Going out on a limb

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jaustin

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 8, 2017
15
47
Baton Rouge, LA
OK, decided to step WAY out of my comfort zone this weekend and try some cured and smoked sausage. Attempting both andouille and kielbasa, since from what I’ve been able to gather, they’re processed relatively the same from a smoking standpoint.

Found a few recipes on these forums, others elsewhere online, referred to my son’s culinary school textbook, added, subtracted, multiplied and fudged to come up with my own variations, based on the taste preferences of me and my family, so hoping all will work well. Mixed it all up yesterday and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Got up this morning and after a coupla cups of coffee, ground the meat and it’s currently in the fridge chilling down prior to stuffing. Casings soaking…

Will post pics and whatnot once they’re finished, assuming I don’t botch it too badly. Working under the assumption that it won’t actually be BAD. Will post recipes if it’s actually GOOD. ;-)

Andoiulle is somewhere between the NOLA and Emerils' recipes, the Kielbasa is based on jipnsmoke's recipe and DanMcG's, with additions and proportion changes.  "Shoulders of giants" and all that.
 
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OK, decided to step WAY out of my comfort zone this weekend and try some cured and smoked sausage. Attempting both andouille and kielbasa, since from what I’ve been able to gather, they’re processed relatively the same from a smoking standpoint.

Found a few recipes on these forums, others elsewhere online, referred to my son’s culinary school textbook, added, subtracted, multiplied and fudged to come up with my own variations, based on the taste preferences of me and my family, so hoping all will work well. Mixed it all up yesterday and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Got up this morning and after a coupla cups of coffee, ground the meat and it’s currently in the fridge chilling down prior to stuffing. Casings soaking…

Will post pics and whatnot once they’re finished, assuming I don’t botch it too badly. Working under the assumption that it won’t actually be BAD. Will post recipes if it’s actually GOOD. ;-)

Andoiulle is somewhere between the NOLA and Emerils' recipes, the Kielbasa is based on jipnsmoke's recipe and DanMcG's, with additions and proportion changes.  "Shoulders of giants" and all that.
That's Great!!!  I did an Andoiulle this past Dec. I also did a mix between those 2, I ended up doing 25lbs of it using venison pork 60/40. It was the best Andoiulle we have made, and apparently is a hit with whoever tries it. I think for home made it's the best version for my taste. Can't wait to see the picks...
 
Preliminary pix and setup.


Nice clean mixer and grinder.  Mixer bowl in a bowl of ice to keep things nice and chilly.  Also allows use of the dough hook for further mixing without disassembling and has a handle.  Kinda Rube Goldberg-esque, but functional and quick, as you'll see.  The andouille is ground with two different size dies, so got the smaller one handy - coarse one is on the grinder already


Meats after a quiet night in the fridge.  4# of kielbasa on the left, 3# andouille on the right. Small scale, y'all.


Second half of the andouille going through.  Rougher grind of the first half is already in the bottom of the bowl.


Lift, insert dough hook, put cold mixing bowl on mixer and have at it fro a minute or two.  Added dry milk powder at this stage, since I hadn't yet read that everyone else adds it to their water mixture.  Duh.


Out of the mixer and back to the fridge to chill while the casings soak and the stuffer gets set up...

Repeat for the kielbasa mix, just a single size grind is all.


Everything cleaned up and ready for the next steps.  What you have to do when you don't have a lot of room to muck about.
 
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Not everyone mixes NFDM with water. I add a little at a time dry while mixing, and I think I spend more time cleaning up than anything else!
 
Nice ride so far and looking good!

NFDM, mix in dry, mix in the water, either way, it'll do the job.

I'm with Mose, I seem to clean more than anything else!
 
Okie dokie, y'all.  I don't know if this is "authentic" andouille or kielbasa, but they're all bred from recipes that people have referenced and found to be close enough to the real thing to like.  It came out GREAT from a "Hmm.  That's pretty damn good sausage" perspective, IMHO, with only a small tweak to satisfy a few of the taste testers.  Here's the followup to the setup and pix post from earlier todaty.  Bonus!  Includes how to use a two temp ("Off" and "On") Brinkman to do this thing!

