometimes we find a nice looking pork butt roast, remove as much fat as possible and then grind it up ourselves in our meat grinder. This is a great way of really making sure the butcher isn’t trying to make something off their fat just like the sausage manufacturers do! If you don’t have a meat grind though, you can ask your butcher to trim off the fat before grinding the pork butt, and tell them you’ll pay for the fat on the side. Personally, I like being in control of the grinding and making absolutely sure I can get rid of as much fat as I can. An honest butcher will do as you ask and make you a nice lean ground pork.

We happen to have a sausage stuffer too and sometimes make stuffed breakfast sausage. It’s a lot of work to stuff your own sausage and yet it’s rewarding since you know what’s in the sausage isn’t loaded with fat. This article is about make homemade sausage patties so we’ll reserve the discussion on making sausage links for a future article.

We started our homemade breakfast patty sausage using store bought ground pork. According to the nutrition facts on the pork, the amount of fat per 1/4 pound of ground pork is 22g which is 34% of the daily value. Readers might think that value is high, but that amount is for a 4 ounce serving. The typical fat content of packaged breakfast sausage is 22g per 2 oz serving, so the fat in our homemade pork sausage is about half of the fat in prepared sausage. The proof of this is in the picture above of our sausage cooking in the skillet. Take a look closely and you’ll see that there is no excess fat around the sausage. Keep in mind too, that we’re using store bought ground pork and the butcher just can’t resist the opportunity to get $4.00 a pound for fat. If we ground our own pork, and removed all of the visible fat then we could easily have cut the fat in half again.

What you need to make homemade sausage patties
1 to 1 1/4 pounds lean ground pork
1 tbsp very finely diced onion
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp chervil
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp savory
1 tbsp water

Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Form into 5 to 10 patties depending on your preference. Cook over medium low heat in an ungreased non-stick skillet until browned, turn and brown the other side.

Make sure to notice how little fat is left in the pan when you’re done cooking these patties.

Breakfast time continues here in our Cooking Ideas sections with an Old Fashioned recipe for soft boiled eggs on toast cubes. Nowadays, you don’t hear or see soft boiled eggs around much. But they’re yet another way to add variety to your morning breakfast meal. You can buy special holders to place the soft boiled egg in and eat the cooked eggs right out of the shell along with toasted bread, or you can try this our way.

This is really an easy breakfast to make and it starts by heating a pot of water to boiling. Leave room in the pot to allow for the number of eggs you’re going to add. Allow 2 eggs per serving, and 2 slices of bread per serving. When the water reaches a roaring boil, add the eggs to the pan one at a time by placing the eggs on a tablespoon and lowering the egg into the water. When all of the eggs are in the pan, set a timer for 4 and 1/2 minutes. It won’t matter if any of the shells crack because the eggs will be peeled and chopped up.

While the eggs are cooking, make the toast, lightly butter and cut the toasted bread into about 1 inch cubes. You can cut two slices of bread at a time if you’re using a serrated bread knife. If you’re making more then 2 servings, you should start making the toast while you’re waiting for the water to boil. Place the cubed toast into a cereal sized boil.

When the timer rings, carry the pot of water to the sink, and add cold water from the faucet until the water is cool, then drain the water from the pan, leaving the eggs in the pan. Carefully remove the shells from the eggs, trying not to break the egg white or else the yolk will leak out. If the eggs are too hot to handle, cool them a little by placing the egg on a tablespoon and running cool tap water over the egg for 5 or 10 seconds. The way I peel the eggs is to use a small teaspoon to lightly tap on end of the egg until the shell cracks, and then carefully remove the cracked pieces of shell. If you’re lucky, when you have half of the shell peeled off the egg, the egg will pop out of the other half. If not, hold the half peeled egg over the bowl of toast cubes, and use a small teaspoon (one smaller then the egg shell) to scoop the egg out of the shell onto the toast. Repeat for the other egg, and then chop the eggs into about 3/8″ pieces and mix up the toast so that the yolk is distributed evenly. Sprinkle lightly with salt and serve immediately.

If you’ve never tried baked eggs before you might find the thought a little odd. While it takes a longer to make baked eggs, you’ll find that the texture of the baked eggs is much different then you get from fried eggs, almost like that of hard boiled eggs. It’s easy to make baked eggs, but you’ll need to have a couple if items to do so. First, you will need an oven safe ceramic bowl, such as a ramekin or a small Corning Corelle dish. Second, you’ll need an 12″ x 9″ x 2″ baking pan that you’ll fill halfway with water.

