Last week I got a copy of Bruce Aidells' sausage book from Amazon and wanted to try his Chicken-Apple sausage recipe for starters. I was up early coring and peeling Granny Smith apples for the dehydrator, big Chicken-Apple sausage plans in the near future. It wasn't long before I was thinking of a friends little crank-handle unit that just pops those babies out perfectly in no time. Of course I'd get one if I thought I was going to be doing this on a regular basis, for a dozen apples a couple of times a year I can just suffer. Now the dehydrator is purring away and sometime this afternoon step one should be in the bag. I noticed yesterday that dried apples were going for right about $8 a pound so it'll be interesting to see what my $3 worth at 69≠ lb turns out to be. Whatever it is it's going to be enough for the ten pound batch of sausage I have in mind.

The fact that the sliced apples have to be soaked for 5-10 minutes in ascorbic acid added a little to the cost. I used about a quart of OJ from the fridge and squeezed in some juice from the backyard lemon tree.

Looks like I might have to wait a week to find a more acceptable price on chicken thighs, but I'll be ready to go when I do. RAY
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.”