Stuffing setup:


"Game Winner" 5# stuffer in the back there.  Looks like it might have come out of a different door than a LEM, but at the same factory.   I like it.  All steel gears, pushes meat mush just fine.  Bought at Academy as a gift from my spouse.


The infamous Brinkman.  Hoping to bring some respect to this $70 wonder.  It has two temperature settings - "Off" and "On," but we worked with them to do this.  Yes, those are picture hangers I've clamped to the rods to hang the sausage off of, since there was too much to just do on the two racks.


First we coiled some Kielbasa.  I've got to work on my stuffing consistency, but for those just starting out (I've never seen this on any site) A little bubble of air in front of the horn REALLY HELPS get them shucked up on that thing before you start stuffing.  Get rid of the bubble before you tie off the starting end.  If you don't do that, you're fighting a vacuum to get the casings on the horn.  Hold the end up and "poof" a little air in the end before you start.  It's like a little miracle, I swear.


Followed by the andouille.  3 pound batch is obviously smaller.


Made the links.  Around 10" for kielbasa, 8" for andouille.  Ignore the cr@p in the background, please...


Hung it all from the picture hooks on the grid, though some went on top. I really need to figure out a better way to to this.  It worked, technically.  Thanks to my son for holding the rack up for the picture.


At 72 degrees ambient, this is a Brinkman holding at 145 for drying the casings.   Stuff on top, stuff hanging.  Probe for thermometer is hanging near the center of the cylinder.  Pecan smoke started after an hour.


Meanwhile, frying up a test patty of the andouille.   Though too late, since it's all been stuffed.   And is in the smoker.  Thought you might wanna see it anyway.  Tasted good.  Very porky.


After an hour of smoke, upped the temp.  This is a Brinkman at 165 degrees if you're at 72 ambient.  2x2 props on a slightly (20%?) offset lid, door fully open.  You can see the heating element and a link hanging down in there.


Brinkman at 180 - Lid still on props, but now centered and not offset.  Door halfway closed.  72 degrees ambient.  More smoke going.  FYI, If you want 170, open the door all the way.


Had to spy on them with a flashlight as the temp was getting close.  11:00 = Andouille, 2:00= Some WIP Jalapeno cheddar that we thought could use some smoke, 6:00=Kielbasa.


Overshot the temp by a few degrees (hit 162 in a few links).  Pulled 'em all and gave 'em a ice water bath for 20 minutes or so.


Blotted dry.  Left to right, 3 links of Jalapeno Cheddar (WIP), a slew of kielbasa, bunch of andouille.  Whee!


Money shot - (L-R) Kielbasa, Jalapeno Cheddar, Andouille.   Texture and grind were spot on, IMO.


Ate a bit, then vac sealed the rest and now in the freezer.

Overall eval:

Andouille - Great taste, good grind.  Overall favorite among all tasters.  Heat needs adjusting.  It's a great sausage, but is it truly andouille?  I dunno, but it's a keeper either way.  Needs more heat, and it needs to come on sooner.  It's got a good taste, but heat needs to hit faster/harder is the overall opinion.  Otherwise a winner in everyone's book.  Think I'll bump the cayenne up a bit next time.  And there WILL be a next time, and making more than a measly 3 pounds.   A lot is gone already...  :-/

Kielbasa - This is one of the few sausages that I wouldn't mind eating as-is without frying first.  It's a darn fine sausage.  Good texture. not overly garlic-y (which was a concern after smelling that thing...  Whew!)  Nice bite and casing "pop."  Good contender as a griller or ingredient in other stuff (as is the andouille).

Jalapeno Cheddar - It still needs work.  Good flavor, not ready for prime time yet

Need to figure out a better way to hang the sausage in the Brinkman.

That's it, y'all.  Fully successful in my book.
 
Points for sure!

Talk about dedication and ingenuity! I've loved this post from the beginning and the end results looks wonderful!

Now, as for authentic, if you like it and you followed a process for a specific type of sausage, it's perfectly authentic in my book, authentically yours!

Nice work!
 
