#22 and #81

Yes, it's a double whammy.

Adding spices

Exhibit A: Vegan Sausage
I've been thinking of making some vegan sausage for a while now.  Here's how I figure it... I try not to eat things that I can't pronounce/don't know how to make, and I literally have no idea how they make Tofurkey... So I might as well learn right? Right. Besides, I am generally unhappy with the quality of veggie italian sausage, it tends to lack the spice of their meat counterparts. What better excuse to try to create my own version.

As it turns out, vegan sausage is really not that hard to make (in theory), but I still called on my dad roommate for some help. We decided to create an amalgamation of Vegan Dad's and Julie Hasson's recipes, using Vegan Dad's basic technique and Julie's spices, with a few alterations (some by choice, some by necessity). First of all, we decided to use cannellini bead instead of pintos, since we were trying to make Italian sausages it only seemed right to use Italian beans. We also decided to use and entire can of said beans (essentially doubling Vegan Dad's recipes, we couldn't justify only using a half can of beans in the recipes). At this point the wheels started to fall off the wagon... the recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of vital wheat gluten flour, we only had about a cup and a half.... My thoughts at the time: "son of a...."
Never fear, we had substitutes on hand. After adding some tapioca flour and bread crumbs, wrapping in foil or parchment, steaming for about 40 minutes, and chilling in the fridge, here's what they looked like.

Snausages

I know what you're thinking... Looks pretty good. (You're probably not thinking this, but let's just pretend shall we.)

In fact, the texture left something to be desired. And by "something to be desired" I mean, "was pretty crappy." But the flavor was not half bad. And, of course, by "not half bad" I mean "was palatable". Fortunately, we managed to disguise them in sandwiches with sauteed onions, fennel, mushrooms, garlic and marinara. The results were not too shabby.

The Final Product

Suffice it to say that this will not be my last attempt at sausage. I think next time I'll add a more appropriate amount of vital wheat gluten flour, cut the tapioca flour, and probably cook them for longer. I'll let you know how the next attempt goes, or perhaps not, if they turn out badly.

Exhibit B: Extra Special Bitter

"Mmmmm....Beer"- Homer Simpson

There you have it. A homemade ESB (which, ironically enough, is really not very bitter at all. It's something of a misnomer). In reality this project was started weeks ago, with a little lot of help from my dad. The process of brewing is really not that hard (again, in theory), but it can be was sort of a pain in the ass. Nevertheless, after a few weeks of patient waiting, here is the fruit of our labors. And its pretty damn good, if I do say so myself (in fact, I'm drinking one as I type this sentence.... yes, I can type one-handed). As with the sausage, this will not be the last time that I cross off this list item in the next 944 days, I hope to improve my skills (and start brewing solo) by the end of this endeavor. 

Cheers,

-N