From the discussion of Cornish Pasties, the other food that comes to mind, for me, is potato sausage. Just as Upper Peninsula pasties were a regional favorite in the UP of Michigan, so was potato sausage, often known as Swedish Potato Sausage. My Dad always made the potato sausage, grinding the meats and other ingredients himself, and stuffing it into the casing. As I remember it, the casing would attach to the hand grinder and go directly into the casing after being ground. Yet, one of the ingredients - potatoes - always appeared to have been finely diced, so I'm not sure how that worked.
There are several kinds of sausage using potatoes, I think, but the Swedish potato sausage I am familiar with would have a pale color before it was cooked and, while most of my relatives made potato sausage, I think most of them made it pretty much the same way, and the differences came in how they were cooked before eating. Ours were generally boiled, while my cousin, Calvin's parents fried it, and other people broiled it. Depending on how it was cooked, it would taste very differently, but it was good whether boiled, fried, or broiled.
I don't remember everything that went into it but the meats used would depend on what was available, I think. Most commonly, Dad used a mixture of pork and venison, although beef was sometimes used in place of the venison. It included potatoes, of course, as well as onion, perhaps some rutabagas, and several types of spices. Like pasties, when I was a kid, potato sausage wasn't something you bought at the store; people made potato sausage at home.
I ordered some from a place in the UP a few years ago and, while it looked and even smelled like the potato sausage I remembered, it tasted horrible, and I ended up composting it. Once cut or bit into, it no longer even looked like it, as all of the ingredients were so finely ground as to be nearly mashed, or like they were prepared in a blender, and that was wrong, but mostly it was the taste that was wrong, very wrong,
There are several kinds of sausage using potatoes, I think, but the Swedish potato sausage I am familiar with would have a pale color before it was cooked and, while most of my relatives made potato sausage, I think most of them made it pretty much the same way, and the differences came in how they were cooked before eating. Ours were generally boiled, while my cousin, Calvin's parents fried it, and other people broiled it. Depending on how it was cooked, it would taste very differently, but it was good whether boiled, fried, or broiled.
I don't remember everything that went into it but the meats used would depend on what was available, I think. Most commonly, Dad used a mixture of pork and venison, although beef was sometimes used in place of the venison. It included potatoes, of course, as well as onion, perhaps some rutabagas, and several types of spices. Like pasties, when I was a kid, potato sausage wasn't something you bought at the store; people made potato sausage at home.
I ordered some from a place in the UP a few years ago and, while it looked and even smelled like the potato sausage I remembered, it tasted horrible, and I ended up composting it. Once cut or bit into, it no longer even looked like it, as all of the ingredients were so finely ground as to be nearly mashed, or like they were prepared in a blender, and that was wrong, but mostly it was the taste that was wrong, very wrong,
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