As promised if it turned out well, here are the recipes for the "kielbasa" and "andouille" sausages in this post.  All seasonings were whacked in a little Cuisinart mini-grinder food processor prior to being mixed into the water and added to the mix.  Changes that I've made to the final recipe are in red.  Skip those for the original that I used in this post.  Let me know if they're worthy of the names kielbasa and andouille, or if I ought to just call them "Good Sausage #1" and "Good Sausage #2"...  Regular KA mixer should have no trouble at all with this grind, even relatively large quantities.  I found that excessive grinding with the 1/8" plate would make mine overheat, but these larger grinds were a BREEZE...  ;-)

By the way, my recipes are t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon.  All done (sorry) by volume, not weight, using the "scoop and scrape" method of measuring.  Scoop an uncompacted of sifted quantity or ingredient, scrape off the measuring spoon with the back of a knife.  I'll convert to weight at some point, but didn't for these.

Andouille Sausage

5# Pork butt & fat, cubed around 3/4" (~70/30 fat ratio)

2 t Cayenne pepper  (Bump this to 3 tsp for a bit more kick.  It's great either way, but my recipe now calls for 3)

1 ½ T Hungarian paprika

¼ C Minced garlic (from a jar)

2 T Fine ground Black pepper

3 T Kosher salt (good ol' Morton)

¾ t Ground Thyme

1 t Crushed red pepper

1 t Cure #1 (pink salt)

2” Bay leaf, ground

1 t Ground file’

2 t Rubbed sage

½ C Ice water

2 T Nonfat milk powder

Thoroughly grind all non meat ingredients except powdered milk. Add to water, mix well. Add to meat and toss thoroughly. Cover and put into fridge overnight. Mix with powdered milk, then grind ½ with very coarse (7/16”) grinding plate, ½ with medium coarse (¼”) plate, mix the two grinds together with the dough hook on the mixer. Stuff into casings, pinching at ~8” links. Loop with string and place on wire racks in fridge overnight to dry casings or around an hour at 140 or so in the smoker, then pecan smoke 2-4 hours under full smoke until internal temp of 155°, then remove and chill in ice water for 20 minutes or so.  Pat dry then portion and freeze.

Smoked Kielbasa

4 # Pork butt & fat, cubed around 3/4" (~70/30 fat ratio)

1 # Lean beef, cubed around 3/4"

½ C Ice water

2 T Kosher salt (Morton)

1 1/4 t Sugar

1 t Cure #1

2 T Minced garlic (from a jar)

1 T Ground black pepper

1 t Ground marjoram (add an extra 1/4 t)

2 t Onion powder

½ C Nonfat dry milk powder

Mix dry ingredients except powdered milk into ice water. Add to meat and mix well. Stored covered overnight in fridge. Grind through medium (¼”) plate. Mix powdered milk into meat and mix with dough hook until sticky (2 min or so), then stuff into casings, creating 10-12” circles or appropriate links. Loop with string and place on wire racks in fridge overnight to dry casings (important) or around an hour at 140 or so in the smoker, then pecan smoke 2-4 hours under full smoke until internal temp of 155°, then remove and chill in ice water. Blot dry or hang in front of fan for an hour, then vacuum seal and freeze.

Any questions?  Lemme know.
 
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I have to say for your first try, you hit it out of the park.

This was a great thread & point worthy for sure!

Excellent job!

Congrats on making the carousel!

Al
 
I'm with CB on this one  Great from start to finish   (You do know you have to send out samples)    
points1.png


Gary
 
 
As promised if it turned out well, here are the recipes for the "kielbasa" and "andouille" sausages in this post.  All seasonings were whacked in a little Cuisinart mini-grinder food processor prior to being mixed into the water and added to the mix.  Changes that I've made to the final recipe are in red.  Skip those for the original that I used in this post.  Let me know if they're worthy of the names kielbasa and andouille, or if I ought to just call them "Good Sausage #1" and "Good Sausage #2"...  Regular KA mixer should have no trouble at all with this grind, even relatively large quantities.  I found that excessive grinding with the 1/8" plate would make mine overheat, but these larger grinds were a BREEZE...  ;-)

By the way, my recipes are t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon.  All done (sorry) by volume, not weight, using the "scoop and scrape" method of measuring.  Scoop an uncompacted or sifted quantity or ingredient, scrape off the measuring spoon with the back of a knife.  I'll convert to weight at some point, but didn't for these.

