Went to Tom Knoll's
TomKnollRFV
home again this weekend to make some sausage. Thanks again to the Knoll family for letting me use their kitchen and for putting up with me. 
We planned on making some Pepperoni sticks, hot links, Frankfurters, and Thai Sia Oua. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and my knee was giving out so we had to scrap the Sia Oua this time out.
I used pork cushion meat for the sausages. I really like the pork cushion meat. I actually prefer it to shoulder. Pepperoni was 50% beef and 50% pork.
We used OFG Hot Links recipe. Thanks to
disco
for another great recipe!
I got the Frankfurter recipe from the meats and sausages web site. I was going to make Polish style Frankfurters but forgot my Polish sausage book at home so had to go to plan B.
The Pepperoni snack sticks were from a mix that Tom had. I think it was from The Sausage Maker. Not 100% sure. We added a bit of extra garlic and some red pepper flakes to the mix and I thought it was just what it needed.
The pepperoni sticks and Frankfurters used sheep casings. This is the first time I have used sheep casings. I was expecting them to be very fragile and have a lot of blow outs but they were pretty easy to work with. Will definitely be using them again in the future.
I hot smoked all the sausages using a combination of Hickory and Cherry to an IT of 155.
I used my expanded metal racks on the first round and the hanging bars the second round. They both gave similar results and hold about the same amount of meat.
Taste test:
Pepperoni stick: The casing had a nice snap to it and the pepperoni stick had a good spice and flavor. Still seemed like maybe something was missing. I can't wait to try this on a pizza.
Frankfurter: The Frankfurters have a clean, pleasant, flavor with nutmeg being the most noticeable spice. Some Frankfurters got over done in the smoker and turned out a bit wrinkled. Aside from the few over cooked ones, they were snappy, firm, and very tasty. Just what a quality hot dog should be IMHO.
Hot Links: The hot links were from the OFG recipe. We followed the recipe fairly closely with a couple minor ingredient changes. I also used Titletown Brewery Golden Ale for the beer. (I think that was the beer type.) Gave a hint of beeriness to the sausage. The hot links were very good with just right the amount of heat to still be family friendly. The links had a great flavor and color off the grill. No pics of the hot links cooked :( I am going to fry some up and put them in red beans and rice for dinner.
Here are a couple pics of the results.
Hot links drying, waiting to go into Sarina.
Pepperoni and Frankfurters ready to be bagged up.
JC
TomKnollRFV
home again this weekend to make some sausage. Thanks again to the Knoll family for letting me use their kitchen and for putting up with me. We planned on making some Pepperoni sticks, hot links, Frankfurters, and Thai Sia Oua. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and my knee was giving out so we had to scrap the Sia Oua this time out.
I used pork cushion meat for the sausages. I really like the pork cushion meat. I actually prefer it to shoulder. Pepperoni was 50% beef and 50% pork.
We used OFG Hot Links recipe. Thanks to
disco
for another great recipe!I got the Frankfurter recipe from the meats and sausages web site. I was going to make Polish style Frankfurters but forgot my Polish sausage book at home so had to go to plan B.
The Pepperoni snack sticks were from a mix that Tom had. I think it was from The Sausage Maker. Not 100% sure. We added a bit of extra garlic and some red pepper flakes to the mix and I thought it was just what it needed.
The pepperoni sticks and Frankfurters used sheep casings. This is the first time I have used sheep casings. I was expecting them to be very fragile and have a lot of blow outs but they were pretty easy to work with. Will definitely be using them again in the future.
I hot smoked all the sausages using a combination of Hickory and Cherry to an IT of 155.
I used my expanded metal racks on the first round and the hanging bars the second round. They both gave similar results and hold about the same amount of meat.
Taste test:
Pepperoni stick: The casing had a nice snap to it and the pepperoni stick had a good spice and flavor. Still seemed like maybe something was missing. I can't wait to try this on a pizza.
Frankfurter: The Frankfurters have a clean, pleasant, flavor with nutmeg being the most noticeable spice. Some Frankfurters got over done in the smoker and turned out a bit wrinkled. Aside from the few over cooked ones, they were snappy, firm, and very tasty. Just what a quality hot dog should be IMHO.
Hot Links: The hot links were from the OFG recipe. We followed the recipe fairly closely with a couple minor ingredient changes. I also used Titletown Brewery Golden Ale for the beer. (I think that was the beer type.) Gave a hint of beeriness to the sausage. The hot links were very good with just right the amount of heat to still be family friendly. The links had a great flavor and color off the grill. No pics of the hot links cooked :( I am going to fry some up and put them in red beans and rice for dinner.
Here are a couple pics of the results.
Hot links drying, waiting to go into Sarina.
Pepperoni and Frankfurters ready to be bagged up.
JC
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