Asking the Experts!

Yes I use a cure in mine and case it in Natural Caseings and Smoke it.
I like the taste of cured chicken it kinda goes good with the sundryed maters,,,,,tow maters...But,,,, I dont tell myself Im a expert....LOL...... I use insta cure #1

any sausage that I cook that will be in the 40-140 zone for 4 hrs. or more will get cure-if I gonna make a sausage that I will keep fridged or frozen and cook before I eat it I need not cure.no expert either- just the way I do it.

Cool Rick! That does sound like a good mix! Yeah, do fresh if you can...salt is never an issue if you have a good recipe to start with. Cured is OK for certain things even if hot smoked...but that salt content...I speak of TQ, btw.

Mark, I'm in the same boat as you with the grinder/stuffer wish list...check through the sausage forum for recipes/methods on beef salami...this really is easy stuff to make, and very good eats:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...play.php?f=130

Hey, if you have a fair sized food processor in the house...maybe don't tell the wife? LOLOLOL!!!!! Mine wasn't real keen to the idea at first. Now that she's had my latest, the chicken sausage, my CB and another batch of beef salami, she's asking if I wrote down the ricipes so I can make more...I can't make enough to last!

But doing the quick chop of your meats in a food processor works fine for me. Be sure to learn/pracrice good sausage making rules (sanitizing, keeping everything cold). Then wrap in poly, forming a chub as you squeeze the air out...good substitute for a stuffer & casing...chill well and smoke away, brother!

Eric

I would highly recommend getting Rytek Kutas' book first and then let the ideas percolate. (Thanks to Bob (desertlites) for that.) Then start off cheap. By a manual grinder and a cheap stuffer so that you aren't too financialy invested in equipment and can walk away if you don't like it. I doubt you will walk away from it though.

I managed to pick up a 1000 watt grinder and 5lbs stuffer from Northern Tool for about $150 and got the chance this weekend to make four different kinds of sausage. I put a couple months into research and bugged the hell out of more than a few people here about making sausage and I was greatly rewarded. I doubt you will regret the decision once you step out and make the decision to do it.

You can have your Butcher grind the meat for you.... Beef or pork.....coarse or fine and stuff in a Jerky Gun....I know it is not a 5lb vertical stuffer but if you want to make sasuage and don't know how you will like it or if money is a problem (every body has been there,and some longer than others....lol) I taught a class on Sausage makeing at the National Dutch Oven Gathering,,,Last Oct...and showed them how to make Sauage with out a grinder( have butcher grind or Hambuger or Pork ground.) and how to stuff it in caseings with a funnel (antrifreeze funnel from wal-mart Yellow Prestone, new funnel guys...) or / and a jerky cannon....Smokeing .....Cure.... I dont want to hijack thread....