To make baked eggs, place a 12″ x 9″ x 2″ pan on the middle rack of your oven, and fill the pan half way with water. Preheat the oven to 350° F. While the oven is warming, lightly grease a ramekin or other oven safe small dish. You may add a round piece of ham or Canadian bacon to the bottom of the dish if you like. Then break 2 eggs into the ramekin, and place the ramekin into the pan of water. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, until the eggs are set on top. Don’t try to rush the baking. Let them cook slowly in the water until the whites and yolk are firm. Then carefully remove the ramekin from the pan, leaving the pan of hot water on the rack in the oven (DON’T TRY TO CARRY THE PAN OF HOT WATER - LET IT COOL BEFORE REMOVING THE PAN). Immediately sprinkle the top of the eggs with grated white or yellow Cheddar cheese, and serve. Make one ramekin per serving, and you can fit 2 ramekins into the pan of water.

The name scrapple was derived from the the word scraps. Originally scrapple was created to make use of the scraps of hog left over after butchering and certainly it still is. It’s made by boiling neck bones in seasoned water along with other odd parts of the hog for a few hours until the meat falls off of the bones. The meat is chopped up, and then mixed with seasoned cornmeal mush, and baked until firm. Here’s a vintage recipe for scrapple. But nowadays most of us aren’t butchering our own hogs, so we will either buy some scrapple at the grocer, or order it along with breakfast at a restaurant.

The current use of scrapple here in the United States is as a breakfast meat. But in early days of settlement in the US it was also served as the main entry for Sunday and special dinners.

My favorite brand of scrapple is Rapa Brand Scrapple, and is made in the small town of Bridgeville, DE on the Delmarva Peninsula. The Delmarva is a rural agricultural and farming region for the most part and is bordered on the western side by the Chesapeake Bay and on the eastern side by the Atlantic Ocean. Bridgeville is located about dead center of the Delmarva and is in a strategic location for serving the farmers of the region. Rapa has a long history as a brand of scrapple. Ralph and Paul Adams incorporated RAPA Scrapple in 1926. In 1981 the RAPA Scrapple Company was purchased by Jones Dairy Farm, however RAPA Scrapple continues it’s operation in Bridgeville, DE. If you cannot find Rapa Scrapple in your area, the Rapa Scrapple company processes mail orders for scrapple in the winter months. The current price in 2007 is $38.00 for 12 one pound blocks (which works out to $3.17 a pound) plus UPS shipping costs. Scrapple freezes well so don’t worry about what you’d do with so much scrapple at one time. My favorite flavor of Rapa Scrapple is their original. Other flavors produced by Rapa are Beef Scrapple, Scrapple with Bacon, Hot & Spicy Scrapple, and Greensboro Brand. For mail orders from Rapa, you may mix and match any of these varieties to meet the 12 package requirement. Orders must be placed by mail as the company only accepts checks or money orders. Call Rapa 800-338-4727 to get the shipping costs before sending payment to them.

Another brand of scrapple that can be found in my local Maryland grocers is produced by the Kirby and Holloway Provision Company, which is also located in Delaware, in the small town of Harrington, DE just a couple towns and a few miles north of Rapa’s Bridgeville Locations, and is also on US Route 13. I have never had the Kirby and Holloway brand of scrapple so I cannot comment on it’s flavor. I can say I extremely enjoy all of the Kirby and Holloway brand sausages, which are flavorful and unlike many sausages are not loaded with fatty meat. So since they produce such quality breakfast and dinner sausages, I would have to say that the scrapple would be of high quality as well.

Some folks are turned off by thinking about what goes into scrapple, and consider it nasty food. But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a tasty meat dish that makes for change of taste in your breakfast meals. The official ingredient list on the package of Rapa Scrapple lists: Pork Stock, Pork Livers, Pork Fat, Pork Snouts, Corn Meal, Pork Hearts, Wheat Flour, Salt and Spices. It is not a low fat food though and like sausages needs to be eaten in moderation. According to the Nutrition Facts, each serving of scrapple contains 8g or 12% daily value of fat. That’s not lean, but is only a fraction of the fat found in fat dogs (hot dogs) which many labels state the daily value of fat at 38% [and don't even look at the label on a package of bacon if you're concerned about the fat in scrapple].That said, I try to eat right, and so I may eat scrapple only once every 2 to 3 months.

