sausage making class // hudson meats

23 Dec 2013

Last month I went to a sausage making lesson for The Modern Con. Have I even mentioned that I write occasional pieces it? Oh well, here goes! It was originally published here.

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2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Going to a sausage masterclass there’s quite a lot of obvious jokes to be made, but let’s just ignore them all okay? (PENIS! Okay, sorry, that’s out of the way now.)

Hudson Meats opened in Surrey Hills in 2007 and it has finally made its way to Melbourne! Located in Tok H Centre on Toorak Rd, you can buy anything from dry aged beef, pork from Byron Bay, Barossa chickens and Spanish jamón, to pickles from Brooklyn and my favourite carême pastry.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Micah Hewitt, Manager and Butcher, was our fearless leader for our sausage masterclass and he showed us how to make a traditional pork and fennel sausage before we attempted to make our own.

Hewitt opened with “fat is flavour!” True that. For sausages, it’s good to use meat that’s 20% fat to 80% meat. Pork is great to use because its fat melts at a higher temperature than beef for example, so it doesn’t all drip out of the sausage when it’s cooking.

Step 1. Take 1.5 kg of pork and add salt.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Step 2. Add whatever you like! We had (left to right) pepper, garlic, fennel, parsley and chilli flakes.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Step 3. Start mixing together with your hands until the mixture starts to stick together. You can feel the texture change and it starts sticking to your fingers.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Step 4. Feed the pig’s intestine (I know, it was a bit gross and felt really slimy but at least it’s a la naturale!) onto the nozzle of the sausage maker.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Step 5. Get a friend to put pressure on the mince going in the top and start to crank the handle slowly and gently guide the sausage as it comes out. (Really trying to refrain from making some truly bad puns.) The casing should be full of mince, but still have enough room so you can twist them into smaller sausages later without the casing bursting.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

Step 6. Tie off the casing and TA DAH! Sausage. These is actually the ones I made. The guys offered me a job until I found out how early I’d have to wake up in the morning.

2013_11_12 Sausage Masterclass, Hudson Meats

I had a lot of dinners with sausages and they tasted darn good. So much more flavour than a regular store bought sausage. I’ve already visited Hudson Meats before and highly recommend them for any kind of delicious food stuffs. The guys are all really friendly and if you wander in without knowing what you want for dinner like I did, they’ll definitely be able to help you out.

Visit Hudson Meats at Tok H Centre, 459 Toorak Road, Toorak, 3142.

talk to the animals // werribee open range zoo

17 Nov 2013

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

A few weeks ago some friends came to visit and we decided to go to the Werribee Open Range Zoo to see the animals! So here's just some cute pics of some darned cute animals.

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

2013_10_05 Werribee Open Range Zoo

ladies who lunch // ledbury

14 Nov 2013

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

I've got a few more posts to make from, erm, last year (whoops!) and here's one of my favourites. Everyone who knows me knows I love my food and as a special treat to myself before I left London (literally the day before I left), I went to The Ledbury for a long lunch. It's only the 14th best restaurant in the world doncha know. Now... Let me relive the best meal of my life (not kidding - every dish was amazing).

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Goats curd on squid ink cracker

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Cheese and bacon brioche - this was mind blowingly amazing and I had to stop myself from eating all of the bread every time they brought the bread tray around.

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Amuse Bouche - quail egg on mousse (was it mushroom?)

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Ceviche of hand dived scallops with radishes, seaweed and herb oil and frozen horseradish

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Flame grilled mackerel with avocado, celtic mustard and shiso - one of my favourites!!

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Hampshire buffalo milk curd with saint-nectaire, Iberico ham and a broth of grilled onions


2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury


Fillet of brill with sweetcorn, razor clams and ginger - this was another favourite!


2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Breast of quail with walnuts, cepes and figs

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Short rib of ruby red beef (cooked for 8 hours) with baked celeriac, bone marrow and grated english wasabi

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Pre-dessert - somewhat like a mandarin Eton Mess. Mandarin granita and ice cream and meringue yum yum yum.

2012_09_25 Lunch @ Ledbury

Mille-feuille of mango with kaffir lime ice cream.

being an extra // british india

11 Nov 2013

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

Last month I was an extra on British India's latest video clip for Blinded. While one without much experience would think it's quite glamourous, in actuality it's quite exhausting! We were required to dance vigorously to the entirety of the song and then do a lot of screaming. The storyline was a band playing at a prom and then they start going crazy, spit lots of blood and the real British India come out of their bodies. The band wanted to create a really C-grade horror video and I think it turned out really awesome!

So while we started the day like this...

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

We ended up more like this about 4 hours in...

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

2013_09_21 British India Blinded

music // wilderness festival

29 Sept 2013

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2012_08_12 Wilderness Festival

2012_08_12 Wilderness Festival

2012_08_12 Wilderness Festival

2012_08_12 Wilderness Festival

2012_08_12 Wilderness Festival

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One of the best festivals I've ever been to was Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire last year. It was big enough to feel like a festival, but small enough to feel friendly, with some wicked food and artists. I also got to go with some of the best peeps I know! 

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