Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2012, Síða 30

30
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2012
Food | DIY
We were going to use this space to make
some sort of sausage joke. Aren't you glad
we didn't?
Where can you find good uncooked
sausages in Iceland? Well, the Pol-
ish sausage place Pylsumeistarinn
(“The Sausage Master”) at Hrís-
teigur 47 by Laugalækur is pretty
good. However, if you want some-
thing outside of their range, or live
too far away, or have a small food
budget, then you might be better off
making your own.
Casings
I managed to buy a few metres worth
of casings from a grim-faced sausage
master at Pylsumeistarinn, but it
seems that Nokk is the place to go. Lo-
cated at Kjalarvogur 5, it’s not far from
Pylsumeistarinn, and judging by its
website (nokk.is), it should be able to
sort you out for all your casing needs.
You can find collagen sausage casings,
plastic casings and fibrous casings as
well as phosphate, starch, fibre, spices
and wood chips for smoking. But be
aware that this is a wholesaler so some
of these things might only be available
in bulk.
We wished to keep things simple
this time around so we took our basic
mid-sized collagen casing (non-vege-
tarian) and sought out a butcher to stuff
it with animal bits.
Meats and stuff
We had a meat-grinder, but grinding
your own meat with a small grinder
on a domestic scale is time-consuming
and tends to give uneven results. So we
needed someone that would have the
meat we needed and could mince it up
for us.
This proved to be much harder than
we thought. We started out with our
smaller neighbourhood butchers. Went
to both locations of Kjöthöllin (Háale-
itisbraut 58 and Skipholt 70), but while
they had some great cuts, they couldn't
grind it up for us that time.
Fortunately, however, we stumbled
on the best damn butcher boy in the
city at the Nóatún shop in Nóatún. He
loaded us up with 2 kilos of some ex-
cellent lamb fillet trimmings and pork
belly, ground up and priced at a very
reasonable 2200 ISK (or thereabouts).
The fat ratio must have been 35–40%,
which in retrospect was too high; aim-
ing for 25–30% would be better.
The making of
So we soaked our casings and made our
way up to Kópavogur with a case of beer
and fresh sage and rosemary because
our self-proclaimed South African sau-
sage professor was hiding a Kitchen
Aid stand mixer with a sausage exten-
sion up in them suburban hills.
After a bit of trial and error we fig-
ured how to grease up the sausage ex-
tension and scrunch the casings up on
the metal spout. We kept it on the sec-
ond or third gear (when the Kitchen Aid
is being used for making cakes, those
are called "settings"). We added ground
Szechuan pepper and coriander along
with the herbs. Then it turns out the
stomper was missing so we took turns
mashing the meat down the chute with
a ketchup bottle, that is until the cap
came f lying off and it spurted a jet of
ketchup into the last leg of the second
link.
No dainty links were attempted—
only two massive coils of meat tubes
were made. It was all going on the grill
anyway.
The cooking of
The first meat coil split like a pair of
bicycle shorts on a sumo wrestler. The
coals were too hot, stacked too high and
we should have looked out for f lames.
The second turned out perfect but re-
quired constant vigilance and leaving
the lid off (which meant fighting the
neighbourhood cats off, but that's what
water hoses are for). A few f lame-ups
were averted with cheap lager and most
of the six eyebrows involved survived
unscathed.
The sausages were served with
a light potato salad and horseradish
sauce and I swear we could have kept
eating that the whole night. You won't
regret trying your hand at making your
own fresh sausages; it's worth the trou-
ble.
A Banger In The Mouth Is Worth Two In The
Bush Three men set out on a journey of making
sausage in Iceland
CRAZY ALBUMS GALORE!
Icelandic bands and musicians keep pumping out albums at an alarming
rate—fortunately most of them are
pretty good or at least worth a listen
or two. This month
sees a varied bunch
of new releases
from acts that
span the musical
spectrum. Soul-
flavoured local faves
Moses Hightower
follow up their 2010 release with their
sophomore effort, ‘Önnur Mósebók,’
which is already getting airplay on the
strengths of first single “Stutt skref.”
Everyone’s favourite noise and chaos
merchants Ghostigital have finally
released their long-awaited ‘division
of culture & tourism’ LP, which shows
off Curver and councilman Einar Örn
in great form, joined by such notable
artists as Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner,
Stilluppsteypa, Dälek’s Sensational
and the mighty David Byrne. Look for a
review + interview
in our next issue.
Sudden Weather
Change are
also back with
a scorcher—a
whole four years
after the release
of their début LP
entitled ‘Sculpture’ (a fitting name for
a band of art-school graduates), the
album was recorded by Ben Frost and
Þorbjörn Kolbrúnarson and is already
receiving rave reviews—including in
this very magazine you are reading
right now. Turn some pages and find
out for yourself! Lastly, super-active
on-line label Ching Ching Bling Bling
keeps releasing digital files for the
masses. Their two latest ones are
by Rafsteinn (with an album called
‘Rebirth’) and Orrustubjarki (with
‘New Clear Beginning’) respectively.
Check these releases and more at www.
chingchingblingbling.bandcamp.com
HELLO, DOLLY!
So, everyone’s apparently
raving about this
new place, Dolly,
that just opened
in that house
where Dubliner
used to be (right
by Ingólfstorg). It is reportedly a nice
ol’ hipster bar, filled with joy, love and
oozing Fernet Branca out of every
orifice (™ HVH). We’ve been too busy
working and stuff to check it out, but
we do know that it is manned by expert
staff, headed by Reykjavík nightlife
legend Óli Hjörtur and reportedly
pumps sweet tunes from the in-house
stereo. Is this the place we’ve all been
looking for? Let’s hope so!
August
WHAT THE EFF IS
GOING ON???
Words
Ragnar Egilsson
Photos
Ragnar Egilsson
“
We had a meat-grinder,
but grinding your own
meat with a small
grinder on a domestic
scale is time-consuming
and tends to give uneven
results. „