Busy couple of days

[Oceantoad]

I mixed up 27 lbs of Venison/Pork Butt (60/40) and made up some pepproni sticks, Wild Garlic Summer Sausage, Wild Game Salami and some AC Legs Summer Sausage. Spent most of the day yesterday smoking them on a GMG Daniel Boone pellet smoker. Let them rest over night and vacuum packed them today. Happy with how they looked. Not excited with the taste. They all seem bland to me. When making the pepperoni snack sticks, I even cut the batch in half and added another heaping tablespoon of Cayenne pepper to the second batch. You cannot tell the difference between the two. I ordered some Carolina Reaper powder to try it again. Even with the different sausages it's hard to distinguish between the different flavors. Oh well, the wife likes them all.

 

[tbern]

They sure look good and it's not all bad if you make the wife happy!!

 

[tallbm]

I mixed up 27 lbs of Venison/Pork Butt (60/40) and made up some pepproni sticks, Wild Garlic Summer Sausage, Wild Game Salami and some AC Legs Summer Sausage. Spent most of the day yesterday smoking them on a GMG Daniel Boone pellet smoker. Let them rest over night and vacuum packed them today. Happy with how they looked. Not excited with the taste. They all seem bland to me. When making the pepperoni snack sticks, I even cut the batch in half and added another heaping tablespoon of Cayenne pepper to the second batch. You cannot tell the difference between the two. I ordered some Carolina Reaper powder to try it again. Even with the different sausages it's hard to distinguish between the different flavors. Oh well, the wife likes them all.

Nice haul.
The fry test before stuffing will save you every time.
If too bland add more sault and seasoning. If too salty add more meat.
Write down the seasoning gram measurements per pound and you are golden!

It's best to do this with any store bought seasoning or any online/book recipe you try for the 1st time. Write it down and store it somewhere and you never have this issue again in the future.
Follow the fry test practice and you never have an issue with bland or too salty and finding out after all the work is done.

Also know that when you do the fry test, the flavors will not taste the same as when it is the finished product BUT if it taste good you are good. If you think "it could use a little more salt' DON'T ADD ANY, stop there with the salt, it will lose some moisture and get saltier when you make it.
If it taste bad during the fry test... its bad. Adjust if you can till it tastes good hahaha.

I hope all this info helps you with your next batches. It's all part of learning :)

 

[Oceantoad]

tallbm...I

Nice haul.
The fry test before stuffing will save you every time.
If too bland add more sault and seasoning. If too salty add more meat.
Write down the seasoning gram measurements per pound and you are golden!

It's best to do this with any store bought seasoning or any online/book recipe you try for the 1st time. Write it down and store it somewhere and you never have this issue again in the future.
Follow the fry test practice and you never have an issue with bland or too salty and finding out after all the work is done.

Also know that when you do the fry test, the flavors will not taste the same as when it is the finished product BUT if it taste good you are good. If you think "it could use a little more salt' DON'T ADD ANY, stop there with the salt, it will lose some moisture and get saltier when you make it.
If it taste bad during the fry test... its bad. Adjust if you can till it tastes good hahaha.

I hope all this info helps you with your next batches. It's all part of learning :)

tallmb, I did exactly what you had suggested. After I let them sit overnight, and before casing them up, I did a fry test. during the fry test is when I noticed the lack of flavor. I figured it would get saltier and the flavor would really pop as time went on. The only thing I changed was adding cayenne pepper to the pepperoni sticks after splitting the batch into two. My gut was telling me to add more flavoring to all. I just wanted to wait and see with the rest of the sausages. I also keep a journal of every recipe I use. I write one column for the original recipe, including where I obtained it from and another for what I used in gram to kilogram ratio. I note the consistency, texture, flavor, color and moisture in each test patty. I also note how they were smoked. Time, temp, type of pellets. It's probably a bit overkill, but, I was reviewing some notes I made on sausages I produced earlier this year and it brought back all the memories of the success and failures of those. Thank you for the response and all the knowledge you include. I have picked up quite a few knowledge nuggets which have helped in the different stages of sausage making. You were also spot on when you said:
"Write down the seasoning gram measurements per pound and you are golden!"
Golden is actually my last name. :)

 

[tallbm]

tallbm...I

tallmb, I did exactly what you had suggested. After I let them sit overnight, and before casing them up, I did a fry test. during the fry test is when I noticed the lack of flavor. I figured it would get saltier and the flavor would really pop as time went on. The only thing I changed was adding cayenne pepper to the pepperoni sticks after splitting the batch into two. My gut was telling me to add more flavoring to all. I just wanted to wait and see with the rest of the sausages. I also keep a journal of every recipe I use. I write one column for the original recipe, including where I obtained it from and another for what I used in gram to kilogram ratio. I note the consistency, texture, flavor, color and moisture in each test patty. I also note how they were smoked. Time, temp, type of pellets. It's probably a bit overkill, but, I was reviewing some notes I made on sausages I produced earlier this year and it brought back all the memories of the success and failures of those. Thank you for the response and all the knowledge you include. I have picked up quite a few knowledge nuggets which have helped in the different stages of sausage making. You were also spot on when you said:
"Write down the seasoning gram measurements per pound and you are golden!"
Golden is actually my last name. :)

Ah well you are doing good practices. It's good they are reinforcing the flavor aspect and you'll know from your notes to add more seasoning and salt for the next run. The thing I look for the most is if it's too salty or not salty enough.

Never really had the "flavor is not good" issue except when using store bought jerky seasonings and on them I just added more meat and went with added garlic, pepper, and salt and such to drown out those horrible other flavors hahahaha.

You are well on the way. As you know its a learning process and the notes you are taking will make it to where you work something into shape and then just have to come back to the notes to nail it every time!

And you will be golden Golden :D