Departing Contestant I agree, I always add a little even to fresh sausage to help with the mixing process. I don’t add as much as I do when going to stuff it.

zbigjeff those look great. What a great pairing; Weller 107 and a perfect burger.

Denny O said in Cheese thru a grinder:

Momma no like? OR, Momma wants it all?

Ouch! No Like?!

Jonathon There is the simplistic answer I was looking for!

Denny O No need to be sorry, the hot pepper cheese is basically a Monterey jack, which never had enough flavor for me. I use High Temp Cheddar Cheese for a few snack sticks like Willie's Snack Stick Seasoning and Habanero BBQ Snack Stick or Summer Sausage and then I use High Temp Ghost Pepper Cheese for anything I want to add heat too and High Temp Mozzarella Cheese for most everything else. High Temp Swiss Cheese Only comes into play with a few seasonings, usually the ones that I want the creaminess of some extra cheese but no strong cheese flavor.

Dave in AZ sounds like you recovered well. Thanks for sharing 👍.

Update, the dried beef has been sitting in the fridge in the same bag since the OP and I just tried a piece and the flavor, color, or texture has not changed at all. My worry was rancidity, but so far there is not even a hint of off taste, so time permitting hopefully I will do some sos this week and go from there.

Jonathon I’m specifically looking at the imitation or restructured bacon. That package only is 1# but it looks like you have blocked off shipping to AK for everything. Strange since we have USPS, UPS, and Fedex all deliver. USPS is typically the most economical. But maybe someone has a good homemade recipe!

Jamieson22 thats beautiful. It just about brought a tear to my eye, but it definitely made my stomach growl. Great work.

Welcome, for really shelf stable meat products jerky is not the answer. Dried beef and canned meats are more shelf stable than traditional jerky, but for the real deal pemmican would be a better solution. MRE’s do not hold up really well unless kept in perfect conditions thus when you see the inspection date on the MRE package that is under ideal conditions. Yes I have tested them under real world conditions and while still sorta eatable the color, taste, and texture was severely degraded outside of those perfect storage conditions. As processhead stated mold can also be a problem so look into potassium sorbate to inhibit that growth for long term storage and oxygen absorbers.

Mix’s do seem to vary a lot, some are loaded with salt and others no salt so your idea of small test batches is your best bet for sure. Actually the variable of salt is what made me start making my own, I wanted a consistent product that would produce a good product every time.

Tex_77 Thanks Tex, I know that the farmers markets here in TX are doing well selling locally raised meats, thanks for the article.

Don’t get me wrong, the electrical isn’t finished yet. I’m not the one doing it, so I’m not positive about the plan. The box might have the gfci breakers, I just don’t know myself. I’ll pass along some of your concerns. As it is, there is no power being run since the trailer is unplugged. It’s just a work in progress. We always err on the side of caution with these things as my husband and myself are both safety conscious people. In fact the shop is already equipped with a fire extinguisher and first aid kit. Everything will be checked and double checked before use.

super, super, super,
Thanks!
Willy from Dakota

I’ll let you know if I ever decide to offload, but now that I’ve mated it with the PID controller, it’s doing everything I want.

processhead I have had that book for a long time and still love pulling it out and reading it and looking at recipes.

Cindy Bushar said in Smoked Boudin Recipe?:

Grimpuppy Your recipe is Absolutely the best. Several people have tasted it and said it is some of the best They have ever eaten you can’t go wrong using this recipe.

Glad you liked it!

Onestopjerkyshop carries them. It fits on your grinder to stuff snack sticks. They are about $20.

We use the cotto salami mix also and found the best meat mix is 50% venison, 25% pork shoulder, 25% ground beef (85/15) when making venison sausage. We do not use ECA or suregel. We hang overnight at 40-50 degrees to cure and allow some of the excess moisture to escape. You’ll want your final finish temp to be at least 145 degrees and to end with an ice bath. Smoker times are all variable, the size of your sausage stick makes the biggest difference. We typically go to the smoker in three stages. First is about 120 to remove the chill and do additional drying. Then raise temp to about 150 and apply smoke. Finally raise temp to 175 to finish. Adding a high-temp cheese is a nice touch. Cheddar or pepper jack are our favorites.

As long as the packing house bag is vac sealed I have been taking whole beef ribeye to at least 60 days after I bring it home, if I see a packaged date I may go longer. Just recently I tried a Umai rib roast . Wet aged for 35 gays and dry aged for 30, last Christmas days dinner for the 2 of us.

Jesser said in Tough hog casings:

mrobisr to get to 200f before consumption what method do you like best to use water boil, oven, grill etc for Walton’s hot links. Thanks

I have never used any pre-packaged seasoning I make my own and as far as method it depends on what I’m doing. For kraut it will be fried, if in beans water boiled, and my actual favorite is on the grill.

