Thread: Sausage and Smoke Cooking

Sounds great!

How did the case hardening come out with the storage?

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Sounds great!

How did the case hardening come out with the storage?

It wasn’t severe. Even with a couple days in vacuum seal, it equalized fairly well. I still have another half under seal for later. I need to get a new meat slicer now that I have more stuff like this on the way. I’m saving some Amazon points to get one either free or mostly free. The one I have is cheap, old, and making some odd noises.

Well I've been working on and off on an upgrade for my little smoker. Ever since I got it up and running I've slowly been getting it to where I want it.

I've just used a stainless steel bowl to cover the exhaust to hold the heat in while it warms up and then adjusted it to where I wanted it for the smoke to escape and to help adjust the internal heat. However I wasn't happy with it. So I picked up the pieces that I needed to make an adjustable exhaust.

No before pics of my own but here's some factory pics--The damper and stove pipe are 24 gauge steel;

The damper;



12" of stove pipe;



And the stainless steel cap;



I purchased some fine mesh in stainless to keep bugs from getting in and secured it to the metal ring in the cap with aluminum pop rivets;





I purchased some 1/8" thick silicone and cut it fit inside the damper to cover the holes and to seal closer between the flapper and the inside of the pipe but I'm not happy with the result so I'll be redoing that part. With that said, it's not too bad;



I painted the damper and stove pipe with high temp paint and got it 'semi installed'--I want to drill and screw the pieces together and to the smoker but it is usable;

I picked up some new hardware recently. I’ll see how it performs this weekend. Also, I got a new batch of sausage drying. They are getting covered in white mold nicely. I used a more generous casing this time. Hopefully they will have more substance than the last batch when done.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I picked up some new hardware recently. I’ll see how it performs this weekend. Also, I got a new batch of sausage drying. They are getting covered in white mold nicely. I used a more generous casing this time. Hopefully they will have more substance than the last batch when done.

I thought you had a 'limited living space' With that said, what a nice looking slicer. I wish I had room for one and those sausages are looking really nice.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I thought you had a 'limited living space' With that said, what a nice looking slicer. I wish I had room for one and those sausages are looking really nice.

It sits 9n top of the sausages. It’s the only place for it. It was a lot bigger than I anticipated.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

It sits 9n top of the sausages. It’s the only place for it. It was a lot bigger than I anticipated.

I translate that 'finger aw crap' to (It sits on top of the sausages) which I would presume would be that apartment size frig that you have adapted to making dry cured goods. Good thinking

I'd store my 1 hp grinder out in the garage if it wasn't so damn heavy so it sits on the floor with a plastic garbage bag over it to keep it clean.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I translate that 'finger aw crap' to (It sits on top of the sausages) which I would presume would be that apartment size frig that you have adapted to making dry cured goods. Good thinking

I'd store my 1 hp grinder out in the garage if it wasn't so damn heavy so it sits on the floor with a plastic garbage bag over it to keep it clean.

What you and I need is simply a commercial kitchen with a walk in cooler, smokers, and curing chambers.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

What you and I need is simply a commercial kitchen with a walk in cooler, smokers, and curing chambers.

I agree 100%!

Back before the divorce I was planning on building a garage/shop/sausage building all in one as we had 1/3rd of an acre. I had access to a guy who could supply me with used commercial walls that you find in grocery stores, he also could provide the cooling units and compressors. I could have had an 8'x8' walk in cooler. But that was before the divorce

As Jerry Reed once sang 'She got the Gold Mine, I got the shaft'. I've always found it funny that one of his back up singers was his WIFE.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I agree 100%!

Back before the divorce I was planning on building a garage/shop/sausage building all in one as we had 1/3rd of an acre. I had access to a guy who could supply me with used commercial walls that you find in grocery stores, he also could provide the cooling units and compressors. I could have had an 8'x8' walk in cooler. But that was before the divorce

As Jerry Reed once sang 'She got the Gold Mine, I got the shaft'. I've always found it funny that one of his back up singers was his WIFE.

That would have been sweet. I generally do pretty well in my limited space kitchen. But the one thing I'd like is a long work surface that could be used for rolling pastry or making sausage and such.