Tuesday, December 14, 2010

DIY Chinese Sausages

Remember how I mentioned in this post that I love eating Lap Cheong (Chinese Sausages)? I'm always thinking about them. We've bought them here in Brisbane but so far, I haven't found a store that has it exactly the way I like.

So....we tried to make it. And we thought we'd try to make them healthier so we used lean meat to make them and only put in a little bit of fat. Bad idea as the lack of fat made the sausages very chewy. I was quite disappointed. The upside is that my parents both seem to like it and we did have a lot of fun making them.

Anyway, here are some photos of us making it.

That brass 'pumper' is ancient! It must be at least 30 years old because my mother had it made when I was a child to make these lap cheongs for me. It actually takes more than two people to pump up the sausages. After I took the photo, I went to join the assembly line too.



After pumping them up, we had to hang them up to dry but a million flies came to visit us. This was obviously not a good way to hand them, especially if we needed to do this for a few days.



The solution was an overturned laundry basket with Adrian's old mosquito net draped over it.



For those who are curious about it, its meat marinated overnight with sugar, soy sauce and Chinese rose wine (we had to substitute this with sherry). After pumping them into the sausage casing, you leave them to dry for a few days until they're hard. I'm not sure about the ones that are home made but the store bought ones last for months in the fridge. They are steamed or pan friend and then sliced thinly to serve. Yummy!

5 comments:

NomadicExpat said...

This is certainly a very funny pic of your parents! :-D Way back then, my dad had to run after someone who jumped over the neighbor's fence in Malaysia and took off with their lap cheongs hanging to dry in the front yard! Hahaha!

Leave some for me to taste ok? I still have some in the fridge.. from Malaysia and Vancouver. Yes, you heard it right! Vancouver has very good lap cheong. The Hong Kongers go there to buy their lap cheongs.

Mike said...

If it keeps the old folks busy it's a good thing.

Bilbo said...

Mmmmmmmm...sausage...I'll be right over...

Jean-Luc Picard said...

A good solution to the fly problem!

Amanda said...

NE: Yes, it was very funny watching the both of them trying to pump the sausages. When they finally got it going, they needed a third person, me, to actually guide the uncontrollable sausages that were flinging everywhere!

Mike : Oh yes, I keep them working! :)

Bilbo : Everybody needs to try Chinese sausages with white rice at least once in their lives. Its so simple, yet delicious.

JLP : Thats what we thought, but we still had to be on the lookout because they somehow burrowed in occasionally.