On a wet, dreary weekend around here, what better time to do some stuffing & grinding?
I had twenty pounds of meat at my disposal (15 pork, 5 beef), so I asked my sons what kind of sausage they wanted. After tallying the results, we landed on three types: Polish kielbasa (no surprises there), bologna and käsewurst (cheese sausage).
I decided to make ring bologna (versus one large chub) as I have a bunch of the ring casings that I’ve been waiting to use. Plus, the rings will cook much faster and hopefully finish about the same time as the other smoked sausages.
I’m pretty much following the same procedures and recipes I used in these threads
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/114106/more-wurst-bock-cheese
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/115743/new-years-bologna-q-view-plus
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/106987/smoked-kielbasa-first-time-this-weekend#post_637918
...with some exceptions. I made the kielbasa without the larger ‘cubes’ & instead chose a uniform grind. Also, I’m smoking the käsewurst this time, whereas last time they went right into the poacher bath.
I ground all the meat the night before, added all the spices and let the batches rest overnight.
The next morning, I re-ground the bologna mix using a fine plate (3mm). Big mistake! It took stinkin' FOREVER! The meat set up into a sticky paste which moved glacially through the grinder. It took nearly 45 minutes to regrind 10 pounds....Next time I re-grind BEFORE adding all the ingredients & letting it sit overnight.
AFTERTHOUGHT: Since I was making kielbasa, I figured “What goes great with kielbasa?” ANSWER: Sauerkraut! So I cut up 8 heads of cabbage & put up two gallon containers of the stuff. Should be ready in about 3 weeks. Hopefully, we’ll still some kielbasa on hand at that point!
BACK to the sausage: For the bologna, I used nonedible collagen casing for rings (43MM x 18 in.)—which hold 1.25 pounds; plus a few casings for summer chubs (2.20 in. x 16 in.) (x4) = total of 10 pounds. Both from Butcher & Packer.
Stuffing:
My son & I got the smaller links done first (kielbasa & cheese wurst) using 32mm hog casings
Then we moved onto the bologna rings & chubs...
And now onto the smoke. Using Cherry dust in the A-maze-n.
Loaded up with not much room to spare (time to build that smokehouse!).
I’m using toothpicks as spreaders between the links.
Just in with the temp at 120°
About 90 minutes into the smoke:
After nearly 3 hours, I pulled the smaller links & plunged them into a 165° water bath. They hit the IT in about 15 minutes.
After a quick ice bath, time to bloom while the bolognas get a bath...
The rings tooks about 20 minutes to hit temp, so they were iced & hung to bloom. The chubs took about the same time.
My custom ‘dining room chair’ bologna display rack....
SAMPLE TIME:
Very happy with the results! Both sausages were moist, smokey and had nice texture. The soft emmenthaler cheese is great!
The bologna is AWESOME!! If you’ve never had homemade bologna. you have to give it a try!
I cut into the chubs. The texture is FIRM (not mushy!), uniform, and has that great allspice/coriander/garlic flavor that works so well with the cherry smoke!
It was fun this weekend, but I’m pooped.....
Thanks for readin!
Kevin
I had twenty pounds of meat at my disposal (15 pork, 5 beef), so I asked my sons what kind of sausage they wanted. After tallying the results, we landed on three types: Polish kielbasa (no surprises there), bologna and käsewurst (cheese sausage).
I decided to make ring bologna (versus one large chub) as I have a bunch of the ring casings that I’ve been waiting to use. Plus, the rings will cook much faster and hopefully finish about the same time as the other smoked sausages.
I’m pretty much following the same procedures and recipes I used in these threads
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/114106/more-wurst-bock-cheese
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/115743/new-years-bologna-q-view-plus
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/106987/smoked-kielbasa-first-time-this-weekend#post_637918
...with some exceptions. I made the kielbasa without the larger ‘cubes’ & instead chose a uniform grind. Also, I’m smoking the käsewurst this time, whereas last time they went right into the poacher bath.
I ground all the meat the night before, added all the spices and let the batches rest overnight.
The next morning, I re-ground the bologna mix using a fine plate (3mm). Big mistake! It took stinkin' FOREVER! The meat set up into a sticky paste which moved glacially through the grinder. It took nearly 45 minutes to regrind 10 pounds....Next time I re-grind BEFORE adding all the ingredients & letting it sit overnight.
AFTERTHOUGHT: Since I was making kielbasa, I figured “What goes great with kielbasa?” ANSWER: Sauerkraut! So I cut up 8 heads of cabbage & put up two gallon containers of the stuff. Should be ready in about 3 weeks. Hopefully, we’ll still some kielbasa on hand at that point!
BACK to the sausage: For the bologna, I used nonedible collagen casing for rings (43MM x 18 in.)—which hold 1.25 pounds; plus a few casings for summer chubs (2.20 in. x 16 in.) (x4) = total of 10 pounds. Both from Butcher & Packer.
Stuffing:
My son & I got the smaller links done first (kielbasa & cheese wurst) using 32mm hog casings
Then we moved onto the bologna rings & chubs...
And now onto the smoke. Using Cherry dust in the A-maze-n.
Loaded up with not much room to spare (time to build that smokehouse!).
I’m using toothpicks as spreaders between the links.
Just in with the temp at 120°
About 90 minutes into the smoke:
After nearly 3 hours, I pulled the smaller links & plunged them into a 165° water bath. They hit the IT in about 15 minutes.
After a quick ice bath, time to bloom while the bolognas get a bath...
The rings tooks about 20 minutes to hit temp, so they were iced & hung to bloom. The chubs took about the same time.
My custom ‘dining room chair’ bologna display rack....
SAMPLE TIME:
Very happy with the results! Both sausages were moist, smokey and had nice texture. The soft emmenthaler cheese is great!
The bologna is AWESOME!! If you’ve never had homemade bologna. you have to give it a try!
I cut into the chubs. The texture is FIRM (not mushy!), uniform, and has that great allspice/coriander/garlic flavor that works so well with the cherry smoke!
It was fun this weekend, but I’m pooped.....
Thanks for readin!
Kevin
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