To Cook Scrapple
Scrapple is a little tricky to cook. I’m not sure cook is the right term since it’s already cooked. It’s really being reheated and browned for serving. The basic cooking instructions are:

Slice the scrapple through the wrapper into 3/8″ slices. Fry in a non-stick skillet over medium heat for about 8 to 10 minutes then turn over and brown the other side. That sounds simple, right? Well it really is that simple except for one thing — knowing when to turn the scrapple over.

Scrapple can’t be rushed, nor cooked in the microwave. It needs to be pan fried until the bottom has browned, and turned only once, and cooked until the bottom on the other side has browned too. If you turn the scrapple too early, then the slice with fall apart (it is made with corn meal so will be a rather mushy mess in this case). If you cook scrapple too long, then the outside will be hard, and the inside will be mushy which makes it difficult to eat. Our picture here of the cooked scrapple shows the right level of browning. The outside is brown, and yet still soft enough to cut with a fork.

Serve cooked scrapple as a breakfast meat dish along with eggs and potatoes. Scrapple can also be used as a meat on a scrambled egg sandwich on toasted wheat bread with cheese. Give scrapple a try with your breakfast. There are lots and lots of scrapple made so someone must be eating it. And it’s those of us adventurous enough to get past the ingredient list know how good it tastes.

There is something to be said about enjoying fresh citrus fruit on a cold winter’s morning. When I look outside, and see the bare trees and the leaves all over the ground, the tropical grapefruit sections on the kitchen table brings thoughts of warm summer days, and bring flowers. We slice our grapefruit in half cutting across the fruit perpendicular to the stem end. Then we use a sharp paring knife to cut the grapefruit sections along each side of the membrane the separates the sections. Next, we use the same paring knife to free the sections by cutting the grapefruit along the rind. To serve, place the grapefruit sections in a cereal bowl, sprinkle the tops of the fruit with a little sugar or non-sugar sweetener, and serve with a small spoon. Use the spoon to dig out the grapefruit sections. When all of the sections have been eaten, grab the grapefruit in one hand, and squeeze the remaining juice out, catching in on the spoon. Repeat until no more grapefruit juice can be squeezed out.

1. Cut Grapefruit along each side of membrane.

2. Then cut along each section along rind and sprinkle with sugar.

3. After eating the sections there will be lots of juice left over. Simply squeeze the grapefruit in half, and catch the juice on a spoon to enjoy.

Looking for a change of pace in your breakfast meal? The typical breakfast omelet is made by pouring scrambled eggs into a hot frying pan, cooking the egg until firm, and then adding filling ingredients such as ham, cheese, tomatoes, green pepper and even blanched fresh asparagus. We regularly make omelets this way and have a post in our blog about the exact steps needed to make a good omelet.  We’re always seeking change and variety in our meals, so todays post is about making an omelet in a different way.

By adding the ham or pepper into the eggs when the eggs are first added to the frying pan, you’ll end up with an omelet with the filler ingredients imbedded into the eggs.  If you like, you can think of this method of making an omelet as an inverted omelet. It’s basically taking the same ingredients that you’d add to the omelet after the eggs were firm and mixing them into the eggs.  The only exception is cheese which we sprinkle on top of the omelet just before removing the omelet from the pan.

To make this type of omelet, first chop up what ever you want to add to the omelet.  We like ham, green pepper, red pepper, tomatoes, asparagus, and carrots. Start with a 10″ non-stick skillet that has been lightly greased with olive or canola oil.  Heat the pan to medium heat. Scramble 3 eggs, and pour the eggs into the pan. Immediately add the ham or other items you like to the eggs, distributing them evenly.

 Lower heat to medium low, and cover the pan.  The eggs will cook through faster with the cover.  Take a peek into the pan after 2 minutes to see how the omelet is progressing.  You may need to lower or raise the amount of heat.  When the eggs are done, they’ll be rising from the bottom of the pan.

When the eggs are cooked through, then it’s time to add cheese.  We use shredded Cheddar Cheese often, either white or orange. Other cheeses we’ve used include Mozzerella and Blue Cheese.  Whatever cheese you choose, it should be grated and spread evenly over top of the omelet. For the 10″ skillet we use, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese is plenty.  Once the cheese is on top of the eggs, replace the cover and without the heat of the stove let the cheese melt, about 1 minute.

The picture to the right here is of the finished omelet before adding the cheese as  discussed above. If you look closely, you’ll see how the ham is in the cooked egg mixture which is different from the standard omelet.  This is a great way to serve the same omelet, and yet have it be different.

