Search results
-
Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
-
Flc for tspx?
Well shoot, started a batch of the Poli ginger salami, which calls for 48 hours of fermentation with tspx. Went to add some and I’m out, but have some fresh flc. Any downside to substituting it? Will be using UMAI casings. Thanks much!! -
New Sausage Maker 15% off smokers worth considering?
Have a MES 30, and its been working just fine the last several years; however, I'm thinking of upgrading to a larger more convenient unit to do more than one batch at a time. I see that SM has its 15% discount running, and they have a nice looking 20 and 30 pound model; the 30 pound with the... -
Smoking UMAi? Yup!
Some time ago I wondered about smoking UMAi sausage, after it was finished in the refrigerator and ready for consumption. I posed the question to the folks at UMAi and they replied: "You can absolutely do this. Smoking after the sausage is dried perhaps will not impart a deep smoke flavor but... -
An Easier Way for Sticks
After a few years of doing sticks I have come up with a way that minimizes the time and maintains the quality; thought I'd share it. Here the sticks have been stuffed and sat in the fridge over night. Next morning I set them on the counter early, for an hour or so, then put them in the oven at... -
Dried Pellets 100% Reliable
Most of the time, but not all, I pour the pellets into the AMNPS and x hours later I'm done. Never think about the smoke. Didn't happen last week though; left home after starting the smoker and came back two hours later to find no smoke. The pellets had burned some but then puffed up like... -
32mm UMAi? Here goes!
Saw SmokinAl's earlier pepperoni post on using 32mm UMAi; I have always used 50mm for my dried sausages, and with very good results. But noting the sale price on Sausage Maker and wanting to try a smaller size to fit a cracker perfectly, and maybe cut the drying time down some as well, decided... -
UMAi Garlic Done 1 month and 4 days
Did another batch of dry garlic sausage, and this one aged 35 days in the UMAi bags in my basement refrigerator, after a 3 day fermentation period hanging in the oven. Here's what they looked like just before I seal wrapped them for the freezer. This is typical; mostly they are loose in their... -
Chub crimping method in photos
I discussed sometime earlier how using the hog ring pliers has made tying off and hanging my sausage a lot easier. I know a lot of folks use hog rings, but thought I'd show my approach as I didn't illustrate it that well before. Here is the chub filled at the end of the tube: Here the end... -
TSPX with tap water: Big Mistake??
Well shoot, in a rush to put up a UMAI batch of ginger salami last night I mistakenly mixed my TSPX culture with tap water instead of distilled. Anybody have any insight on how big a mistake that may have been? The chubs are fermenting in the oven now about 14 hours and smell pretty good, and... -
Lots of cheese in these brats!
Had some extra Philly Cheese Steak brat mix left and decided to make brats with pepper jack cheese incorporated, a 5 pound batch. Never made brats before; use the mix to make stix previously. Double ground the venison/pork 50/50 mix with a large plate, twice. Came out looking fine; the white... -
Cheap high temp cheese makes Philly Stix
Tried something different, used a brat recipe, the Owens Philly Cheese Steak one, to make stix. Did a 5 pound batch, carefully weighing out the mix from the 25 pound batch pack. Added teaspoon equivalent of cure #1, and I think most importantly, added 20 ounces of pepper jack high temp... -
New Hog Pliers Great!
After struggling with tying off the chubs, I took the plunge on getting hog ring pliers. First test with a batch of Finocchio, using the UMAI recipe. I have a nice kitchen scale but on smaller amounts have found that my reloading scale is much more exact. It will get the amount of culture... -
UMAI Ginger Salami done, and $ comparison
My second UMAI, this one using the ginger salami recipe from Len Poli ,just came out of the fridge after about 5 weeks. It's shrunk by 40%, and is definitely very good. The UMAI bags pulled away from the sausage fairly quickly, but it didn't matter. The nice round shape stayed in tact and... -
Hunting Success!
Well I finally got lucky with my old recurve bow! I started bow hunting with a Bear Kodiak Hunter recurve back in the 1960's, like everyone, then went to a compound when they came out, and then after yanking off a fiber optic sight going through the dark woods one morning, etc., decided I had... -
Honey BBQ Stix Outstanding!
I have been reluctant to use prepackaged spice mixes; just figured I could buy premium spices and add them with no more cost than a mix and be better off. That was reinforced a couple years back when I tried a terraki mix that was at best average. But then in visiting Rick Nepas last winter I... -
First Time UMAi on the way, looking good I think
Decided to go with UMAi's Salame Finocchiona recipe since I had everything on hand. I know this UMAi technology works, because Rick Nepas gave me some UMAi sausage he made when I visited in Florida, and it was a knockout. Now, can I duplicate that? Here are the chubs before going into the... -
Any recipe for UMAi?
My UMAi order should be here tomorrow, and after trying some of Rick Nepas's sausage when visting him in Florida I'm anxious to see if I can make these dried sausages without the controls I thought I otherwise needed, like a humidity controlled drying chamber. What I'm wondering is if I can use... -
Pork Butt Pricing?
Just got a deboned pork butt of 10 pounds for $1.38 a pound, starting to cut up below. There was just a few ounces of waste I trimmed out. Some nice fat but not a whole lot; seems about right for sausage. In the case was another butt, with bone in and heavy skin on for $.76 a pound. I've... -
Nepas Visit!!
Headed to Florida last week to see family and was driving past Ft. Pierce where I knew from his posts that Rick Nepas is enjoying the winter with his wife in their big 5th wheel trailer. They invited us to drop by, and as you might imagine, I was very excited to see how Rick turns out one batch... -
Dried Polish in the Hopper: On Track?
A bad head virus knocked me down this week, wiping out a 4 day deer and duck hunting plan, so I decided to plunge in with my first dried sausage; I picked the Marianski dried Polish recipe. Used elk and pork, plus hand cut fat back bits. My last batch of Polish semi dried came out a little...
