Boudin Blanc with Asparagus and a Poached Egg

This post should be about Mortadella. The Charcutepalooza challenge for the month was emulsified sausages, and I was pretty excited to make Mortadella for the first time. Unfortunately, I waited too long to order Sodium Phosphate from Butcher Packer. Sodium Phosphate is used as a binder in Mortadella and I was going to use it in lieu of the dry milk powder in the Charcuterie recipe. I'm not a big fan of the taste that dry milk powder imparts in things Charcuterie. I'm still waiting on my Butcher Packer order, so the Mortadella experiment will have to wait.

Fortunately, upon the announcement of the emulsified sausage challenge, I whipped up some Boudin Blanc from the recipe in Charcuterie. It was a pretty strait forward process, but the light texture of the sausage made stuffing it a little tricky. The resulting sausage was good but not my favorite. The flavor was good but I prefer a firmer textured sausage.

A note on thus poached egg on top of the asparagus...Michael Ruhlman has posted previously about the Bad Ass egg spoon he sells on Open Sky. I bought a stainless steel Oxo spoon and used my drill press to perforate it. Works like a charm...