Thread: Sausage and Smoke Cooking

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Ah now that's what I need to get next ! A vacuum sealer.
Thanx Roy

You my friend, you will find more uses than just storing cheese in a vacuum sealer---

Well tomorrow is my oldest 45th Birthday so I got busy.

I used Duncan's recipe--see here:


The first thing was not my favorite--sorting out the casings from the hank!



Once that was done, I selected one of the larger 'small casings' (I missed it by three links) and got it soaking while I prepped the spices and the meat. It went fairly well but I'm not going to use the O-ring as it caused more problems than it solved. Anyway here's 5 and 3/4 lbs of sausage.



I pre-cooked them in a water bath at 175 degs until it reached an internal temp of 165 degs. Then into the ice water batch.



I got a total of 18 brats. I'll give my daughter the three bags with five sausages in them tomorrow.



OH! I did try a bit just fried and it's very good, I'll be making more of these in the future.

Look terrific Roy!
Nice gift indeed.

Looks damn good

So, as I stated last week, I'm just getting started on the offset smoker.
Since I was mainly training, I bought a big chunk of breast with ribs included.

I then trimmed the ribs from the rest that I rolled and tied in order to get something alike a pulled pork.

All in all, things went better than the last times, although with my wood being, as it were, the same I use for my fireplace, I do think in hindsight that it was not dry enough.
Which led my temperatures to be all over the place from 230 to 315.

Anyhow, here are the results

Rolled like that, it took obviously longer for this piece to be ready.

But darn is the result worth the hassle.
So obviously, the fat prevented the meat from drying too much and instead nourished it. Juicy, smoky, and tender.




As for the ribs... I don't know honestly. They were soft enough, but probably severly under-seasoned and quite frankly tasted like smoked ham rather than what I'm usually accustomed to or what I expected it to be.
Also, while not severely dry, they were a bit too much compared to my expectations.
Well, my two little girls devoured them, fighting for the scraps, so I suppose it was good enough.

If it only gets better from that point, I should be alright by mid-summer.

Well over 35 years ago I was using a 3# cast iron stuffer, it did OK but then I got an offer from The Sausage Maker Co (whom I'd done business with) for their brand new Stainless Steel 5# with an introductory price that included free shipping from NY state. I bought it.

I've made tons of sausage with it but it really wasn't what I needed, I needed something a little bigger, but not too big. So I see that the 10# SS stuffer is on sale for $30 off so I bought it and sent it to Ski's which saved me another $30. Most of the batches I make are 10 lb or a little less.

Here is is right from the catalogue--



I brought it home today and right away I saw something that I didn't like so it was off to the Ranch and Home store. Now 'IF' i wasn't going to be tearing it down and storing it after each use then it might be a different story.



Just a few shekels--



I also notice that the stuffing horn was larger and my old SS tubes wouldn't work so off to the Ranch and Home again--I bought two stainless steel washers that were right at 2" OD and had a friend at a machine shop, punch them out. I had to finish filing them to fit, but once fitted and an O-ring installed between the first washer and the second one here it is mounted on the stuffer nice and tight on Joel's custom made 1" SS stuffing tube/you can also see the where I mounted the bottom plate with SS hardware.



It also have something interesting--it's an air release 'valve' it's not anything fancy but it should help with getting the air out of the sausages.



Anyway all in all I think that I'll be very happy with my new toy----uh--I mean TOOL.

Very nice.

I just have this cheap plastic one, but it does work well enough.

Well yesterday was test day. I decided to make some All Beef Hot Dogs.The guy who I used his recipe was right----it was a major pain in the ass. The casings don't stay twisted and you have to tie each and every one. I believe that I got 26 hot dogs from 3#'s of hamburger.

Was it worth it?------------------------------I think so.

I didn't take a lot of pictures but here is the tied link in the smoker.



Here they are after un-linking and unwrapping.



I packaged them up for my kids and my buddy Ski and his boy and I kept the Uglies for myself.



I had one for lunch today and I think they are a keeper. I've asked for the kids and Ski to let me know what they think.

@cudarunner : That's some pro level equipment and work, I'm amazed !

The stuffer I use is the one coming with my Bosch meat grinder. Works well enough, but an air valve would indeed be useful lol.

Anyhoo.
New try on the ribs on saturday. This time I went with the "classic" 3/2/1



Went with a homemade dry rub (cloves, cumin, lemon balm, garlic, some oregano from the garden, brown sugar, paprika, Espelette AOP pepper, among other things), organic cider, and a mix of BBQ and oyster sauce.
Is it what it's supposed to taste like ? No clue, never tasted "the real thing"
Was it good/worth the 7 hours hiding from the harsh sun under the hazel tree ?
Suffices to say that the wife decreed that from now on ribs should be cooked this way. So hecking soft, juicy and flavorful.

Yet, as I am still a beginner, I am open (and would be thankful) to advice, tips, and critique

My Mouth is watering, I can smell those ribs from here!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

You my friend, you will find more uses than just storing cheese in a vacuum sealer---

The bags from a vacuum sealer take up to much room for me to use them often.

I have a definate lack of ambition today.

I want to smoke some cheese and if I don't have the ambition for that it is pretty bad. LOL