Here’s a list of foods we use to fill omelets:

• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes
• Ham
• Sausage
• Cheese
• Green Bell Pepper
• Red Bell Pepper
• Cubanelle Pepper
• Asparagus
• Carrot Slices
• Onion
• Salsa
• Potatoes

It is said that variety is the spice of life and variety is something we actively seek in our breakfast meals. Yesterday, we made poached eggs with ham on whole wheat toast topped with white cheddar cheese. This was a nice change of pace for us and we can’t remember the last time we made poached eggs.

For those that are not familiar with poached eggs, they are simply eggs that are cracked open into a frying pan filled about 1″ deep with boiling water. The eggs are cooked in the boiling water until the desired doneness is reached. Some like the yolks runny, and other like their poached eggs with a firm yolk. The poached eggs end up with an egg white with a consistency like you find with hard boiled eggs.

One of the common recipes using poached eggs is Eggs Benedict, which is very simliar with our recipe we will describe here with the exception that Eggs Benedict is served with Hollandaise Sauce. Hollandaise Sauce is a very rich and fat filled sauce made with egg yolks and butter so it’s not something we cook with. The eggs themselves already are loaded with fat so it’s our opinion that there is no reason to add insult to injury and add tons of fat to an egg dish.

When cooking poached eggs, you can speed up the cooking time by covering the pan. But watch the pan closely because as the water boils and mixes with the egg whites it can easily boil over. If you’re standing nearby when that happens, you can prevent a mess by simply lifting the lid from the pan and the boil over will stop immediately. You don’t have to cook the eggs covered and can gently turn the eggs over once in the pan to allow the top to cook through. One last tip for cooking poached eggs is it’s helpful to have a slotted spoon to lift the cooked poached eggs from the water and allow the eggs to drain before serving. There will be some thin egg white surrounding the poached eggs when they’re removed from the pan and these should be discarded.

Poached Eggs with Ham on Whole Wheat Toast Recipe
For each serving you’ll need:
2 eggs
1 slice of luncheon ham
1 slice toasted whole wheat bread
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Begin to make poached eggs by filling a 10 inch skillet with 1 inch water, cover and bring to a boil.
2. Break up to 4 eggs into this pan of water. Cook eggs in the boiling water to your desired yolk doneness. Turn the eggs once; or cook covered and watch pan carefully for boil over.
3. Meanwhile toast whole wheat bread; heat ham in microwave or in another skillet.
4. Butter toast very lightly, place toast on plate, top with a slice of ham.
5. Remove poached eggs from boiling water with a slotted spoon, drain and place 2 eggs on top of each slice of bread.
6. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. If desired, microwave poached eggs for 20 seconds to melt cheese

We are always trying to add variety to our breakfast meals. So this recipe ranks high among our favorite new breakfast dishes. This last weekend we thought we would experiment with McCormick Greek Seasoning with our breakfast. What we came up with was a Mediterranean Tomato and Scrambled Egg dish that was wonderful.

In a 10 inch non-stick skillet, add a 1 tbsp olive oil, and heat. Then add 3/4 cup of fresh chopped tomatoes (or a 3/4 cup of canned diced tomatoes). Add 1 tsp McCormick Greek Seasoning, sprinkling widely over the tomatoes. Add 1/2 tsp chopped garlic. Cook the tomatoes and seasonings for about 10 - 15 minutes over a low heat until most of the water in the tomatoes has evaporated. Chop 1/2 cup ham, and add to skillet. In a medium bowl, scramble 4 or 5 eggs, and add to the skillet. Cook, stirring carefully to mix eggs with tomatoes and ham until eggs are cooked through. Serve with fresh toasted and buttered rolls.

Our favorite all around hot sauce is Tabasco Sauce. It’s great in lots of recipes, Tabasco is a key ingredient in the Buffalo Wing recipe in our last post. Besides it’s use in the Buffalo Wings recipe, it’s a necessity in Gumbo, Chili, and Nacho Cheese recipes. But we try to experiment with Tabasco, and find interesting uses for this pepper sauce.

You can always mix 4 or 5 drops of Tabasco into scrambled eggs. Break 2 eggs into a small bowl, add 4 or 5 drops of Tabasco Sauce, and beat well. Pour into a lightly greased non-stick pan, such as T-Fal, or Circulon, and cook just until the eggs begin to set. Then using a spatula, stir the eggs so that they cook evenly. When cooked through, season with a little salt and black pepper and serve.