Andouille Sausage

5# Pork butt & fat, cubed around 3/4" (~70/30 fat ratio)

2 t Cayenne pepper  (Bump this to 3 tsp for a bit more kick.  It's great either way, but my recipe now calls for 3)

1 ½ T Hungarian paprika  (you can try Hot Hungarian paprika )

¼ C Minced garlic (from a jar)

2 T Fine ground Black pepper

3 T Kosher salt (good ol' Morton)

¾ t Ground Thyme

1 t Crushed red pepper

1 t Cure #1 (pink salt)

2” Bay leaf, ground

1 t Ground file’

2 t Rubbed sage

½ C Ice water

2 T Nonfat milk powder

Thoroughly grind all non meat ingredients except powdered milk. Add to water, mix well. Add to meat and toss thoroughly. Cover and put into fridge overnight. Mix with powdered milk, then grind ½ with very coarse (7/16”) grinding plate, ½ with medium coarse (¼”) plate, mix the two grinds together with the dough hook on the mixer. Stuff into casings, pinching at ~8” links. Loop with string and place on wire racks in fridge overnight to dry casings or around an hour at 140 or so in the smoker, then pecan smoke 2-4 hours under full smoke until internal temp of 155°, then remove and chill in ice water for 20 minutes or so.  Pat dry then portion and freeze.

Smoked Kielbasa

4 # Pork butt & fat, cubed around 3/4" (~70/30 fat ratio)

1 # Lean beef, cubed around 3/4"

½ C Ice water

2 T Kosher salt (Morton)

1 1/4 t Sugar

1 t Cure #1

2 T Minced garlic (from a jar)

1 T Ground black pepper

1 t Ground marjoram (add an extra 1/4 t)

2 t Onion powder

½ C Nonfat dry milk powder

Mix dry ingredients except powdered milk into ice water. Add to meat and mix well. Stored covered overnight in fridge. Grind through medium (¼”) plate. Mix powdered milk into meat and mix with dough hook until sticky (2 min or so), then stuff into casings, creating 10-12” circles or appropriate links. Loop with string and place on wire racks in fridge overnight to dry casings (important) or around an hour at 140 or so in the smoker, then pecan smoke 2-4 hours under full smoke until internal temp of 155°, then remove and chill in ice water. Blot dry or hang in front of fan for an hour, then vacuum seal and freeze.

Any questions?  Lemme know.
Overall eval:

Andouille - Great taste, good grind.  Overall favorite among all tasters.  Heat needs adjusting.  It's a great sausage, but is it truly andouille?  I dunno, but it's a keeper either way.  Needs more heat, and it needs to come on sooner.  It's got a good taste, but heat needs to hit faster/harder is the overall opinion.  Otherwise a winner in everyone's book.  Think I'll bump the cayenne up a bit next time.  And there WILL be a next time, and making more than a measly 3 pounds.   A lot is gone already...  :-/

Kielbasa - This is one of the few sausages that I wouldn't mind eating as-is without frying first.  It's a darn fine sausage.  Good texture. not overly garlic-y (which was a concern after smelling that thing...  Whew!)  Nice bite and casing "pop."  Good contender as a griller or ingredient in other stuff (as is the andouille).

Jalapeno Cheddar - It still needs work.  Good flavor, not ready for prime time yet

Need to figure out a better way to hang the sausage in the Brinkman.

That's it, y'all.  Fully successful in my book.

JAustin, Your Sausage and steps look great, A big kudos to that you are definitely doing great. I have a few things I have done you may be interested in, When we did our Andouille recipe we did the same type thing. I combined the 2 Nola and Emeril's. I also made has Essence blend and used it as his recipe directed. I also wrote on the quote, Another option for heat that i have used is Hot Hungarian Paprika. A lot of people are not aware of the various types, It is a very good flavor and has nice heat as well. I also use a turn table / lazy susan when stuffing csgs, As your stuffing you 
just give it a little turn/spin and away you go. Then I pick it up and put it in a meat lug make my links/coils after stuffing is done. Just an Idea for people when they make sausage.

 Again great job on your project!!!! 
 
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