Chef Kuettel Makes Sausages, Preps for Smoking

Day 3 of Cochon 555 preparation

The excitement at NYC restaurant Trestle on Tenth continues as Chef Ralf Kuettel prepares more porky dishes for this weekend's Cochon 555 event. What's happening in the kitchen today? Garlic sausage stuffing, pig ear and head prepping, and the beginnings of Chef Kuettel's pork terrine.

Read on for more and be sure to check out days one and two of Chef Kuettel's event preparation!

The ground pork and garlic mixture, pre-sausage.

The mixture is stuffed into a machine to be cranked into the pork intestine casing.

Chef Kuettel explains that while he is using pork intestine, many also use beef or goat, depending on the size of the sausages (goat for very small, beef for very large).

Chef stuffing the sausages.

These sausages are almost like a breakfast sausage in that they are fresh instead of heavily cured.

The sausages are twisted into segments before being set aside to rest for two days. Unlike the blood sausages which needed to be tied, the heavy salt in this meat acts as a binder, so only simple twists are necessary.

Trestle on Tenth's Combioven, which steams, roasts and smokes all in one. This is where the sausages and hams will be put for smoking in the next few days.

A typical ham after being smoked.

In the restaurant, these hams have several uses from charcuterie boards to breakfast dishes. This weekend, the ham will be used for sandwiches with butter and homemade pickles.