17lbs of Kielbasa w/QVIEW

[msuiceman]

Well, this afternoon I ground up 17lbs of pork butt, seasoned via Rytek Kutas' recipe (plus a little more garlic and pepper), and stuffed it all into 38mm natural hog casings.

We'll see how they are after I put smoke on them. I think I may have stuffed a bit too much, so I'm worried about splits. Will smoke them tomorrow, they are drying in a fridge right now.

Probably cold smoke 6 hours or so, then put in a water bath to finish. I'll get some pictures and put them up, I need to get some hardwood dowels or steel rods cut to length for my smoker to hang them. Just another thing to do before doing it right.

I have a LOT of smoking to do in the next few days.... damn pork shoulders thawed quicker than I thought was going to happen, and need to put 4 HUGE turkey drums in some brine tonight.

Steve 

 

[mike5051]

Sounds good Steve,  I was looking for turkey drums over the weekend and settled for wings.  Are ya using any cure or just brine?

Mike

 

[msuiceman]

I'm using pop's brine (with cure):

(this is not mine, this is pop's on this board, he takes all credit for this brine)

 for every 1 gallon of water, add:

1/3 - 1 cup sea salt (depending if you're on a lo-salt diet)

1 cup granulated sugar or Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji]

1 cup brown sugar or Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji] brown sugar mix

1 tbsp cure no. 1 pink salt

I usually go 2/3 cup salt, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar (I never tried the splenda version), 1 heaping tbsp. no 1 cure per gallon.

and I make 2 gallons (I have a 5+gallon bucket). plop the poultry in, then put anything I have handy to weigh it down so its completely submerged (that's key). put it in the fridge. 3 days later I should be ok with turkey drums.

 

[driedstick]

I'm in

 

[msuiceman]

In the smoker, just with cold smoke. Haven't decided if I'm going to water bath them or finish in the smoker by lighting up the propane.

Was trying to figure out the hanging thing... Got "smart" and figured out the water pan rack makes for some decent hanging.

 

[msuiceman]

I got it at 140 degrees right now, will hold that for another hour, then ratchet it up to 180 and finish them in the smoker.... then icebath them. god I love the adjustable needle valve on the regulator. I had it at 110 and it just stayed there.... but you can't go that low if there is any wind.... such a low flame it takes almost nothing to blow it out. I'm going to work on a windbreak skirt around the base of the masterbuilt xl until my smoker finally dies. it will probably be replaced with a MES electric plus a WSM weber. electric for sausage, snack sticks, and maybe bacon. wsm for ribs, brisket, and pulled pork, but I digress....

she's coming along, I'm hoping for a success. I'm a bit worried about splitting, as I filled these pretty darn full, save a couple little air pockets.

 

[mike5051]

Nice hanging rack!  Those look great, hope they don't split on you.

Mike

 

[msuiceman]

update: have it at 190 right now (kielbasa are at 132) , after having it at 170 for a while. did I say I love that needle valve? makes it easy.

since I don't have to use a big heat sink for these things, I wanted to pull the water pan rack anyways... so I just washed it and used it.... seems to do a fine job and uses the stock rack mounts, no mod needed.

they look darn good.... fingers crossed about splitting.... I've made much more "fresh" kielbasa than smoked in my life, so this is a little bit of a learning opportunity.

28 more degrees until I pull them and put in an icewater bath.

 

[msuiceman]

I should also say that while I used Rytek Kutas' recipe as a basis, the addition of more pepper, garlic, and I omitted the icewater he adds. The mix seemed wet enough and loaded up using the LEM 5 lb stuffer fine. maybe I had a slightly different cut than what he used, but it didn't seem like I needed it.

 

[msuiceman]

Well, as much as I meant to finish in the smoker, I had pretty uneven cooking in some of the pieces, so I put them in a hot water bath to finish. Taste test was really good though I'd like even more garlic and black pepper. Good texture, fill-out, and consistency. Should be even better after tonight.

 

[crazymoon]

MM, they look delicious!

 

[driedstick]

 

[mike5051]

That looks awesome!  Great color!  

Mike

 

[msuiceman]

I have to say, it turned out better than I thought they were going to. I have a TON of it though, and will definitely share with co-workers. now, I will make a small batch of fresh kielbasa, as you don't keep it for more than 6 months frozen. I like fresh better than smoked, but smoked is my wife's choice, and a bit more versatile as far as cooking.