First Summer Sausage

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jcam222

Epic Pitmaster
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Jun 13, 2017
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Northeast Ohio
Seeing Steve H Steve H post last week pushed me over the edge. I finally broke our the stuffer and learned how to use it. No idea why it has intimidated me. Shout out to chopsaw chopsaw for answering the zillion questions I had a long the way. This is my first successful batch because my first 12 lbs batch went in the trash. I messed up and put the ECA in 24 hours in advance, it set up like a rock and I added way to much water. All the spices leeched out with the water and it yielded what tasted like a lemon in meat form lol. Back to the drawing board and simplified with advice from Rich I went with the basic Leggs 114, cure 1, small amount of liquid smoke, whey isolate for binder and a small amount of water. Here they are stuffed and ready to rest over night before smoking.
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I smoked them in the Smokin Tex with a ramp up starting at 120F to dry then 130, 140 for an hour each before going to 160 for the duration. Herw they are out of the smoker, had to pull at 125 as I was running out of daylight.
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I went to sous vide naked , 155 water temp to finish the meat to 152.
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I will not sous vide naked again at all. I've seen some of you have success with it but to me it washed away all the good smoke on exterior. Color faded a ton. Next time I'll make sure to start early enough to finish in smoker. People love this though. Here is a cut shot
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All in all pleased with this although I want a more pronounced flavor and smoke on future batches. You can see the color loss on the finished sticks. I'll be making many more as I work out recipes. I'm probably going to go off the sausage deep end now LOL. Thanks again to chopsaw chopsaw and thanks for looking.
 
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Looks good Jeff . You got some good experience in those 2 batches . Only get better from here .
Smoker start to finish is how I like it , and bet you will too .
When's the next batch ?
 
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Looks good Jeff . You got some good experience in those 2 batches . Only get better from here .
Smoker start to finish is how I like it , and bet you will too .
When's the next batch ?
I may do a couple small batches next week. I want to do one like this with amped up garlic and smoke and another with chopped jalapenos and a little habanero powder as additions. I have to order some casings.
 
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Looks great Jeff! Rich is a great help... so many variations can cause issues with summer sausage but with the help you're on your way! He helped me out as well.
What size casings did you use?

Ryan
 
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Nicely done Jeff. It looks like you nailed it.

Point for sure
Chris
 
Looks great Jeff! Rich is a great help... so many variations can cause issues with summer sausage but with the help you're on your way! He helped me out as well.
What size casings did you use?

Ryan
Thanks Ryan. He sure is a ton of help! I used 2.5 inch fibrous casings

Nicely done Jeff. It looks like you nailed it.

Point for sure
Chris
Thanks Chris
 
Nice looking sausage, Jeff.
What meat did you use?
Skipped the ECA this round?
What do you think is the primary spices in the AC Leggs #114
...
Back to the drawing board and simplified with advice from Rich I went with the basic Leggs 114, cure 1, small amount of liquid smoke, whey isolate for binder and a small amount of water.
...
I will not sous vide naked again at all. I've seen some of you have success with it but to me it washed away all the good smoke on exterior. Color faded a ton. Next time I'll make sure to start early enough to finish in smoker.
...



I made my first batch of SS at the S FL Gathering. Lightly followed 2 guys and a cooler, but used TSM Fermento instead of ECA.
An overnight in the smoker wasn't quite enough to get it pasteurized and Keith forgot to start the sous vide in the (Sunday) morning to get it finished and share around the group before we had to leave.
I will not use naked in sous vide either.

I may do a couple small batches next week. I want to do one like this with amped up garlic and smoke and another with chopped jalapenos and a little habanero powder as additions. I have to order some casings.
That's my thoughts for next round. More garlic.
Found another recipe I want to try and using smoked paprika to add the nose. Debating on the added heat.

Got a Bass Pro Cabelas in the area? They stock fibrous in 2-1/2". 2-1/2# per stick
 
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Nice looking sausage, Jeff.
What meat did you use?
Skipped the ECA this round?
What do you think is the primary spices in the AC Leggs #114




I made my first batch of SS at the S FL Gathering. Lightly followed 2 guys and a cooler, but used TSM Fermento instead of ECA.
An overnight in the smoker wasn't quite enough to get it pasteurized and Keith forgot to start the sous vide in the (Sunday) morning to get it finished and share around the group before we had to leave.
I will not use naked in sous vide either.


That's my thoughts for next round. More garlic.
Found another recipe I want to try and using smoked paprika to add the nose. Debating on the added heat.

Got a Bass Pro Cabelas in the area? They stock fibrous in 2-1/2". 2-1/2# per stick
All beef 80/20 store grind. I skipped ECA on this batch. likely will try it or Fermento in the future. Not really sure on the spices in the 114 blend although I smell some nutmeg I think. Bass Pro is an hour away so I just order on Amazon. I know I'm good ng to try many blends over the next year lol
 
All beef 80/20 store grind. I skipped ECA on this batch. likely will try it or Fermento in the future. Not really sure on the spices in the 114 blend although I smell some nutmeg I think. Bass Pro is an hour away so I just order on Amazon. I know I'm good ng to try many blends over the next year lol
Happy to hear you broke the threshold and found sausage isn't that hard. Get's a bit more challenging the smaller you go in casings. The cleanup sucks no matter the casing size. With your "go big or go home gusto" the cleanup up is rewarded with a large amount of product.
Mine was 80/20 pork to beef. I will up to 50/50 next go.
Fermento is a blend of buttermilk powder and potato starch

Keith JckDanls 07 JckDanls 07 introduced me to 100% pork snack sticks. They are really really good.
 
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Not really sure on the spices in the 114 blend
One reason I suggested using a kit from Leggs or Owens is that they have dextrose and sodium erythorbate already in the ingredients . My opinion is both go a long way to a good end result .
I have that stuff in bulk on the shelf , but starting out a good kit keeps it easy .

You should be able to get saco buttermilk powder at the grocery store in the baking aisle . Not sure what fits your diet plan .
I used it years ago , and didn't really see an advantage for me , but you should try it and decide for yourself . I stopped chasing the " tang " and shoot for texture and the mouthfeel to start .
Then I go for flavor profile , and lastly some smoke .
 
One reason I suggested using a kit from Leggs or Owens is that they have dextrose and sodium erythorbate already in the ingredients . My opinion is both go a long way to a good end result .
I have that stuff in bulk on the shelf , but starting out a good kit keeps it easy .

You should be able to get saco buttermilk powder at the grocery store in the baking aisle . Not sure what fits your diet plan .
I used it years ago , and didn't really see an advantage for me , but you should try it and decide for yourself . I stopped chasing the " tang " and shoot for texture and the mouthfeel to start .
Then I go for flavor profile , and lastly some smoke .
I still have some left. I do like that it has those already in it at the right amount. I'll use it on next batches with extra garlic, some mustard seed and maybe a little cracked peppercorn. You can tell that sodium erythorbate really accelerates the cure visually within minutes. I'm not sure if I'll chase a tang either.
 
I still have some left. I do like that it has those already in it at the right amount. I'll use it on next batches with extra garlic, some mustard seed and maybe a little cracked peppercorn. You can tell that sodium erythorbate really accelerates the cure visually within minutes. I'm not sure if I'll chase a tang either.
Jeff, I think it was two years ago I made some Red Barn Bologna from Owen's BBQ... wasn't sure about the ECA so I made two batches, one with, and one without... all my taste testers liked it with the ECA better. It's all personal preference I know but it gave me something to go on.

Ryan
 
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