- Aug 20, 2014
- 5
- 10
After reading a bunch of posts on here, decided to try summer sausage. Before investing any equipment, I wanted to start simple and see what I could learn about the process and if I wanted to keep going.
Interested to get reactions to see if I am on the right track.
I started with 1.5 lbs of pretty lean ground beef (added some fat trimmings) and 1 lb of lean pork tenderloin. (pic of mix below)
then:
1/4 c water
1 1/4 tsp whole mustard seed
1 1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 tsp red pepper flakes
1.5 TBS Tenderquick (homemade with 1pt cure#1, 4pts sugar, 8pts salt)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 c powdered milk
I mixed 2X per day for three days
Stuffed into 1 1/2 inch casings:
Because I don't (yet) have a proper smoker, I baked in over at 170 for appx 3 hours. Then I moved to the grill with indirect heat (my version of smoking in lieu of a smoker) and tried to maintain reasonable heat with hickory smoke. The sausage was about 140 when I moved it to the grill / smoke. The temp in the grill got above 250 at times ...
It smoked about another 1.25 hours before hitting 155 degrees. I put them in a water bath at that point.
The result was good color and taste. Texture was not what I wanted and there was notable fat-out.
For a first effort, I feel it was good and I think I learned what to do from here. Mostly, I learned I need a good smoker to keep the temp in line and do it right.
Thoughts?
Am I on the right track?
Interested to get reactions to see if I am on the right track.
I started with 1.5 lbs of pretty lean ground beef (added some fat trimmings) and 1 lb of lean pork tenderloin. (pic of mix below)
then:
1/4 c water
1 1/4 tsp whole mustard seed
1 1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 tsp red pepper flakes
1.5 TBS Tenderquick (homemade with 1pt cure#1, 4pts sugar, 8pts salt)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 c powdered milk
I mixed 2X per day for three days
Stuffed into 1 1/2 inch casings:
Because I don't (yet) have a proper smoker, I baked in over at 170 for appx 3 hours. Then I moved to the grill with indirect heat (my version of smoking in lieu of a smoker) and tried to maintain reasonable heat with hickory smoke. The sausage was about 140 when I moved it to the grill / smoke. The temp in the grill got above 250 at times ...
It smoked about another 1.25 hours before hitting 155 degrees. I put them in a water bath at that point.
The result was good color and taste. Texture was not what I wanted and there was notable fat-out.
For a first effort, I feel it was good and I think I learned what to do from here. Mostly, I learned I need a good smoker to keep the temp in line and do it right.
Thoughts?
Am I on the right track?