Got SISU?

Got SISU is Finnish:  got guts, tenacity, or bravery?

      Cudighi (coo-di-hay) is an Italian sausage that originated in northern Italy seasoned with sweet spices but is now primarily made and served in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  You’ll see it on the menu of many mom-and-pop restaurants and bars that serve burgers and sandwiches.  If you’re a “Yooper,” you’re most certainly familiar with cudighi.  You’ve had it in a sandwich with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, on pizza, or in other dishes that would traditionally be make with Italian sausage.  

      While the cudighi originated in Northern Italy, it's now primarily served in the Upper Peninsula—particularly in Marquette County. The sandwich and its signature sausage were initially sold in northern Michigan by Italian immigrants in 1936, who called it 'Gudighi'.

      We were 'turned on' to it by some friends we met while camping and rockhounding in the Keweenaw Peninsula.  They referred us to Ralph's Italian Deli in Ishpeming, home of the cudighi voted best in the UP.  The meat comes in mild, med, or hot.  I can eat all three, but Barb loves the medium, so be it.  It is available most parts of the UP.  We found our most recent batch in Houghton from Vollwerths Meats.  

      The meat is a sausage that can be used in just about anything you would use pork sausage for.  Sandwiches, casseroles, mac n cheese, breakfast.  The Italian spices and herbs give it something a bit more.  It leaves you with a full, comfortable, tackle the day feeling.  These are a few of our favorite recipes.  

Cudighi Sausage Sandwich

1 lb Cudighi

1 small red pepper, sliced

1 small green pepper, sliced

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 Tbsp sunflower oil

kosher salt and pepper

1 slice goat cheese, (optional) Provolone, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella

Good Focaccia or French Baguettes

Mustard Sauce  (you can make your own)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp stone ground mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

kosher salt and pepper to taste

      Mold Cudighi into patties.  Slice peppers and onions thinly, about 2" long.

      Mix the mayo, mustards, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and minced garlic together in a small bowl. Season with Kosher salt and pepper to taste.

      Add about a tablespoon of sunflower oil to a cast iron pan.  Heat to medium-high and add the peppers and onions.  Cook until soft and browned.   Remove from the pan.  Add the sausage patties and cook for about 4-6 minutes each side or until cooked through.  Use a spatula to gently press down the patties so the entire sausage touches the cooking surface.  If using cheese, add to the top of each patty when the patties are nearly finished and let melt. Remove from pan.

      Add the sliced baguettes, inside down, to the pan and toast.  Flip and toast the outside slightly. Remove from pan.

      Spread mustard sauce on both slices of the baguette. Add one sausage patty to the bread and some onions and peppers.  Serve hot. 

  

Freaking delicious, this WILL fill your tummy

Breakfast/Brunch Skillet

1 lb. Cudighi Sausage crumbled

6 cups Potatoes cubed

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

½ cup Onion chopped

¼ - ½ pound Cheese Curds

4 Eggs

1 Tbsp Parsley chopped

      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet/cast iron over medium heat, cook the cudighi sausage.  Remove sausage from the pan, leaving the drippings.

      Microwave the potatoes to give them a head start on the cooking process.  Place the potatoes in a shallow bowl and microwave for 4 minutes, covered.

      Add the olive oil to the pan.  Once the oil is heated, add the potatoes, salt, and fresh ground pepper.  Let the potatoes cook for 15-20 minutes, turning over every 5 minutes to brown, not burn.  After 10 minutes add the onions.  Reduce the heat to low.  Add the sausage and curds to the pan.

      Create four shallow wells in the sausage hash. Crack an egg into each well. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the eggs are set. If you like a firmer egg, cook up to an additional 2-3 minutes.  No additional seasoning is needed.  Tasty as is, serve. 

      Think of this as a hybrid cross between Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage and Italian Sausage.  The blended taste is incredible and worth the journey.  We don't get it often but love it when we do. 

SAD SIDE NOTE:  It was announced recently that Ralph's Italian Deli in Ishpeming will close the end of this month due to retirement.  The best cudighi in the entire UP. They will be missed. 

“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.”

