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  1. Saline_Smoker

    How Much Turkey Is On A Turkey?! I Broke Down A Whole Turkey To Find Out...

    This one only had a neck shoved in it though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  2. Saline_Smoker

    How Much Turkey Is On A Turkey?! I Broke Down A Whole Turkey To Find Out...

    So I was doing some reading about how much turkey to buy for Thanksgiving, and a Forbes article I found (the only one that seemed to go into things further than just saying ‘1lb frozen weight per person’) quoted 1/3 to 1/2 of the frozen weight you see at the store will turn into usable cooked...
  3. Saline_Smoker

    First Smoked Turkey

    That’s a handy thread, thanks for posting. It points out that if you are indeed doing an equilibrium brine where you’re weighing your bird and water then multiplying by desired salt percentage to find your salt amount, you’ll be just fine. That said, I still think a caveat about pre-pumped birds...
  4. Saline_Smoker

    First Smoked Turkey

    I might potentially be stating the obvious here, but make sure you’re buying a turkey that hasn’t been pre-brined, aka a ’self-basting’ turkey (check the ingredients list to be sure, you want one that says ‘turkey’ and nothing more). Re-brining a pre-pumped turkey will likely leave you with a...
  5. Saline_Smoker

    Over Smoked Chicken

    Hey, just a quick question that may help narrow it down. What did you use as fuel in your WSM?
  6. Saline_Smoker

    First run at sopressata in my DIY curing chamber - no white mold after 5 days?

    I personally wouldn't concern myself that not having mold on them is going to seriously throw off anything in your drying process. I dry lots of meat without mold as I like to cold smoke the mass majority of my salamis/coppa/what have you. And while the smoke does help inhibit bad molds to some...
  7. Saline_Smoker

    DIY Fermenting box

    This is certainly a new school approach to an old school problem - I like it. Seems to me keeping the temperature super steady (north to south in the box) should only be a matter of a bit of tweaking slightly 1-2º +/-, very cool. Let us know how it ends up doing RH-wise. :emoji_ok_hand:
  8. Saline_Smoker

    Chipotle & Cheese Meat Sticks (Fermented Semi-Dry)

    I used to keep a hygrometer in there, but I don't anymore now that I'm comfortable with my setup. So yeah, I'd suggest until you have it dialed in, you keep a hygrometer in there to keep an eye on your relative humidity.
  9. Saline_Smoker

    Chipotle & Cheese Meat Sticks (Fermented Semi-Dry)

    Sure thing señor Crab... So basically you just want a small enclosed environment where you can easily control the humidity and to a lesser degree the temperature. I've since 'upgraded' my tub to a larger 34gal tub. The thing you're looking for here is about finding a good tall standing...
  10. Saline_Smoker

    Lube you knife and plate before grinding?

    PC brings up a point. If we’re all being honest, something that hasn’t really been mentioned in specific is, in my experience, the knife/auger still always gets warm eventually. It’s not as if oiling is a cure-all, or a trick to avoid friction altogether. I’ve never done any scientific checking...
  11. Saline_Smoker

    Lube you knife and plate before grinding?

    Yup, I do it too. I rub some peanut oil on the blade and plate, then I have a spray can of food grade silicone lubricant for the auger/motor connection. Give it a try, if nothing else you’ll find your plate and blade have a nice new shine to them once you’re done. ;)
  12. Saline_Smoker

    Curing question

    Realized I have some photos of this. Here are some pics of a yardbird I did last fall using a 21º brine for 18hr, then smoked per Marianski's schedule with cherrywood. Nice and juicy, and no one died! :)
  13. Saline_Smoker

    Curing question

    LOL! I have one of their other books "Home Production of Quality Meats & Sausages", they have 18hrs stated in this one. Ha! Who knows. Anyway, I go with 18hr and haven't had any issues, so take that as you will.
  14. Saline_Smoker

    Curing question

    To confirm what zwiller said, yes, what you've posted is basically a Marianski's recipe for whole smoked chicken, in a 21º brine (just cracked open the book to double check). That said, they suggest letting it sit in the brine for 18 hours (not 10hr as your recipe states). Why the shorter time...
  15. Saline_Smoker

    Best Hot Dogs

    Here in Michigan I’d say Koegel’s is king of the regional dog. Their beef frankfurters and their viennas are both excellent. https://www.koegelmeats.com/
  16. Saline_Smoker

    Question about starter culture?

    Billy, My $.02 is your humidity may actually be too low. 30% weight loss in two weeks is super fast unless those sausages are really small in diameter. See that dark ring around your sausage, that means the outside is drying too fast, not allowing the inside to lose moisture (aka case...
  17. Saline_Smoker

    Question about starter culture?

    Billy, I think this is the better option. That's a good temp too. To help keep the humidity up until you get them where they're going, you can always bag them loosely or put them in a sanitized Rubbermaid bin and mist with a spray bottle filled with sterilized/distilled water periodically.
  18. Saline_Smoker

    Question about starter culture?

    Billy, As most sources suggest mixing in the culture slurry to your mince right before stuffing, I'd be inclined to say you won't want to do this if you can avoid it. Quickly re-reading some parts of Marianski's books, I can't find any exact reasoning, but I figure stuffing it then...
  19. Saline_Smoker

    Coppa

    Ah dang, sorry to hear. Yeah, these guys have good suggestions, you'll just want to try and fix the 'case hardening' again in another vac bag, or slow down the drying rate with something (extra wrap of paper or in the veggie drawer) best you can to get it to that "perfect" weight loss. Wish you...
  20. Saline_Smoker

    dry cure sausage questions...

    I should note though, based off my reading of the bacteria strain/acidity production graphs from Chr. Hansen (the people who make pretty much all of these cultures), you likely won't want to drop your sugar levels any further than a minimum of 0.30%. Those bacteria guys do need something to work...
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