Definitely the smaller diameter stuffer if geared the same. I broke my small stuffer last spring and finished using my 26lb stuffer and that was miserable. I may have to invest in an electric stuffer next fall!

Similar to ham flavor, smoked Buckboard bacon is good. Is it the front leg or rear leg? There is a little more fat in the meat off the front leg vs the ham off the back. If you use bacon cure just don’t get the meat block too thick.

bocephus If it gets to that point no one is going to be able to stop us from doing what we need to do to feed ourselves and our family.

Either will work, just be sure to remove the skin.

Jonathon Yes it is beef! I was kind of disappointed it didn’t have more of a horseradish bite and taste however when I slapped it on a bun and dressed it up using habanero pepper jack cheese it made it snap. With that being said I think it could use more horseradish flavor. All in all another great brat!

Yes I will definitely save 12oz of drippings to amp it up! The wife and I loved the flavors with the kraut and swizzle cheese added in but the carrot fibber didn’t put a dent on all the liquid that came from the kraut and added water! But they are amazing!

PapaSop Those sausages looks terrific and I use the canning and pickling salt for everything in the house except for finishing.

glen thank you!

If they are consistently splitting while cooking, you might want to try pricking them right before putting them on the grill. Pricking will let a little of the juice out while they are cooking so the internal pressure doesn’t get too high.
This shouldn’t be routine fix, but more of a way to salvage the batch in the mean time.

BRYARRR_80 I’d echo what processhead says and I’d also say between 3-6% once rehydrated is pretty standard. However, jalapeno flakes were one of those odd things that got REAL hard to get for a while there and the price went crazy, I don’t know that sourcing them is going to be a lot cheaper…now, it could be, but it might now be. Since you work in large amount, we can special order in bags that do 100 lb each from Excalibur of the patty mix. Probably have to buy a case, which would be 5 of those bags but if you are interested reach out to cs at either cs@waltons.com or 800-835-2832 and give them SKU 4550521182 and see what they can do for ordering.

More fantastic info. Thank you so much!

Grimpuppy looks great 👍

Dave in AZ very useful information. Thanks for sharing.

Try a spray bottle with water. Spray the paper a little bit before pressing.

PapaSop twice through a 3/8 plate. I like a little courser texture on brats.

mhighland69
I am on board as well. Pre-sliced, pre-ground processed meat is convenient, but at the cost of quality and poorer shelf life.

Whole cuts stay fresher and maintain their color much better than sliced product.

fallflight they do look great 👍 congrats

Dave in AZ
Sounds good. Will be looking forward to hear how it turns out.

So many recipes…so little time.

One might go to the meat store and take a quick photo of some 80/20 and 70/30 (or whatever ratios your meat market carry) for comparison. This should give you a quick idea on where to start concerning fat content for sausage making.

YooperDog Thanks for the info. The butts that I found had skin attached and it seemed to work pretty good with adding the collagen, but I will look for jowls next time I make jaternice.

Just throwing out a thought for what ever it is worth, oxidation maybe.

Dave in AZ great information thanks for passing this along 👍

nmac54
It can be frustrating. I have had some really good commercial sausages before, various styles, and find myself wishing I could duplicate that flavor/texture.

Even for a very experienced sausage maker, it can be next to impossible to duplicate a flavor when he/she has tasted it before.

Now think about your question and having someone make a recommendation when they have never tasted that wonderful sausage before.

Like I say, it can be frustrating.

processhead If the motor is over-torqued or stressed it can trip a breaker on the motor. Simply hit the reset button and keep going. If it trips, just back off the speed a small touch and it will run through fine. We spent a lot of time tweaking how it worked to get the best performance we could. If it trips, it is probably from a small diameter snack stick. With the smallest stuffing tube, it has a higher likelihood of tripping if you try to run it at absolute max speed. Jon will have some better guidelines on what speed to run different things at for the best results. When it hits bottom, it should sense that situation and back off. It will not just keep going and burn out the motor at the bottom.

I got raving reviews on the brats! Jalapeno popper brats were loved by everyone who liked spicy at all, and the cheeseburger cheddarwurst were great for anyone adverse to spicy. A couple people that normally don’t like a lot in the flavored brat area were in love with the cheddarwursts! I think the 50/50 split of beef and pork was a good addition as well.

It continues to amaze me the depth of knowledge members have in this community and their willingness to share.

Take out the chips from that, then when I wrap a piece of bread around it Ill crush up chips as a topper, now we be talkin!!!

stephenmterry good luck on your bacon :bacon:

I think some of these machines with the cast aluminum housings probably were factory polished with a fine wire wheel buffer and then clear coated to seal the surface. I know on mine, there are areas where it looks like the coating has worn through from repeated cleaning and general wear and tear.

