King of Sausage
Episode 198: Persimmons with Kate Ramos
Persimmons are native to Mexico! (Who knew?) (Not us!)
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The California King of Sausage
I grew up eating kobasica, a spicy Serbian sausage made of beef and pork. When I went searching online for the spot we used to order from as kids, I found Len Poli’s work instead.
Poli runs Sonoma Mountain Sausages, where he shares his deep library of handcrafted, self-tested sausage recipes. His website isn’t pretty but I’d argue that pretty doesn’t matter when the content is this original and high-quality. He’s got merguez from Africa, kosher-style beef in his “American-type sausages” section, bangers, bratwurst, and a sausage inspired by Hungary. There’s even a section dedicated to his grandkids’ homemade inventions. (Those that are deemed worthy, at any rate.)
Poli has been operating the website for about 15 years, but at 83, while still sharp, isn't as dedicated to coming up with new sausage recipes. "I'm not in it for notoriety," he told me over the phone.
He does still keep up on the academic side of sausage: scroll through the “making salame” section where Poli discusses traditional fermentation and maturation processes of sausage making.
Poli is already well-known in the sausage enthusiast community. On SmokingMeatForums.com, there’s an entire channel dedicated to discussing his recipes.
While I may never attempt Poli’s recipe for kobasica (maybe sausage making will become my thing in retirement) I can’t help but feel enamored with this guy. He’s the anti-influencer. The only thing he really asks is that if you’ve been inspired by his recipe, tell your people who inspired you. 🌭
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Smith Island’s Frosted Bounty
By Judy Colbert
Water-locked, marshy Smith Island, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, was first inhabited 12,000 years ago by Native Americans who occupied it seasonally. It was charted by colonizers in 1608 and inhabited later that century by English and Welsh settlers. Their lives were as an agrarian community that switched, after the Civil War, to harvesting the bounty of the Bay, particularly hard and soft blue crabs, oysters, and fish.
Smith Island, as the small archipelago is collectively known, sits 12 miles west of Crisfield, Maryland, is accessible only by boat, and is the state’s last inhabited offshore island. A peak of about 900 people populated the three towns, Ewell (the capital), Rhodes Point, and Tylerton, and the in-between areas. Ewell and Rhodes Point are connected by a bridge; Tylerton is on a nearby island. Over the years, hundreds of acres have been lost to erosion and rising sea level. Massive projects are underway to restore 1,900 acres of aquatic vegetation. The population has eroded as well, to somewhere under 200 as of the last census. While the few younger children attend school on the island, the older children have a one-hour ferry commute each way to middle and high school. (They may be the only students who are excused from class because of high winds.) It’s thought that the last generation of Smith Island watermen are already working the water.
In addition to its seafood, Smith Island is also famous for its Smith Island cake. The Maryland state dessert (as of April 24, 2008) stands slightly taller than a standard two-layer cake: a satiny chocolate frosting encases eight, 10, or more pancake-thin layers of yellow cake, each quarter-inch thick layer cooked in its own pan and then assembled with alternating layers of frosting. How the cake and the island became connected has been lost to history. One thought is that it’s related to a European torte that may or may not have come with the original settlers. The cakes have become a home industry, and you can buy them at various places or order online. Variations in cake and frosting flavors, including maple walnut and Old Bay spice, have been introduced over the years. Everyone has a personal twist (beat the frosting, cook the frosting, etc.), and there are some who say they can taste who on the island made each cake. 🍰
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