Well yesterday I repaired my controller switch with my HeaterMeter controller and decided the first smoke to test it would be 4 pounds of cured Franks.
I ate some Franks on a bun (hot dogs) and then made a Leek, Onion, Potato, and Smoked Frank soup for dinner! Pics first and then write up after :)
Franks blooming after smoking. They don't have much of a hot dog look but more of a typical smoked sausage look. I applied about 1.5hrs of smoke.
![DSC_0328[1].JPG](/media/dsc_0328-1-jpg.534427/full?d=1507248004)
Hot dog style!
![DSC_0329[1].JPG](/media/dsc_0329-1-jpg.534428/full?d=1507248004)
Soup cooking
![DSC_0331[1].JPG](/media/dsc_0331-1-jpg.534429/full?d=1507248004)
Soup served in bowl :)
![DSC_0334[1].JPG](/media/dsc_0334-1-jpg.534430/full?d=1507248004)
![DSC_0335[1].JPG](/media/dsc_0335-1-jpg.534431/full?d=1507248004)
Each year I hunt and usually get at least 1 feral hog in the 100-200 pound range. I use the feral pork meat and store bought pork back fat to make all pork Franks using the LEM's Bacwoods Franks seasoning (with cure). The LEM's Franks are the best I've ever had BUT I've always cooked them fresh even with the added cure since it comes with the seasoning and I always hope I can get some smoked but it rarely happens since I didn't have a smoker.
This was my first time smoking sausage and the smoke/cook had it's challenges:
My Franks are a little squishy looking but that is because I purposely pack them a little loose so when they are fresh grilled they plump nicely without the case splitting or the sausage exploding. When grilling fresh they come out perfectly round.
Lessons Learned:
I hope you guys enjoy all this info and it helps you on your sausage smokes :)
I ate some Franks on a bun (hot dogs) and then made a Leek, Onion, Potato, and Smoked Frank soup for dinner! Pics first and then write up after :)
Franks blooming after smoking. They don't have much of a hot dog look but more of a typical smoked sausage look. I applied about 1.5hrs of smoke.
Hot dog style!
Soup cooking
Soup served in bowl :)
Each year I hunt and usually get at least 1 feral hog in the 100-200 pound range. I use the feral pork meat and store bought pork back fat to make all pork Franks using the LEM's Bacwoods Franks seasoning (with cure). The LEM's Franks are the best I've ever had BUT I've always cooked them fresh even with the added cure since it comes with the seasoning and I always hope I can get some smoked but it rarely happens since I didn't have a smoker.
This was my first time smoking sausage and the smoke/cook had it's challenges:
- Keeping the temp steady at any of the low temps was difficult. My current PID tunings work great between 275F to 325F but the tunings result in the temp walking upwards at lower temps used for smoking sausage (100-170). I had to babysit the cook the entire time but no biggy.
- Trying to judge 1-2 hours of smoke generation with the AMNPS was a new experience. This is just trial and error on how many pellets to use and how to get a good initial fire going for the few pellets to burn
- I accidentally plugged in my convection fan and smoker into the wrong outlets on my PID controller box so the heating element was on full blast at first while the fan was being controlled by the PID hahaha this was just a stupid mix up on my part but took the temp to 160F before I caught it when I was trying to do the 100F first hour dry hahaha
- About 4 pounds of Franks sausage were laid on 2 racks at 10:15am. I have the sausages twisted to links, cut, and sealed so putting on racks was the only approach I could use so no hanging.
- After a 1 hour drying period (tried 100F but had temp issues) I applied smoke
- Smoke of 70% Apple / 30% Hickory was applied for approximately 1.5-2 hours. I had some initial issues keeping the pellets lit because I didn't know how hard to light such a small amount of pellets. Had to restart the pellets a 2nd time.
- I walked the temp up as best I could but again had temp control issues. I eventually made it up to 170F for the smoker since I was taking the sausage to IT of 160F. I was surprised I had no fat out but I had probes all over the place and was able to know where the temps were on all racks at all time so even with a few spikes near 180F for a minute here and there I didn't have any fat out. This helps me feel better that things are more forgiving than I imagined.
- I cooked to IT of 160F since the Franks were made with feral hog meat and guidelines are to take to 160F.
The lower rack was pulled about 2:45pm and the upper rack pulled about 4:30pm - I put Franks in ice bath to stop cooking and let bloom for 2-3 hours on a rack
- Of course when I pulled the Fanks I had to eat one immediately
My Franks are a little squishy looking but that is because I purposely pack them a little loose so when they are fresh grilled they plump nicely without the case splitting or the sausage exploding. When grilling fresh they come out perfectly round.
Lessons Learned:
- I need to re-tune my PID for such low smoking and will do the next time I do these Franks. I have at least 20-25 pounds more of them in the freezer. I will then record those PID settings along with my current settings so I can punch in the tunings according to what I'm cooking. Think of it as "low heat sausage mode" and "hot meat smoking mode". It seriously takes 20 seconds to change the PID settings so having them recorded would be smart, I just need to take the time to figure out the tuning is all
- I learned that manually killing the temp with the HeaterMeter PID (manually triggering lid open mode) to help control temp spikes is super easy. It's a mouse click where someone having an issue with a non-electric smoker would really have their work cut out for them.
- In the future I want to hang the sausage links. They cooked well on q-mats on racks BUT there is some flat spots and slight discoloration/lack of color where smoke couldn't get to all of the sausage link. It is almost not noticible but I see it.
- Even with the fan in my smoker the top two rack positions seem to differ by about 20 degrees. I think the bottom two rack positions keep within 10 but more testing is needed with this Fan mod. I've only done 3 smokes since installing it.
- The Franks seemed to come out saltier than usual being smoked so I will dial back a little on the seaosning. They taste about perfectly fine with a bun and mustard so no biggy but I often like to just cut and dip in mustard German style so I should cut back on the seasoning a little.
- When using as the sausage in a soup I will add towards the end of the cook. I thought the sausage would impart a lot of flavor into the soup which it did but in turn it sucked all the flavor out of the meat hahaha. I noticed that when I added a link to the bowl of soup at the end it had all of it's flavor and as it was broke up made the soup extra amazing where the sausage cooked in didn't do as I expected for flavor. I'll probably do a combo of some sausage to start with in the soup and then the rest of the sausage at the end so the flavor remains in the meat. Best of both worlds :)
- I don't know if I can get the store "hot dog" look or a German smooth light pink Frank look. I honestly like the texture and look of the Franks I cooked but they just don't have the look people may expect. I can live with it. I just call them "Rustic Franks" or something and people will be right on board :P
I hope you guys enjoy all this info and it helps you on your sausage smokes :)
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