First batch of sausage for 2024

[Culinary Otter]

Just finished our first semi-annual sausage making session for 2024!

2 fresh (Medium Italian, Bratwurst)
2 smoked (Kielbasa, Summer Sausage)

All types were approximately 49% whitetail deer, 36% pork, 15% pork fat.

The summer sausage was the best recipe we've made so far and will be a recurring staple. We tweak my buddy's family kielbasa recipe every time we make it. Think we've almost landed on the recipe we're sticking with. However this was the WORST we have ever stuffed it & linked it. Taste is great but aesthetically it is... lol sub-par. Problem with the last batch of the day after a cooler full of beer.

In total got about 80 lbs made over two days.

Summer Sausage:

Fresh sausages:

Kielbasa:

And the smoke shed setup, which is still a work in progress:

View attachment 685145

Camera to monitor the smoke while we made the fresh sausages:

 

[Fueling Around]

Fun
Nice people cave. Love the Legos.
Guilty of alcohol induced ... anomalies myself.

I think you passed Jim's JLeonard show and tell requirements.

 

[JLeonard]

Man he did pass the show and tell! Great looking pics all the way around and that sausage looks great.

Jim

 

[flatbroke]

Damn. Nice set up and cook. Looks like you were a busy beaver, uh er I mean otter. Everything looks fantastic!

 

[crazymoon]

CO, Looks like a fun time with a good batch of goodies produced !

 

[bill ace 350]

Looks great! Any issues with the sous vides as far as cleaning after the sausage?

 

[Culinary Otter]

Looks great! Any issues with the sous vides as far as cleaning after the sausage?

No not at all. I'll clean the outside, then run them at 80C for a half an hour with a little bit of dish detergent in the water.

Those two are pretty much used only for sausage now (I have another one dedicated for regular SV), but I'd have no issues using any of them for double duty.

 

[millerbuilds]

Wow, looks Awesome and great Show and Tell pictures!

- Jason

 

[bill ace 350]

No not at all. I'll clean the outside, then run them at 80C for a half an hour with a little bit of dish detergent in the water.

Those two are pretty much used only for sausage now (I have another one dedicated for regular SV), but I'd have no issues using any of them for double duty.

Thanks!. Good to know.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Good looking sausage and smokehouse.

The summer sausage was the best recipe we've made so far and will be a recurring staple. We tweak my buddy's family kielbasa recipe every time we make it. Think we've almost landed on the recipe we're sticking with.

Care to share your recipes?

 

[Culinary Otter]

Care to share your recipes?

Kielbasa

g/1000g

Salt = 18
Pepper (fresh ground) = 3
Mustard (50/50 yellow & brown) (half coarse ground/half fine) = 5
Cayenne = 3
Paprika = 3
Garlic (powder)* = 7
Sugar = 1
Marjoram = 1.5

Water = 80
Cure = 2.5
Sodium Erythorbate = 1.5

*that was the first time we used garlic powder, we usually use a fresh garlic slurry, at a lower ratio

Italian

We modified the recipe from the Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages book so I won't post the whole thing.

To their original recipe we added:

Oregano = 1
Chili Flakes = 4
Paprika = 1

Bratwurst

Was a pre-mix (which we generally don't use, but had it at a sausage making course and they were the best brats I've ever had, and I usually don't like bratwurst at all). They use MSG, onion powder, and lemon, which I think is the game changer.

BRATWURST SEAS&BINDER (650g/PKG) | High Caliber Products

BRATWURST SEAS&BINDER (650g/PKG)

highcaliberproducts.com

Summer Sausage was the easy version from 2 Guys and a Cooler, however we didn't use the encapsulated citric acid.

Summer Sausage – easy version – 2 Guys & A Cooler

twoguysandacooler.com

 

[Fueling Around]

...
Bratwurst

Was a pre-mix (which we generally don't use, but had it at a sausage making course and they were the best brats I've ever had, and I usually don't like bratwurst at all). They use MSG, onion powder, and lemon, which I think is the game changer.

BRATWURST SEAS&BINDER (650g/PKG) | High Caliber Products

BRATWURST SEAS&BINDER (650g/PKG)

highcaliberproducts.com

...

Thanks for the brat recipe and comments.
I don't use pre-mix due to the salt content and of course they hide their secrets under the nebulous "spice" in the ingredients. Is Canadian ingredient listing the same as US where it is highest percentage to lowest percentage?.
Still searching for the brat spice combination to meet my wife's taste.
I use MSG in my sausage recipes. Not much, but enough to help the flavor profile.
I wonder if the lemon is a replacement for cardamom?

 

[Culinary Otter]

I wonder if the lemon is a replacement for cardamom?

I was hoping for a full list other than just "spices" but between the tasting notes on the website and the ingredients actually listed I think you could get one pretty close.

We list them from highest to lowest by weight.

They're not super salty, so with the MSG I can't imagine that blend is more than 18g/1000g (also kind of reading between the lines in their class). IIRC the guy that taught it generally goes lower on salt than I do (about 15) but I have a salt tooth.

As far as the lemon I'm not sure if it's a replacement or as an enhancement. They have a nice tanginess to them so I could honestly see them using both.

Maybe I'll cook up a batch tomorrow to help you figure this out lol.

 

[slavikborisov]

Just finished our first semi-annual sausage making session for 2024!

2 fresh (Medium Italian, Bratwurst)
2 smoked (Kielbasa, Summer Sausage)

All types were approximately 49% whitetail deer, 36% pork, 15% pork fat.

The summer sausage was the best recipe we've made so far and will be a recurring staple. We tweak my buddy's family kielbasa recipe every time we make it. Think we've almost landed on the recipe we're sticking with. However this was the WORST we have ever stuffed it & linked it. Taste is great but aesthetically it is... lol sub-par. Problem with the last batch of the day after a cooler full of beer.

In total got about 80 lbs made over two days.

Summer Sausage:

View attachment 685138

View attachment 685137

View attachment 685136

Fresh sausages:

View attachment 685139

Kielbasa:

View attachment 685140

View attachment 685142

View attachment 685143

And the smoke shed setup, which is still a work in progress:

View attachment 685145

View attachment 685146

Camera to monitor the smoke while we made the fresh sausages:

View attachment 685147

looks delicious