Thomas Keller

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Yogi Palooza Barb 1.0

      Well, here we are, THE YEAR.  Barb has been putting in for her Michigan Black Bear Tag since 2013.  I drew mine, my 2nd, last year to no avail.  Barb is hungry.  She waited 11 years for this hunt.  We have hunted together for years.  Although she had no interest in hunting wild pigs with me, she wanted a bear.  She is a good shot, always has been.  She will be using her Remington Model 7, 7mm-08 with 150 grain Core Lokt bullets.  This is the rig she has harvested several Axis deer at our winter place in Texas as well as a nice whitetail buck in Oklahoma.  Of course, a good bear is much larger with very sturdy bones, but my bride can put the shot where she wants to.  

      Of course we want the meat, but my wife's Dream Bucket List is a bear rug.   We have several leads on taxidermists but am always on the lookout for suggestions.  Ironically, she will be guided by Paul Martin who also drew his own tag.  I offered my own assistance, which will be handy as Paul wants to hunt as well and won't be able to accompany Barb in the blind every night.  He and his son will still provide guide services as needed.  Paul has had exceptional success here in the lower peninsula and knows the area well.  This is a shorter season than what I hunted in the Upper Peninsula. 10 days vs. 6 weeks.  Regardless, Barb was ready.  We will be hunting in several areas, but still pretty close to home.  

Great trail cam pics of bears over the bait prior to the season

      I worried a bit about Barb being patient in the blind for about 5 hours.  I told her she can bring her phone, BUT NO VOLUME and no smoking.  I didn't even know if it was possible for her to go that long without........well, peeing.  It did take a turn toward the unexpected as the guide decided to send his son along to accompany Barb.  I was hoping to be there but knew that he was the best qualified to help her ID the right bear, locate it, and retrieve it.

  

Guide Jon Martin and Barb

       On opening day I dropped Barb off with the guide about 20 miles SE of our home in the Manistee River Valley at 3 p.m.  I returned at 6:30 to wait out the last 90 minutes or so of opening day.  Only 17 minutes later I heard a shot close to our proximity.  Even though this was a poor cell phone area, about 30 minutes later the text came:  I made the shot, a quartering forward.  The bear is about 100 yards out.  We're waiting for it to die.  Another 30 minutes later they both walked out, hands covered in blood, yet both beaming with satisfaction.  They had gutted the bear but couldn't move it because it was so heavy.  

      The guide called 3 of his friends to come out and help drag the beast to the truck.  Barb and Jon got some good pictures when they found the bear and we all took some more once they got it back to the truck.  When we got the bear to the processors about 90 minutes later, it weighed in at 220lb. dressed, which equates to about 275lb. live weight.  The cape, head, and paws/claws were done by the processor.  We picked them up and had DNR inspect and seal them within 2 days.  Then we delivered it to the taxidermist.  

      I couldn't have been prouder of my wife.  She has always been a good outdoorswoman and a very good shot with a rifle.  She was still a bit shaky when she arrived at the truck; a good hug was in order.  I tried twice with no success the past 11 years, but Barb was successful on Season #1, Day #1.  It's no less of a Bucket List victory for both of us.  Of course, there will be a few bear meal recipes to come.  

      A special note:  our own friend/guide Paul harvested a monster 300 lb. beast 2 nights later.  I can't say enough about how good Paul Martin is as an outdoorsman and bear guide.  He definitely knows his stuff.  We highly recommend him if you draw a Michigan Bear Tag in Red Oak.  

"May this intelligent animal always have a place"

Mike McIntosh

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Bridging The Gap Between Hate and Healing America

 

      Notes from the bullpen.  Welcome to the election year from hell.  Everybody who knows me also know that I am a USAF veteran and retiree.  I am also a moderate Republican.  Yet, I am also an American and still fully support the ideals on which this country was founded.  Currently 71 years of age, I have voted in every single election, local and national since I turned 18.  I know that to many this may seem futile, but I have availed myself of my constitutional right, my responsibility actually.  I haven't been happy with the direction my country has been heading for about 16 years now.  The debt is spiraling out of control and there is so much foreign ownership of our land and influence of our politics it's staggering.  It's very nearly collateral of our debt and all the money borrowed from China.  The border is a joke and literally hundreds of thousands of criminals, cartel and gang members, and possible terrorists enter daily.  There are, of course, many immigrants with a dream looking for a better life, but they are no longer the majority.  We are spending TONS of money on these people and other countries problems while millions here at home are deeply in need.  Let's face it, the Ukraine has been a money laundering operation from the beginning.  Billions spent on the influx of illegal population that our own citizens can't enjoy although they are more entitled.  Taxing the heart and soul of middle and lower-class Americans to pay for programs that give to who knows whatever.  

