I made my first batch of summer sausage yesterday and today. I used a 74/26 ground chuck mix. (no pork) I made it with a purchased seasoning/cure mix. I did add a little cayanne pepper. Anyway, I mixed and stuffed it into collogen casings yesterday the refridgerated overnight. \
I put it in a 120 smoker until the internal temp of the meat reached 90. Then I turned up the heat over several hours and smoked it with hickory and apple till the internal temp of the meat was 152. The whole smokehouse time was about 6 hours.
I pulled the sausage and let it cool for about an hour, then cut one to try it. The texture was similar to that of spam, and the meat looked pinkish red. The casing was not drawn tight to the meat. The taste was okay, but that texture was awful.
After doing some research I found a couple websites mention letting it set for a day before refrigerating or eating.
Could someone with experience offer some insite to this. The casing on the sausage looks like it is actually starting to shrink tight to the meat, or the meat is expanding.
Thanks for any guidence.
MoHntr
I put it in a 120 smoker until the internal temp of the meat reached 90. Then I turned up the heat over several hours and smoked it with hickory and apple till the internal temp of the meat was 152. The whole smokehouse time was about 6 hours.
I pulled the sausage and let it cool for about an hour, then cut one to try it. The texture was similar to that of spam, and the meat looked pinkish red. The casing was not drawn tight to the meat. The taste was okay, but that texture was awful.
After doing some research I found a couple websites mention letting it set for a day before refrigerating or eating.
Could someone with experience offer some insite to this. The casing on the sausage looks like it is actually starting to shrink tight to the meat, or the meat is expanding.
Thanks for any guidence.
MoHntr