Whatchya smokin

[Jerkbiat]

Thanks good to know. I get 5 lbs of fermento for $50 from sausage maker.com. We mix our SS 60/40 venison to pork. I should try beef next time to compare.

[KEN W]

Yup.....beef will make it much firmer when you slice and eat it. Even though ground beef costs more than pork.

[LPS]

Gonna do those fatties today.  One with garlic pork and one with Italian pork.  Will avhe some jalapenos, onions, green peppers, and lots of cheese.  Will be wrapped with a bacon weave. 

[Scenic]

Gonna do those fatties today.  One with garlic pork and one with Italian pork.  Will avhe some jalapenos, onions, green peppers, and lots of cheese.  Will be wrapped with a bacon weave.

Those sound good.

[Bobberineyes]

Sure does!! I've been looking forward to a few fatties since there legal now but Barry's will hafta do....aaah Barry .... are they ready?? Meanwhile the mrs. Went fishing at cub and caught part of a Salmon, a quick 4 hr dry brine , hot smoked with apple and alder..

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[LPS]

That is why I said I will have some fatties in the smoker instead of saying I will be smoking some fatties.    And here they are.  Both tasted great.  May have to freeze one for later.

 

[mike89]

looks awesome !!!   freeze some for me!!!! 

[LPS]

See in the one on the right I also put some ham slices in it.   And the one on the left I filled with swiss cheese, cheddar on the right.

[mike89]

darn good idea with the ham!!!!   bet that was great!!! 

[Jerkbiat]

Man those look awesome!!!

[Bobberineyes]

Very nice lps!!! 

[Scenic]

These look really good

[Steve-o]

1st attempt at smoked veni summer sausage.  I promised i'd post up - good or bad.  Mistakes were made.  Sausage was not good.  Lessons were learned. 

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[LPS]

It looks good.

[Steve-o]

Thanks.  It did indeed.  But it was too salty* and way too crumbly.  Not enough moisture in the mix and I smommed it too long at low temp before I tried to bring it up to the desired heat temp.

I'm hoping Ken will post up his recipe and I'll give it another whirl.



*My potential, future SIL suggested I crumble it up in a cream cheese mix and make a chip dip out of it.  I like his thinking, but I don't know what I'm going to do with three quarts of chip dip.   

[mike89]

 

nacho and so many other flavors!!!   

[glenn57]

  no picture of any slices????


to salty= more beer!!!!!!!

[Scenic]

Thanks.  It did indeed.  But it was too salty* and way too crumbly.  Not enough moisture in the mix and I smommed it too long at low temp before I tried to bring it up to the desired heat temp.

I'm hoping Ken will post up his recipe and I'll give it another whirl.



*My potential, future SIL suggested I crumble it up in a cream cheese mix and make a chip dip out of it.  I like his thinking, but I don't know what I'm going to do with three quarts of chip dip.   

To crumbly normally comes from not enough fat, over cooked or not mixed enough to break down the proteins.   When mixing you have to mix and mix again.  Mix until it turns sticky to the point you can have a patty stick to your hand. 

[glenn57]

so.....ole Reiny used to always preach letting this sit overnight to "meld", before he stuffed it into casings. do you guys do this. just curious!!!!

my brother makes alot of his own sausage, and he makes alot. and he doesnt!

[Scenic]

We always hold it over night before smoking.  This allows it to meld as well as for the cure to work.

[Steve-o]

This was my veni to pork to pork fat ratio.  It was mixed and sticky.  It did sit overnight in the bowl.

I think the main problem was overcooking.  That and too much salt.

But keep the feedback and recipes coming.  I'm determined to make the next batch better.  Thanks, guys.

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[mike89]

what percent fat you using?

[Steve-o]

I have it written down somewhere - what I used.  I thought it was close to some of the recipes I was seeing.  From memory, I had about 3 lbs of venison with just over a pound of pork back fat.  You can see the distribution of the pure pork fat and the fatty pork meat that was attached to it.

I don't know if it should have been a whole pound of pure fat or if what I did was close enough.  That's why I'm asking. 

The other thing I read about making summer sausage is that you have to keep the fat super cold when you are grinding - otherwise it "melts" into the meat.  Apparently, for summer sausage, you want to keep those white chunks of fat intact, and I didn't do that.

And now that I went thru the process once, I understand what they are talking about.  My sausage looked more like a dry braunschweigert than a summer sausage.

[KEN W]

What temp did you have the smoker set at?

[mike89]

it doesn't look that bad...  and I see no indication of blowouts, overcooking... 

[Scenic]

10 # Meat, 5 lbs venison/moose, 5 lbs. pork
4-5 TBS salt
2 tsp. cure#1
2 TBS. Onion Powder
2 TBS. Garlic Powder
2 TBS. Black Pepper coarsely ground
1 TBS. Mustard Seed
2 TBS. Sugar
2 tsp. Nutmeg
2 tsp. Coriander Seed
1 cup ice water
1/2 Cup milk powder

Grind all meats thru a 3/16” plate. Add spices and ice water. Mix well then regrind thru 3/16” plate.
Stuff into fibrous casings. Refrigerate for 24 hrs. Let them reach room temp before smoking.

Place in Smoker at 130 degrees F. for 2 Hours. No smoke.
turn smoker up to 150 smoke for 4 hrs. with a heavy smoke
Increase smoker to 175 and smoke until internal temp is 155
Shower with cold water and hang at room temp for a couple of hours.
Refrigerate overnight.

[Steve-o]

Y'er narrowing in on the problem, Ken.  I don't remember exactly, but it probably started at 170. 

I saw the temp was rising fast (probe inserted into sausage).  I re-read the recipe, which said to smoke the sausage low for about an hour, and then increase cook temp to bring the meat up to between 150 and 160.  (I think someone on here recommended 155 )

So I turned the temp down to 130, smoked for an hour, and then it took 2.5-3 hours to get the meat up to 150 after I cranked the heat up again.

Way too much cook time, I fear.  Plus, I have a cheap smoker that has a hard time keeping a consistent temp, and it was a cold day.  I wrapped the smoker in tarps to try to keep the heat in, but for sure I had fluctuating temps the whole time.

[mike89]

red meat to 158 or time and temp...   use the FSIS charts for both cooking/smoking and chilling.....   poultry to 165

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2021-12/Appendix-A.pdf

go to page 35 for the cooking times

[mike89]

https://meathaccp.wisc.edu/validation/assets/App%20B.pdf

some more info

[KEN W]

OK.....never more than 175. otherwise the fat will render out onto the bottom of the smoker. Resulting in a crumbly sausage. Fat is a great binder. Did you have fat on the bottom of the smoker?