Thread: Sausage and Smoke Cooking

Thanks for the reminder Paul. I was going to check and see how much ash there was after about 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours of usage/that would include the rolls, chicken and imitation burnt ends but spaced it off.

Here's what I found.





I didn't find any ash on the stainless piece that directs the grease etc away to the bucket and there wasn't any ash on the beef last night so it looks like I cleaned it before it got carried away.

Nice new rig Roy!
Looking forward to the experiments.

All pellet coolers have ash they burn it down to almost nothing. But I have smoked on it all week before vacuuming.

I am just glad it is not a sin to covet another mans smoker.

Originally Posted by spazola

I am just glad it is not a sin to covet another mans smoker.

I am having a hard time refraining from from a couple of different comments

That looks great Roy!!!!

And really glad you enjoyed it

My curing chamber has gone through a transformation as of late. So much has come out at once that as I was taking one batch out, I was putting another in. I actually used the “skins” from a couple items to flake over the new stuff so my mold culture would continue on. My ambition has increased an I’m a little concerned that I’m up for it. I’m working with the same cuts but they are legit. It’s the full neck muscle from the hog, not the leftovers that some meth head working deli/meat at the grocery store left unhacked. These are legit shoulders, left unhacked from Berkshire pork. They are bigger than what I’m used to. My camber is really full and I’m thinking I need to up the humidity since these will be long term projects. Cure times are also an area of imprecision. Some say a week in salt, others say two for bigger cuts. But the upper limit is not set. I did three weeks on two of them. Two weeks on the smaller of them. I’m also branching out. The largest, riskiest of them is being prepped for a specific flavor profile. My salt was infused with Madeira wine. The salt is moistened with a small amount of Madeira and allowed to evaporate for about a week until dry. I used white pepper for its funky, fermented taste. And I used about 1.5% of dried mushroom powder and just a touch of smoked paprika. It’s been washed in Madeira, wrapped, tied, and hung to dry. I hope to finish it with a wash of truffle infused cognac and a vacuum seal rest for a month or more before eating it. A lot can go wrong and I’m prepared for the inevitable failure. But for the sake of learning, I hope to make it through.

I have a Traeger too, dealing with the ash is a small price to pay for how easy it makes smoking. One thing that makes a big difference for cleaning it is lining the grease tray with tin foil if you aren’t already. And if you are doing an overnight cook make sure you have enough pellets, I slept through my middle of the night mopping and ran out of fuel. It was a bummer to say the least.

This Lonza came out yesterday. It tastes great.