- Dec 3, 2012
- 6
- 10
As the title says, I need some valued input on a current situation. Since I was a small kid, my family has always processed our own game. Sadly, after my grandfather died my dad and I continued to butcher our own roasts, steaks, ground meat, etc but started using commercial processors for smoked sausage. Along the way the old recipes have been lost. I have all the necessary equipment, now I need to perfect the method.
I attempted a smoked venison sausage last night and the outcome was OK but needs some tweaking. The following are my concerns and what I think I need to do to correct them. I would love to hear the views of others to see if I am on the right track or completely off base...
1) Consistency of meat is more like hot dog than sausage - I believe this is due to two factors (1) the amount of water in the recipe made the meat mixture VERY soupy (2) being lazy I stuffed with grinder tube rather than vertical stuffer. I think the soupy mix through the plate a second time actually further ground the meat.
2) The cheese got dispersed throughout the link rather than staying in chunks - again i think due to too much water and regrind effect. Less water and verticle stuffer should fix.
3) The smoke is a bit heavy. Not inedible but definitely noticeable bitterness and smoky aftertaste - I think I should have pulled the wood out when i turned the heat up to finish cooking after the initial 2 hrs of smoke
Process Used:
I prefer jalepeno cheese smoked sausage links. The processor we've used in the past sells their spice mix but I would prefer to mix my own for cost and pride... I scrolled through several recipes and decided what I thought would be good. I made a 1# batch into a single link to test taste before making a big batch. For the 1# batch I used the following:
9.6oz Venison
4oz wild pork
2.4oz bacon bits and pieces (both the venison and wild pork are very lean trimmed so I felt I needed the extra fat content)
1.5T tender quick
2t mustard seed
1t garlic powder
1t coarse ground pepper
2 jalepenos (cored and chopped)
2oz mild cheddar
1C cold water
natural pork casing
I didn't want to break out the big grinder for a small batch so I did everything with a Kitchen Aid with grinder attachment. I used the following method:
1) Grind venison, wild pork, and bacon pieces (separately) through KA "coarse" plate
2) Mix tender quick, garlic powder, mustard seed, and pepper into cold water
3) Mix all meats, water seasoning mixture, jalepenos and cheese together by hand.
4) Attach stuffer tube to KA grinder attachment (leaving coarse plate to hold auger but removing blade)
5) Stuff casing (previously soaked in warm water, flushed, etc)
6) Place link on plate in refrigerator overnight uncovered
7) Next evening placed link on counter for 30 - 45 minutes to allow temp to rise toward ambient temp
8) Placed into electric smoker (no wood in box) at 130 degrees w/ door unlatched for 45 minutes to continue drying casing
9) added 2oz chunk of hickory (dried, bark removed) to smoker, latched door, and increased temp to 150 for 2 hours (flipped link on rack at 1hr)
10) increased temp to 180 - 190 for 1.5hr (until internal temp of 160)
11) Water bathed in bucket of ice water until internal temp of 80
12) wiped off excess water and hung for 1hr
13) placed in refrigerator uncovered overnight
14) Next day, heated in oven, sliced, and sampled
Thanks for any input you can provide!
I attempted a smoked venison sausage last night and the outcome was OK but needs some tweaking. The following are my concerns and what I think I need to do to correct them. I would love to hear the views of others to see if I am on the right track or completely off base...
1) Consistency of meat is more like hot dog than sausage - I believe this is due to two factors (1) the amount of water in the recipe made the meat mixture VERY soupy (2) being lazy I stuffed with grinder tube rather than vertical stuffer. I think the soupy mix through the plate a second time actually further ground the meat.
2) The cheese got dispersed throughout the link rather than staying in chunks - again i think due to too much water and regrind effect. Less water and verticle stuffer should fix.
3) The smoke is a bit heavy. Not inedible but definitely noticeable bitterness and smoky aftertaste - I think I should have pulled the wood out when i turned the heat up to finish cooking after the initial 2 hrs of smoke
Process Used:
I prefer jalepeno cheese smoked sausage links. The processor we've used in the past sells their spice mix but I would prefer to mix my own for cost and pride... I scrolled through several recipes and decided what I thought would be good. I made a 1# batch into a single link to test taste before making a big batch. For the 1# batch I used the following:
9.6oz Venison
4oz wild pork
2.4oz bacon bits and pieces (both the venison and wild pork are very lean trimmed so I felt I needed the extra fat content)
1.5T tender quick
2t mustard seed
1t garlic powder
1t coarse ground pepper
2 jalepenos (cored and chopped)
2oz mild cheddar
1C cold water
natural pork casing
I didn't want to break out the big grinder for a small batch so I did everything with a Kitchen Aid with grinder attachment. I used the following method:
1) Grind venison, wild pork, and bacon pieces (separately) through KA "coarse" plate
2) Mix tender quick, garlic powder, mustard seed, and pepper into cold water
3) Mix all meats, water seasoning mixture, jalepenos and cheese together by hand.
4) Attach stuffer tube to KA grinder attachment (leaving coarse plate to hold auger but removing blade)
5) Stuff casing (previously soaked in warm water, flushed, etc)
6) Place link on plate in refrigerator overnight uncovered
7) Next evening placed link on counter for 30 - 45 minutes to allow temp to rise toward ambient temp
8) Placed into electric smoker (no wood in box) at 130 degrees w/ door unlatched for 45 minutes to continue drying casing
9) added 2oz chunk of hickory (dried, bark removed) to smoker, latched door, and increased temp to 150 for 2 hours (flipped link on rack at 1hr)
10) increased temp to 180 - 190 for 1.5hr (until internal temp of 160)
11) Water bathed in bucket of ice water until internal temp of 80
12) wiped off excess water and hung for 1hr
13) placed in refrigerator uncovered overnight
14) Next day, heated in oven, sliced, and sampled
Thanks for any input you can provide!
