Newbie with so many questions.

donr said:

 
Newb at sausage, have only made pop’s and some snack sticks.  I want to make some summer sausage and trail Bologna for a Canoe trip and have a zillion questions floating around in my head.

I was looking at commercially available seasoning mixes, LEM, SausageMaker, etc.  Most say to use at least 20% pork or pork fat.  Why is this?  Why can’t I use 80/20% beef? You can use 80/20 beef, no problem. I'd suggest ground chuck, a little more expensive but better results. I tried a cheaper ground beef from Wal-Mart and was disappointed in the outcome. my opinion only, of course. A certain number here have favorite commercial blends they like....just as many, if not more, prefer their own blends. Use the search bar for A LOT of posts with recipes....makes my head swim sometimes.

Tang

Powdered Skim milk, Powdered whole milk, Powdered Buttermilk, Fermento – Do they all give the same tang?  Is one preferred over the rest? No, all are slightly different IMO although I've only used a few you mentioned. NFDM (non fat dry milk) is usually all I see in the markets, no skim or whole here. The Buttermilk powder is OK by me...have used that with decent results. I now have some ECA to try out for tang & want to try some Bacto-Ferm in the future.

If powdered milk, how much milk & water per pound of meat? General rule is 1 cup for 5 pounds of meat. 3/4 to 1 cup of liquid works

Casings

Do the fiberous casings allow smoke penetration? Yes, make sure the casings are 'pre-stuck'

Grind

What size grinding plate(s) are used for Summer Sausage? Dealers choice....what texture you like?

Trail Bologna is pretty fine/emulsified.  How do I get that? Food processor Or is a couple times through a small plate ok?  Probably would work fine, the NFDM will give you a nice smooth texture IMO It just needs to taste like trail bologna, not look like it.

Storage

If they are vacuum packed, can they be stored without refrigeration?  If so how long?  You see Summer Sausage unrefrigerated in the stores. store stuff is highly processed. Yes, you will use cure but even so....why risk it. Most here will vac pak and freeze with little loss of quality, if any.

What if there is high temp. cheese added? Again, why risk it.....all my opinions, you will be getting more pretty soon.

Here's one I did, recipe from NEPAS, a sausage guru on here, that had a nice tang from a very long smoke time for possible ideas

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/161684/beef-sticks-with-a-long-slow-smoke-for-tang-ala-nepas

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