1766d446-c2c7-4846-94f4-bd15fce92eb5-20220416_093155.jpg

processhead Very nice thank you for the memories and pics.

IVERYAN they look great and the review is very professional thank you

geraldr622 Enjoy!

Doublecabin those look great. I bet the flavol profilies are very complimentary. They also look nice and tight so great job.

kyle I believe your right. I’m glad I dont have those problems. Probably all the dirt we ate as a child.

Dave in AZ great research. Thanks for sharing 👍

Dave in AZ 😆 🤣

Ridley Acres said in Easter Ham Brine:

Koops Arizona heat mustard

I absolutely love that stuff!

I guess my bottom line on this is the 1/2 in auto feed does not completely clamp the casing. The 3/8 does.

In my opinion, simmer the skin in just enough liquid, standard mirepoix, aromatics until very tender. Cool the protein and save the broth - reduce if necessary checking to see the binding of the gelatin.
Cooled skin / protein can be ground or chopped and folded into anything and broth used to bring it all together. ie: souse, head cheese,
Consider simmering with white wine and appropriate aromatics. Some vinegar will help.
After the loaf comes together and chilled, some pickle and / or capers and favorite good mustard when we serve it forth - sliced.

bleathery said in Home made bacon vs Commercial bacon and cooking:

Dave in AZ I definitely notice you don’t get as much splatter when pan frying the home cure compared to store bought. I can’t remember if it was a YouTube video or I read it, but they chalked it up to the injecting of the cure/flavoring.

I think the commercial-pumped bacon has a higher percentage of water in it just like most other commodity type cured meats. If it has more water, it is going to splatter more.

You can actually just microwave frozen meat to make it sliceable, yet still frozen. I do it all the time with pork loin, meat is still 32f with frozen crystals , but soft enough you can slice it with knife… I always cut partially frozen stuff for Chinese food, for thin slices. Fine to refreeze remainder.

kyle said in Kabanosy:

next time it will be 25#

Me too!

Thank you. I will just have to go for it.

Jamieson22 Aww come on a little snuggle if ya please!

Nicolai said in Waltons Complete Turkey Cure Question:

The 10% of a10% pump means you inject 10% of the weight of the meat block into the meat not the concentration of the solution. Your mix calculations are to get enough nitrate in the solution so that it gets the right amount of nitrate in the meat. Has nothing to do with 10%.

Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand the difference you mention.
The issue I was trying to explain is an entirely different one.

Dr_Pain Thanks. Have an old hen that might go to sticks.

Grimpuppy Just realized this was a resurrected thread but still feel the need to compliment you on those dogs!

Good idea

metlman501 I agree, my wife loves them and is probably her favorite. I’m like eh, they are ok but don’t plan on making again unless she wants a batch

Meat Temp.PDF

If saltiness is an issue, you should look at the Equilibrium method, then you shouldn’t have to worry about rinsing.

Grimpuppy lol found that one and sent you a reply.

Dave in AZ I guess in my experience when I pull sticks/links off smoker they are often varying temps. So when I drop them into bath with water at desired IT I can guarantee all of them will end up where I want them. If I were to overshoot water temp and monitor I’d need to check quite a few of them and pull in multiple stages else risk some being over/under cooked.

Hotdogs will not fat out if properly emulsified. They should be ground a minimum of 3 times (twice through your smallest plate). For best results, finish in a food processor before stuffing.

I think white pudding is traditionally made with a beef casing which would be thicker than a hog casing. Not sure if that would make a difference though.

Dave in AZ This was an American Guinea Hog that was about 18 months old.

processhead It was just in my garage from 12/25/21 until 3/15/22. Temps went well into negative at times, but never went over 40 until the day I finished cutting him up. The day I slaughtered I sprayed the whole carcass with 1:1 vinegar/water and repeated daily for 3 days so there wouldn’t be as much bad bacteria. Anything off colored was discarded.

Grimpuppy sweet, thx for posting! Put in an order for $280 of goodies including sure gel 😉 was just waiting!

Thanks for the information! My plan was mixing a gallon up and use as needed for meat block weight x 15%. I better let my wife know I was right about something today. She thought it meant you use a 15% solution.

Dave in AZ I never found the dough hook to be useful either, but the paddle does very well as you have found also. I think mine is 7 qt and I tried 10lbs once and never did that again, meat was every where. The sweet spot for mine to keep everything clean and where I could walk away from it and mix efficiently was 5lbs.

Dave in AZ interesting post. Thanks for sharing

Great read, congrats! Thx for posting!