             I realize that many Americans hate Trump.  I myself wish he would be more Presidential and less Billy the Kid, but his policies are solid.  BOTH sides have done plenty of ‘name calling’.  You only must look what has happened to our country and economy in the past 3 ½ years to see that THIS IS NOT working.  3 ½ years later you cannot blame this on Trump.  Harris has been in office just as long and has contributed nothing.  She is spinning the narrative that she can fix on Day #1 what she has let happen during her current tenure.  Of course, the media is spinning this, much of which is dictated by the current administration, so they continue to grant permission for the MSM to have access to the POTUS.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used often to skew just about anything you want, the truth being the most tragic casualty.  AI can be as demonstrated, dangerous.  The debate was a travesty.  Harris will not even consider an appearance unless she controls the narrative and the outcome.  Is the voting process next?!?!?  Although the increasing divisiveness has created a divide between Americans never before seen, most of us aren't stupid.  I only ask you to stop; look within your soul and LOOK PAST THE HATE, focus on the issues, the current situation, and what we have given up the past 3 ½ years.  If you hate our current situation, then don't totally blame the corporations, but the administration that not only allowed this to happen but enabled it.  What will our country look like if this continues.  Are you satisfied with the economy, federal deficit, the border/immigration, rising crime, gas prices and dependance on foreign oil regulation?  Everyone complains about the brutal tax burden.  Do you really think it won’t get worse with a continuance of the same party platform?  Slow your roll and look at the FACTS.  REGARDLESS OF THE CANDIDATE, which is best for ALL OF US?  Are you willing to possibly sink our country just from the hate of a candidate, are you?  Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?  Think about that one.  

 

      I am also troubled by the fact that if the Republicans win this year, America could become 'scorched earth'.  Unless they control both the House and Senate, Congress could become a logjam, stopping any real progress.  Filibuster will become the 'norm'.  If the Democrats can't have it all their way, they'll happily watch us burn to the ground.  Protests, riots, fires, and those left in Congress endorsing it, creating such a mess that it will make the past 4 years look like summer camp.  They already advertise for people to perform these tasks for $.  I wonder if they count this as creating jobs?  They so hate the rich yet Biden is worth nearly a Billion, Obama has 3 mansions, Clinton is worth $80 million, and Pelosi is worth $280 million.  They'll continue their narrative of 'make the rich pay their fair share', but in reality, they'll never bite the hand that feeds them. This entitled, radical sentiment that has been growing for the past 20 years unfortunately reflects the deterioration of American values and is an indictment of what our society is turning into.  If the Democrats do win and keep control, get ready.  We're already circling the drain.  Vote your conscience.  It's no longer the value of American people put on voting, it's the corruption of the system.    Let morality and integrity prevail.  

Matthew 7-15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

"Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process"

Hillary Clinton

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Jaeger Sobe

       Jaegar Sobe is a German Hunters dish.  Very much like Jager schnitzel, this dish is kind of a hybrid between German and Oriental cuisine, finishing off with Chinese Noodles or American mashed taters all the way.  It works equally well with beef stew meat or even pork.  Easy to make and not time consuming.  Full bellies, warm hearts. 

1 cup sautéed beef or venison, cut into 1” chunks

1/4 onion - minced

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup large, chopped mushrooms (choice) 

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

Brown gravy

Chinese noodles or Ramen

      Sauté meat in skillet oil until tender.  Sauté’ onions in butter until very tender.  Add mushrooms and sauté for an additional 2- 3 minutes.  Add gravy and wine, simmer and reduce by half.  Add soy sauce and continue simmer.  Serve over beef and potatoes or noodles with Green Beans on the side.

Plated

'Ein voller Bauch ist ein glücklicher Bauch'

German Proverb

"Kore wa dare no aideadeshita ka"

Japanese Analogy

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