Who's Got The Recipe? We Do. (We Hope.)

The church Hubby Tony and I belong to began as a mission more than 150 years ago when the area was very rural. Even though there is nothing rural about the area now the church has still held onto some of the rural traditions, including a fall Sausage Supper and festival.

During COVID the Sausage Supper took a hiatus, and this is the first year since then it is completely back to normal. Planning got a late start with a Sunday morning meeting 10 weeks ago. I was busy with my cooking gig for the clergy, but Tony went and signed us up to oversee the kitchen.

Since then he's taken the lead in the planning and organizing, including attending meetings (always held on Sunday morning), quarterbacking correspondence, and soliciting volunteers so we don't have to do everything ourselves.

The menu for the event hasn't changed in the 30 plus years we've been attending. There's sausage and/or fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, sauerkraut, green beans, applesauce, bread, and homemade donated desserts. (They used to make apple butter, but there was no talk of resurrecting the item this year.)

The sausage links are grilled by a group of volunteers. About 20 years ago the organizers decided to outsource the chicken to a nearby restaurant, and a couple years ago added potatoes and gravy to the list of items to purchase. That meant that this year all we had to quarterback was the sauerkraut and green beans.

Tony heard anecdotal evidence of a master recipe for both dishes, but in the end the green bean 'recipe' was just some notes jotted on a piece of paper. There was nothing written down for the sauerkraut, but in talking with people who had worked in the kitchen in the past Tony came up with ingredients it might have included. I also did a Google search for sauerkraut recipes, then put together a taste test using different combinations of ham base, dehydrated onion, and brown sugar. 

After taking a couple of bites of each one we decided on the winner, then scaled up its quantities for commercial-sized cans.

Four flavor combinations, and a control in the back

We did a similar test with a can of green beans, but since our 'recipe' listed ingredients it was just a matter of coming up with proportions.

The Sausage Supper is this Sunday, with set up on Saturday. Other than last-minute details I think we're pretty much ready. I understand that before the serving line opens we will get a visit from one of the church staff. The person has been in the parish (and to way more Sausage Suppers) than we have, and will taste to see if our dishes taste 'the way they're supposed to'.

Five years ago: Trucking