Dear Sausage Doctors, my sausage is 'puckered' in smoker. Too much water in mix?

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webpoppy8

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 4, 2016
58
21
Boston North
My first time out is with a delightful creation called Kranjska Klobase, or Slovenian Kranj Sausage.  I had to assemble a recipe because it's an EU 'heritage food' or some such and none of the recipes seemed very authoritative.  Also, the recipes are 5 lbs, 10 lbs or more each so I tried to scale down to two pounds.  Fry test seemed good.

It is supposed to be semi-dry, with 20-25% fat.

Recipes agreed on 160-170 degree smoking for 2-3 days with beech.

After 36 hours in the smoker, the sausages are much smaller and kind of 'puckery.'  These actually look close to the treasures my in-laws buy from Ažman's and Raddell's in Cleveland, but more wrinkly/puckery.

Is major shrinkage normal when smoking?  Or did I have too much water in the mix?  Or am I overthinking?  Here are photos at 36 hours and at the start.

   
 
Look fine to me Let them get up to whatever temp they are suppose.Cool for awhile then cut into it

Richie
 
For that length of cook you're going to get that. You are basically drying the sausage. 36 hours seems like a longtime but maybe that's the texture the recipes are shooting for.
 
I would think that part of that time should be cold smoked, or humidity should be increased during the smoking process.

Blaise
 
The recipe for Kranjska Klobasa on Meats and Sausages has it as a regular hot smoked sausage, they are usually pretty reliable. Wikipedia also shows it as a hot smoked sausage. I think it was just over cooked.
 
Webpoppy8

Those look good to me!!

Would you care to share your recipe for the Slovenian Kranj Sausage??  Been looking for something that would be close to Raddells or Azmans (Cleveland's best) with no luck. Thanks!
 
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The recipe for Kranjska Klobasa on Meats and Sausages has it as a regular hot smoked sausage, they are usually pretty reliable. Wikipedia also shows it as a hot smoked sausage. I think it was just over cooked.
Wait where was this recipe?  Can you get me a URL?
 
OK after three days this definitely had some problems.  Photos attached.

Much darker than it should be, shriveled and shrunk still further.  Klobase is often darkish, but not this dark.


Cooled for 45 minutes in refrigerator, then boiled one link for 20 minutes (usual for klobasa).  Then the taste test.

The final stuffing was a darker red than it should be.  

Smoke flavor a little strong, garlic flavor a little weak.  Somewhat too salty flavor. Klobasa flavor perceptible but not full.

Meat was sort of fibrous.  Definitely a texture like overcooked ham, so I agree... it's overcooked!  Not really dry, but texture like it was.


Additional things in play:

I had water in the water pan the whole time, replenished with boiling water as needed.

Authentic-looking recipes use saltpeter whereas I used Prague Powder #1 with nitrite. (Not nitrate.). This could have made it more red than intended.

20 hrs soaking casings in 50/50 mix of water and vinegar (cider) SUCCESSFUL - not tough or rubbery.

Source recipes were at least 10 lbs each - more than I wanted.  Most measurements in metric.  Slovenian recipes had some big gaps.  Scaling directly down to 2 lbs was dicey.  

Measurements of ingredients probably not precise enough for so small a batch.

Fat content may have been a little less than 20%. 

Current assessment:

72 hours at 160˚ with full smoke looks to be way too long.  Not sure which to change:
  • shorten to 24 hours
  • kill smoke after 6 hours
  • reduce to cold smoke (90˚?) after 12-18 hours?
Should use saltpeter (KNO3) instead of Prague/nitrite.

Add additional garlic.
 
Looks darn good to me!  Even puckered klobasa is great klobasa!!

As a born and raised Cleveland east-sider, I may have eaten Azman's sausage before I got Mother's milk!!!  My folks are both immigrants from Slovenia, so when I attempted Slovenian sausage, I knew the critics had some serious experience!! 

Here is the link to a recipe that I had some success with, after adding more garlic:

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4891

My Father commented that it was spot on to the Azman's taste.  Don't know that I could ever replicate the Azman's taste completely, but hearing that from my Dad made it worth the effort.
 
Ooops, I just realized that I gave you the same link you were already working from, with a different name. Sorry bout that - senior moment!!!
 
 
Looks darn good to me!  Even puckered klobasa is great klobasa!!

As a born and raised Cleveland east-sider, I may have eaten Azman's sausage before I got Mother's milk!!!  My folks are both immigrants from Slovenia, so when I attempted Slovenian sausage, I knew the critics had some serious experience!! 

Here is the link to a recipe that I had some success with, after adding more garlic:

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4891

My Father commented that it was spot on to the Azman's taste.  Don't know that I could ever replicate the Azman's taste completely, but hearing that from my Dad made it worth the effort.
Thanks for posting this link! I'm gonna have to give this one a try.   My Slovenian family is also from the east side of Cleveland close to Azman's.
 
AHA!  There are cold-smoke and hot-smoke recipes!!!!

(D'oh!)

My 2-3 days smoking time was from recipes I found with COLD SMOKING.

This one is decent:  https://www.thespruce.com/slovenian-carniolian-sausage-recipe-1137407

The slovenske ženske at home think my mix was good. I am going to retry with cold smoke at 80°, also saltpeter rather than #1-nitrite.

HOT SMOKE

from meatsandsausages.com a.k.a. wedlinydomowe.pl/en/

The recipe at http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/cooked/kranjska-klobasa is extremely precise and useful with exact timings of temperatures and smoke. 

MIXMASTER - the wedlinydomowe.pl entry from @jfsjazz is listed as "krainerwurst" which is German for "Kranjska Klobasa"...

Has "fresh," "cured-cooked-smoked," and fermented variants...  The second variant requires further cooking, which was always needed for the Slovenian butchers' product.  The recipe has beef, however, and the cultural designation strictly limits meat to pork. 
 
I suggest you do some research on nitrites, nitrites and salt peter. There are reasons that saltpeter has fallen out of favor in alot of the meat industry. Though it is still legal in both the U.S. and Europe. The primary job is to prevent Botulinum spores from growing. My understanding is that saltpeter isn't as consistent as the others. The flavor profile may be different though and I can't verify that through personal experience. Maybe some of the other guys have personal experience using the saltpeter.

Blaise
 
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