HerbcoFood yep! You can use this pattern for a Santa too.

Deepwoodsbutcher great idea 💡

Miller great looking jerky. Congrats 👍

samspade said in Using Citric Acid as an anticoagulant?:

mrobisr I was just about to say that uhhh sodium stuff. Lol

Sam I just read this again and it made me laugh again, so thanks for the smile.

Thanks for all of your guys input. I appreciate it. As you can probably tell I’m a newbie. I was able to stuff them last night. I’ll be smoking them early tomorrow morning and then doing the sous vide. I’ll try using the frig to make them a little dryer after processing. Outside temp is supposed to be in the single digits tomorrow morning. Where the heck is Spring when we need it. Ha Thanks again!

twilliams Sounds good will do, making two batches of sticks this weekend habanero BBQ with ghost pepper cheese also.👍

I buy these 2 1/2 gallon ziplock bags at dollar tree 5 to A box and put my sticks or sausage in there. Tried it without bagging did not like the flavor as well and also did not like the oil and particles in my water and in my sous vide. Tried both ways like bagging them better. Easy to put probe in sausage in that big bag, no reason to vac seal.

mrobisr

Well son of a gun… Grimpuppy came up with the same solution as I did! Here I thought I was being ‘original’. lol I actually took four racks (just like what GP has shown there) and using some stainless steel threaded rod (washers & nuts), built a ‘3-tier’ holding rack. It’s basically ‘fit to size’ and my SS will no longer be able to escape and roam around. Each level will/can hold three SS’s but given the limits of my smoker, I can only make six SS’s per run/time. So, I can easily get two SS’s per level… allowing for LOTS room between/around each SS for water circulation. I know, I know… overkill!

The 10"x15" cooling racks fit perfectly in my SV cooler-cooker… no modifications required. Can’t wait to give it a go!

glen said in Simple back (Canadian) bacon smoke:

Am I worried about what I’ve used in the past? Not at all, quantities were small and for the most part I never took much to the trigger temp.

I have used plenty of it in the past too and have fried it to high temps, but as you said it was small quantities and I have not lost any sleep about it either.

It wouldnt let me edit after 3 min, so I just lost a bunch of tweaks 😞
Looked at their goose stick recipe. I think that is a typo, should read 3/4 quart, not gallons. Most recipes use around 10% water, so for 12.5 lbs meat thats 1.25 lbs water, or 2.3 cups.

In their pepperoni stick recipe below, from their meatgistics video page, you can see how they give the meat amount they are using, then the UNADJUSTED WATER AMOUNT. Only later in text, easy to miss, do they adjust the water! This is a terrible way to list a recipe, all ingredients listed already adjusted per calculation except one, then telling you to adjust that one later:

MEAT BLOCK

4 lb of Beef Trim
6 lb of Pork Butt

ADDITIVES

1 Bag Pepperoni Unit
2 Quarts of Ice Cold Water <--------!!!
Fibrous Casings
Or
Hog Casings
Or
Collagen Casings

Optional Additives:
Carrot Fiber
Encapsulated Citric Acid

PROCESS

Since we are making 10 lb of pepperoni we will need to divide out the seasoning, cures water and additives we are going to us. Since this bag of seasoning is enough for 25 lb of meat and we are making 10 lb we need to divide the weight of the seasoning by 2.5, make sure you do the same for the additives as well. That gives us .562 of a lb of seasoning, 1.6 oz of carrot fiber, 1.6 oz of Encapsulated Citric Acid and 0.8 of a quart of water. <-------!!!

Mrobisr, thank you

samspade said in All Beef Snack Stick Texture:

Can you over mix? If no encapsulated CA.

By hand it would be very hard, but the meat temp does rise since body heat is being transferred to the meat so in that sense I guess you could say it is possible. Using powered mixing you can start to incorporate air into the batter so “they” say, I cannot say I have ever experienced that problem.

thirdeye said in Dry Edge (rind) on Summer Sausage:

mrobisr
The ratio was 30% ground beef (93/7), and 70% pork butt trimmed a little close, so maybe 80/20.

Sounds like the fat was good enough and the temp was slow and steady, so I’m thinking maybe and air pocket. Did you pin stick it, yes you cannot say the actual word?

Waltons makes a sausage cutter ,but I think a cutting board with sizes put on it with a wood burner " lines " you could lay out several then cut to size

I have made jerky from home corned brisket, but I’m using an equilibrium brine with a salt percentage at 1.5%. Most of the commercial corned beef producers use a stronger cure and a combination method (injecting then into a brine tank). I have made plenty of pastrami from pre-corned brisket flats and I always do a soak-out on them, usually 6 to 8 hours depending on thickness.