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    Sausagefest 2024 - What are your favorite sausages?

    After 4 research batches, attempt #5 hit the mark. Just finished initial post on Louisiana Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boudin! Next up is Nuremberg Brats.
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    FIRST TIMER with the Bella

    That looks like a much larger chamber though. I have one that looks ~1/8th that by volume.
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    Grillable Louisiana Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boudin

    Haha, it's on the 27th! This Boudin set me back a bit, but only two more to go! I still have the cooler from the Best Stop order. How about I have a raffle so that I can share this with someone on the forum? All seven sausages, frozen, in a cooler with dry ice, shipped to whoever wins. That'd...
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    Grillable Louisiana Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boudin

    Thanks Dave! I'm really glad it worked out. After 2 failures on this one and 2 supporting experiments, and one over-salty batch, I was really starting to worry. Shrimp can be expensive!
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    Grillable Louisiana Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boudin

    The derived @73saint / Best Stop recipe is as follows: For every 1000g of meat (600g chopped shimp into 1/2" cubes, 200g ground shrimp, 200g pork fat): 100g of canned rotel solids semi-puree (blend can and strain results). 200g cooked jasmine rice with rotel water (save rotel water, and use to...
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    Grillable Louisiana Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boudin

    Latest recipe is here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/grillable-louisiana-crawfish-or-shrimp-boudin.327741/post-2529136 This is exciting! I've been working on a series of 7 sausages for a Sausagefest 2024 party I'm having soon. So far, I've been making great progress on sausages (#1...
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    FIRST TIMER with the Bella

    Oh, that's good to hear! Mine does bellow smoke (unlike the maze), but maybe it doesn't bellow fast enough. It over smoked the bacon I had smoking. Fortunately, I got an Auber circulating fan for heat evenness reasons. I'll install this today and try again -- perhaps a little air circulation...
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    FIRST TIMER with the Bella

    That's what I tried, unfortunately it still billowed out too much smoke :( Also tried all permutations of the baffles fully open on the MES and on the Bella. Turning it down to minimum helped, but still too much smoke being generated. I'll try the chips/pellets included with the bella to see...
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    FIRST TIMER with the Bella

    Sodium hydroxide (drain cleaner) should clean it well and won't leave a residue or anything. As long as you use safety precaution when you apply it (eye protection, gloves, and don't pour water onto the sodium hydroxide as @Cajuneric showed in the cleaning video. That creates splashes of an...
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    FIRST TIMER with the Bella

    I have the same issue! I just got mine a few days ago, and I hate it so much! Totally over-smoked my last batch and there was nothing I could do to reduce the smoke. Maybe in a larger smoke house, but for a little MES 30 I think it's way too much. Going back to mailbox mod with maze.
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    1st time buckboard bacon

    Right, my point is that you can vac bag with the meat remaining free. On a chamber vac, you can get a tight seal that will never leak by setting the vacuum process to a few seconds. Better than ziplocks imo for leak protection. On a bag vacuum machine, I imagine you can just set the vacuum...
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    1st time buckboard bacon

    That's a good point. I use a chamber vac, so I do a loose vacuum so contents can move. I can then massage contents periodically. If you vacuumed too tight, it'd be problematic to the reasons you've mentioned. The zip lock, unless done carefully, can have cure contents stuck to the bag and not...
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    1st time buckboard bacon

    Fwiw - FDA requires them to advertise MSG if they're using MSG, so you know they're not using it directly at least. Also, I think this is the way to go (or better yet vacuum bagged) if you haven't made your own bacon before. I wish I did this the first time, lol.
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    Jalapeño Cheddar Sausage

    The comparison argument is a good one. I see the utility in that. I will appropriately show my ingredients relative to meat quantities of 2.205 pounds (1kg) from now on. ;)
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    On the Edge of Trying Sausage Making

    Ah, yes -- I was talking about the Jerky cannon. I was using the term "jerky gun" generically, but it looks like a super tiny LEM "jerky gun" available which would be super confusing. Just got out and measured my cannon with calipers. It measures 2 1/4", so it should work with both those. It...
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    Should I add sodium phosphate to equilibrium-cured bacon?

    I had an earlier failure with "true dry" process, where the analysis of that failure led me to believe that a bit of the cure leeches out with the water. As a result, the meat is undercured overall. I'll send you a PM. Thanks!
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    Should I add sodium phosphate to equilibrium-cured bacon?

    Ah, good to know! I'm currently thinking of doing somewhat of a hybrid approach. Bacon-in-a-bag, is great for its reliability, but the meat will be sitting in a bag in its brine. Dry rubbed, on the other hand, will result in a better tasting product, but I believe it will also be under-cured...
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    Should I add sodium phosphate to equilibrium-cured bacon?

    Yeah, I think you're right. But I'm also trying to not stray too far from commercial, since I'm trying to convert my wife to homemade bacon. For example, I know that homemade mac and cheese using a mornay sauce is better than the kraft stuff in the box... but I also still really like the kraft...
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    On the Edge of Trying Sausage Making

    I've tried most of them. The LEM Jerky gun is the best. No contest. The LEM tube will have a 2" base, so it'll work with other jerky guns. You can also buy a set of generic tubes for cheaper, and if it has a 2" base (or 1 15/16" base, or 2.05" base), it should work on your jerky gun as well. A...
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    Should I add sodium phosphate to equilibrium-cured bacon?

    Thanks @Dave in AZ! I think you're right. After researching this a bit more, it literally seems to be a profit motive. For some reason, I was thinking the phosphate helped the bacon not shrink as much when cooking, but I think that's not true... the opposite, in fact. The phosphate gets people...
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