First attempt at Sausage Making

earthquake5683 · Apr 22, 2014

So the wife and I (really me, and I just bugged the living heck out of her) to make some sausage. We decided upon a summer sausage and a snack stick. The summer sausage was gonna be the first so we wanted to play it safe and got a basic kit from Bass pro shop. Nothing fancy,. After an adventure with the kitchenaid grinder (we didn't realize we needed a cutting blade) we got the meat ground (60/40 split of pork butt and 80/20 ground chuck). We grinded the beef again just to maintain consistency even thought I;m not sure it was needed.

For the snack sticks I used garlic powder, home made jalapeno powder, WinCo cheese powder, more garlic (never have enough) and a tsp of #1 cure. We tried to use the kitchenaid to stuff the sausage and it didnt work out too well. Ended up spoon stuffing the summer sausage and trying to work out the air pockets. Then I attempted to stuff the snack sticks (19mm collagen casings) and failed. Ended up buying a 5# LEM stainless steel stuffer this morning at BassProShop. It worked LIKE A CHARM! Letting them sit until tomorrow when I get home from work in the fridge then gonna toss into smoker.

Just thought I would share.

QView:

1. regrinding beef

2. mixing homemade spices for snack sticks

3. stuffed summer sausage

4. stuffed snack sticks...

tomorrow they will go into the smoker. any WAG (wild a** guess) at how long they will take (i know a lot of variables there)

Thanks,

smoking b · Apr 22, 2014

They look great man! Nice job with your first attempt

As for time it all depends how you go about it. When I do sticks I start out at a low temp such as 120 & slowly raise the temp over the course of about 8 hours till they get to the proper IT. However you go about it try not to get your smoker temp over 170 or you could render fat & have a fat out...

earthquake5683 · Apr 22, 2014

I work graveyard shift or mids (as military calls it) and my time is limited to about 5-6 hours when I get home. think i am going to go 130 for the first hour without smoke, then raise 20 degrees each hour until i go to bed. I'll set the alarm on the maverick to wake me up when IT hits. I have a 10 or 20# bag of ice to cool. I'll then dry them and hang in the house until wife gets home and she can wrap and put into fridge. next day i will pkg (need to get a new food vac, bad seals and cant find em) for long term storage. (although i doubt they will last that long)

daveomak · Apr 22, 2014

Very nice......

driedstick · Apr 22, 2014

That looks great for your first attempt

. I take my sticks and s/s also to 152 IT - water bath s/s and bloom sticks on the counter room temp then into paper sack overnight in fridge,

Cant wait to see final product

Good luck

A full smoker is a happy smoker

sam3 · Apr 23, 2014

Made like a pro, Great job!

reinhard · Apr 23, 2014

Great job on both the summer and the sticks!!Reinhard

kesmc27 · Apr 23, 2014

Things are looking mighty fine!

earthquake5683 · Apr 23, 2014

The wife pulled the sausage and sticks out of fridge before she left and I got home about an hour later. Preheated the smoker and toss them in on some make-shift rods (rebar). Let them go for an hr at 130. I didn't really think of the length of sticks and height of smoker when I made them. due to the temps being higher on the bottom of smoker and lower as you move up i decided to put them horizontally on a rack. After putting them onto the rack I raised temp to 140 then 150. Just checked on the smoke and noticed the summer sausage is sweating some fat onto the sticks...not sure what to do with this yet. time for some research.

earthquake5683 · Apr 24, 2014

Alright, so after about 11.5 hrs they came out of the smoker. I went to bed (work graveyards) and wife pulled them out after she got home and temps hit. She put them in an ice bath then rehung them to dry up a bit. When I woke up a few hours later I pulled a piece of snack stick out and she tasted it. She thought it was okay. I thought it wasn't as "tight" as a slim jim (hate those) or a jack links brand stick. It seemed to be wrong texture. Maybe not ground with proper plate? Anywho..took a piece to work and co-workers enjoyed it. Got home this AM and put a piece in the dehydrator to see what that would do. I think it helped so I tossed the whole batch in now. Then I got to wrapping/pkg'n the summer sausage. I tasted that and wow. That one came out good. The only "complaint" for a lack of a better term would be....it needs to be more sour... Anyways. Pics: (oh ya, yes, those are hangers. not sure why the rebar wasn't used, but it served its purpose)..one other thing, had a little fat build up on the summer sausage, but when cut it wiped rt off.

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Apr 24, 2014

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rtbbq2 · Apr 27, 2014

Awesome first go at it.........

earthquake5683 · Apr 27, 2014

Thanks! The wife enjoyed the summer sausage the best. Gonna look around and use someone else's stick recipe next time. I need more flavor in it.

Rafter H BBQ · Apr 27, 2014

Very nice ! Looks like some good chewin there !

daveomak · Apr 27, 2014

Earthquake5683 said:
Thanks! The wife enjoyed the summer sausage the best. Gonna look around and use someone else's stick recipe next time. I need more flavor in it.

nepas has some great recipes.... I used a version of his and they were great... version only because I had to substitute some stuff.....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/114455/stick-batch

First attempt at Sausage Making

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