Kool Korners Grocery + Sausage-Making Tidbits

I have a confession.

Yes, I went to Georgia Tech, and, prior to today, I had never been to Kool Korners Grocery for a classic cuban sammich. I hit Eats and Fat Matt's and all the other places that Atlantans are known to frequent. (I did go once to The Varsity, but I admit that I really just like their ice cream. Back then it was $1.05 for a fat scoop. Don't tell me how much it is now.) I had driven by Kool Korners before, but despite the warnings not to discount the place simply because it looks like an abandoned run-down building, I was scared to go there. But today, J and I went there and really had the best cuban in Atlanta. Some people argue that it's not really a classic cuban because it has jalapenos and mayo, (I got mine without jalapenos actually), but it's an awesome sammich for like $4.50 or so, so who cares? Just to recap, the classic cuban has ham, their own made roast pork, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, mayo, and jalapenos on toasted bread.

After gorging ourselves on our cuban sammiches, J and I headed to Star Provisions for our weekly meat purchase. The guys there at the butcher area are so totally cool. I do not know the older guy's name, but Drew (assuming it's not Dru) asked after our venison rack (it was AWESOME), and Charles (the manager, I think) gave us a very thorough amount of information regarding grinding meat, making sausage, and about how to cook our two-bone veal rack and smoked pork chops. I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of smoky foods, so I got these smoked pork chops solely on his recommendation.

Here are some of the tidbits that I learned today:
- You should keep all your meat grinder metal parts in the freezer so that it grinds cleanly Do not freeze the tray though, or else the meat will stick to it and that's bad.
- You should also mostly freeze your meat for a little while so that the fat doesn't get liquidy.
- For sausage, you probably want to grind half as fine and half as medium to get the right texture.
- When making sausage, you want to use fat back. That's the best fat in the pig.
- Don't grind expensive meat. Use something like chuck. You don't even need to add fat because it has enough.
- When grinding sausage, make the cubes just small enough to drop freely through your tube and don't push the meat down because it affects your grinding.
- Hog casings are for big normal sausages like you normally see. Breakfast sausages usually use another casing but I actually didn't care what it was so I've discarded that information from my brain.
- Star Provisions gets shipments of veal bones in twice a week. Beef, pork, and duck bones they always have. You can also buy fat or casings from them, but they don't normally sell them so they have to figure out a price. Charles also said that you can buy fat from the butchers at Publix.

Well! That was a lot of information. I'm off to read the sausage books I got at the library.

But first, one more thing. The nice guy who sells produce from local farmers at Star Provisions is named Joe. J and I went and raved about the broccoli florets and so he is going to save us some for next week! Huzzah! he also recommended some endive to go with our veal and we got a bagful for brussell sprouts. Woot for supporting local farmers!

I've considered joining a CSA, but for some reason, it just never works out. What would I do with 10 lbs of kale or something anyway?