Making a Tabasco Seasoned Ham and Cheese Omelet
Today, we made a Ham and Cheese Omelet that is pictured above along with hash brown potatoes. We have a post with complete instructions on how to make an omelet in a prior post, so we won’t go into those details. For our Tabasco Seasoned Omelet, add 1/4 tsp of Tabasco Sauce^* to 3 eggs in a small bowl, and beat well. Add the egg mixture to a heated lightly oiled non-stick pan over medium heat, cover, and cook until set, then top 1/2 side of the omelet with chopped ham, and shredded Cheddar cheese. Cover, to let cheese melt, then flip the plain half on top of the ham and cheese hal.. Cut the omelet in half before serving. Makes 2 servings.

^* You may want to start with 5 drops of Tabasco and adjust to taste to not make this recipe too hot for you and your family.

We enjoy making breakfast on the weekends. It’s a nice break to take the time to cook in the morning instead of rushing to get to work. And so while we always try to vary our diet and to cook different meals, one we have quite often is the good old Ham and Cheese Omelet. I learned to cook this dish when I was in the service and had to help out in the kitchen. For the most part the work in making a ham and cheese omelet is in the preparation. So here is how we make a ham and cheese omelet for two.

Making a Ham and Cheese Omelet
Start with 3 free range chicken eggs^*. Break the eggs by rapping them on the kitchen counter, and drop the egg white and yolk into a small bowl. Repeat for the other two eggs. Some cooks crack eggs on a sharp edge but we feel that increases the chance of getting shell into the eggs. Once you’ve got all 3 eggs in the bowl, use a fork to beat the eggs vigorously for 10 - 15 seconds until the whites blend with the yolks to an almost even yellow color.

Take two slices of luncheon ham such as DAK. If using large ham slices from the deli counter, adjust down to one slice. What you want is to end up with about 1/3 cup of chopped ham. We simply place the ham on a cutting board, and cut long ways across several times about 1/2 inch apart, rotate the cutting board, and cut the short way across at 1/2 inch widths. The end result should be a pile of ham chunks containing about 1/3 cup of ham. We’ve also had wonderful results using leftover dinner ham slices that are about a 1/2 thick. If you’re using that type of ham, then make the cubes of ham about 1/4 inch wide instead. Once we used a dinner ham slice that we had for dinner and had been cooked with pineapple. That made a very nice tasting omelet.

The final ingredient you’ll need for the ham and cheese omelet is Cheddar cheese. You might be tempted to use American processed cheese, but in our opinion, real Cheddar cheese is best. You may use pre-shredded Cheddar cheese, shred it yourself on a grater, or use slices of Cheddar. All will produce a nice omelet since the cheese is going to melt and spread. Using shredded Cheddar helps you somewhat since you can spread it evenly, but sliced Cheddar works fine. For our omelet, you will need to have about 1/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese or 1 1/2 to 2 slices of Cheddar cheese.

Time to cook the omelet
Now that everything is prepared, place about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of olive oil or canola oil in a 9″ non-stick skillet, such as T-Fal. Using the corner of a paper towel, spread the oil around in the pan. Then place the pan over low heat. Beat the eggs another time for about 5 seconds, then add to the pan and make sure the eggs run over the entire bottom of the pan. Cook the eggs over low heat until the top sets up.

We’re going to fold the egg over on top of itself to form a half circle. So add the ham to only one half of the omelet. Which ever side you choose will become the bottom of the omelet. [Note: You're going to be tempted to over fill the omelet with lots of ham and cheese, but resist the temptation. You only need about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of each to make a nice omelet]. Top the ham with the Cheddar cheese, then carefully, using a spatula flip the other half of the omelet over top of the half of the omelet with the ham and cheese on it. You should make sure the omelet is loose from the bottom of the pan first by slipping the spatula under the omelet all the way around. Once you flip the egg over top of the ham and cheese, let the cheese melt about 20 seconds before serving.

We cut the ham and cheese omelet in half to make two servings.

We served the omelet in the picture with Old Bay Hash Brown Potatoes and a glass of orange juice.

^*We always buy free range chicken eggs because we feel it’s inhumane to place 7 chickens in a 7″ x 8″ cage as is done in non-free range chicken farms. Certainly free range eggs cost more than factory produced eggs, but the chickens are living creatures so we choose not to support low cost inhumane farming practices.