Also from Evansville, Indiana

[pantherfan83]

Hello all,

I've been making sausage and smoking for several years. Mostly Andouille, chicken/turkey, and various cuts of beef/pork. This Christmas I asked for the Charcuterie book and I've been inspired/addicted ever since.

My current equipment is:
LEM electric grinder
Grizzly 5lb vertical stuffer
Masterbuilt Smoker from Sam's http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...=5&item=356446
Food Saver vacuum sealer

In the 1st 6 months of 2008, I've made:

Smoked
Andouille Sausage
Tasso Ham
Kielbasa with fresh marjoram
All-beef Hot Dogs
Canadian Bacon
Bierwurst

Unsmoked
Italian Sausage (hot & sweet)
Mortadella
Mexican Chorizo
Breakfast Sausage with fresh ginger and sage
Chicken Sausage with sun-dried tomato and basil
Bratwurst

Soon I'm going to get a belly and have a go at making my own bacon. I'm also going to make some venison sticks and maybe venison and/or elk summer sausage. Eventually, I'd like to get into dry curing salami, pepperoni, Spanish chorizo, etc.

 

[Dutch]

Wow, Panther, that is an impressive list of sausages there!! You'll be right at home in the SMF Sausage subforum. Folks will banging on your door wanting advice, tips and recipes.

Welcome to the SMF family!

 

[pineywoods]

Welcome to SMF glad you joined us. There is lots of good info here. Nice list of what you've done but as a word of caution looking at the Qview and recipes will make you expand that list.

Have fun and happy smoking

 

[flyin'illini]

Welcome to the SMF, Patherfan. You are on your way.

PS -- "Pather" makes me think of Pinckneyville, IL HS...

 

[pantherfan83]

Nope F.J. Reitz Panthers H.S. Evansville, IN.

 

[flyin'illini]

Ahh, yes... was trying to remember if any of those e-town schools were Pathers.

 

[seboke]

Welcome to the forum Pantherfan, glad you joined us!

 

[norrell6]

Hey Panther,

I have family (brother and sisters) that graduated from Reitz. I have had Elk summer sausage and something like a slim jim and it was real good. I am curious, how did the Mortadella turn out. Looks to me like that would be complicated. I guess I should have said welcome to the SMF first though. Glad to have another Hoosier here. We have been getting a lot lately.

 

[smokin out the neighbors]

Welcome to SMF from the North Side of E'ville, Go Bears! Glad you found us and may your smoke be thin and blue and blow my way. Be sure to share some Qview with us.

 

[okie joe]

welcome to smf. you've come to the right place for swapping tricks of the trade. I'd love to hear more about your sausage experiences.

 

[pantherfan83]

I was pretty happy with it. Followed the recipe in the Charcuterie book. It was my first time stuffing a beef bung, but it was pretty easy. The hardest part about the Mortadella (not necessarily hard, but time consuming) was putting the small batches of ground meat in the food processor and processing it. It wasn't that bad, because it was only 6 lbs or so. Not nearly as bad as the time I made 20 lbs of all-beef hot dogs. The hot dogs have turned me off of doing anymore emulsified sausages. Back to the Mortadella... after I got it all processed, I scraped it into my stuffer, put on my largest tube, stuck the bung on the tube all the way to the end and started cranking. I wasn't sure since the bung was so much bigger than the tube if it would fill properly or if it would leave a bunch of air pockets. It really worked out pretty well. After I got some meat into the end of the bung, I just left the tube stuck in all the way and then backed it out slowly as it filled. It ended up being about 6-inches in diameter and 14-inches long. It barely fit in my roaster when I poached it. It took quite a while to get the internal temp up to the required temp. Cooled it, then sliced it up and ate the heck out of it. Gave quite a bit of it to family and friends and they liked it too. I put the pistachios in it. I like them, but I'm not sure they added a whole lot to the taste. More than anything I think their more for aesthetics.

 

[pinkmeat]

Welcome...are you near Attica, IN?

 

[pantherfan83]

No, I'm about 190 miles south of Attica.

 

[erain]

welcome to smf Patherfan!!!! theres a bunch of sausage makers on here so you will not be alone!!!! sounds like you are pretty much all set. lookin forward to your posts!!!