Re: What is bread rusk ?(MaybeNewSausageMaker!)

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 22:36:31 GMT, WaltA 
   <please@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> Today I was a bit flabergasted when my daughter presented me with a
> small poly bag of Hog Casings.
> ( It seems that a while ago I had mumbled something about trying to
> make our own sausages but didnt know where to get the skins ! )
> 
> So, I googled a bit and came across lots of refs to including bread
> rusk ( and some refs to yeastless rusk as well)
> 
> What is Bread Rusk ? will I find it in my local Tesco tomorrow, or
> where ?
> I dont suppose it is a fancy name for bread crumbs , is it ?
> We have lots of those because we make our own bread.

Rusk is simply a (usually fairly thick) slice of bread gently baked
until it is dry.  It is often sold for babies (especially when teething)
and probably any supermarket will have it.  Or you can make your own, in
which case you'll know what's in it and can adjust the sweetness to
taste (and it will be cheaper).  If you google on "bread rusk" you will
find a lot of descriptions and uses, or see

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rusk&db=*

(It seems that rusk is also a town in texas and a US senator, but
putting either in sausages will get you in trouble on health grounds
<g>.)

The purpose in meat products like sausages is to take up the bulk left
by the meat as it loses moisture during cooking and contracts.  It can
also of course be over-used to get away with using less meat.

Or you can indeed use bread crumbs for the same purpose without drying
the bread first.

> That ref to yeastless rusk suggests that the other is infact some sort
> of leavened-cooked-flour mixture or am I way off ,,,

Well, that's one way of referring to bread!  Bread can be made without
using yeast ("soda bread" for example) or with it ('leavened').

> hope that makes sense, if not blame it on the couple of gl***** of
> cider wot I needed to recover from the shock of the gift !

A decent cider, I hope?

Chris C