It Starts Today!! (in a very small way)

[KonaRich]

Finally!!! So far, I've been all talk and no action. All hat and no cattle. All sizzle and no steak. Today, though, is the first day of my sausage making future, but in an incredibly small way.

My wife found a 1 lb package of ground pork in the chest freezer that's been there since who knows when. I seized upon that package (for a while, until my hands got too cold) and shouted (literally) "This is it!"

That meat will be thawed, thoroughly mixed with 1.13 gr of cure #1, and set in the fridge until tomorrow. Then, it will be mixed with homemade Garlic Black Pepper Stick seasoning, comprised of:

1½ tsp coarse black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp granulated garlic
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp mustard powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cold water

This mix will be extruded onto my drying racks without casings using my meat gun and 10mm tube (squirt gun for meat). Then, into the smoker for progressive drying and smoking.

Ready to eat tomorrow with my Crusty Loafer dutch oven bread made with rosemary and lemon zest.

Meanwhile, the now frozen 2-butt package from Costco must be dealt with. We missed the opportunity of separating and repackaging the individual butts before freezing, so that must be handled. After the 1 butt gets separated and thawed, onward and upward to further sausage adventures!

Baby steps now into the world of cured, smoked sausage! This might turn out to be more fun than smoking meat in general!

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

I wanna see pictures!!

 

[Brokenhandle]

I wanna see pictures!!

Me too!

 

[indaswamp]

I wanna see pictures!!

X2!!!!

 

[in. pred]

Baby steps now into the world of cured, smoked sausage! This might turn out to be more fun than smoking meat in general!

oh it will be! lol

 

[zwiller]

Good luck! Cure amount is spot on. Where's the salt? 9g for 2%.

Sausage is WAY more fun to me than smoking a pork butt. I did exact as you and did small batches to get my feet wet.

Sorry forget to post mack in the other thread. I am using Marianski. Lot's of good info here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/my-first-kabanosy.248002/
If this recipe looks good to you, ask Santa for the green book. TONS of good info and recipes in it. Took my game up several levels just reading it.

 

[KonaRich]

Good luck! Cure amount is spot on. Where's the salt? 9g for 2%.

Sausage is WAY more fun to me than smoking a pork butt. I did exact as you and did small batches to get my feet wet.

Sorry forget to post mack in the other thread. I am using Marianski. Lot's of good info here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/my-first-kabanosy.248002/
If this recipe looks good to you, ask Santa for the green book. TONS of good info and recipes in it. Took my game up several levels just reading it.

The recipe didn't include salt, so I didn't add any. I hope that wasn't a mistake. I also forgot NFDM as it wasn't in the recipe. They're so thin, though, that I don't think (hope) that will be a problem. Live and learn in the infinite world of sausage.

Thanks for that link! Between reading your comment and responding to it now, I downloaded 4 Stanley Marianski books in epub form. I'm sure to get good use of them.

https://z-library.sk/s/Stanley%20Marianski

 

[chopsaw]

The recipe didn't include salt, so I didn't add any.

I was in the middle of sending you a suggestion to add salt yesterday , when my internet quit .
Proceed like you are , and adjust for next time .

1 lb package of ground pork in the chest freezer that's been there since who knows when.

That gets your hands dirty , but could also be an issue .
Keep us posted .

 

[KonaRich]

I was in the middle of sending you a suggestion to add salt yesterday , when my internet quit .
Proceed like you are , and adjust for next time .

That gets your hands dirty , but could also be an issue .
Keep us posted .

I haven't extruded my sausages yet. I should have done that yesterday, but life got in the way. What I have now in the fridge at 8am is a 1 lb lump of cured sausage, with the seasonings added yesterday and cure the day before.

I can still add the missing things, remix well, and make the pencil sausages after a 3 hour rest. I'm glad it's not too late to fix!! Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat!!

To my 1 lb lump of sausage, I'll add 8 g kosher salt, and 12 g NFDM.

Thank you for catching my errors while correction was still possible.

 

[sandyut]

Im in! Pics bro!

 

[indaswamp]

After sitting up in the fridge, the sausage might be stiff. You can add a tiny amount of water to loosen it up for stuffing. Won't hurt the sausage...

 

[KonaRich]

After sitting up in the fridge, the sausage might be stiff. You can add a tiny amount of water to loosen it up for stuffing. Won't hurt the sausage...

THE RUBBER FINALLY MEATS THE ROAD (THE SAUSAGE MEETS THE RACK)

At long last, our first sausage project has achieved lift off!! The classic first mistake was made by not having enough water in the mix, causing very difficult extruding. After abandoning that, the meat was removed from the gun and more water added. Then things went very smoothly.

The first pic shows the equipment setup used. Note the chop stick used to clean out the stuffer tube. The second pic shows the result of extrusion: 32 garlic pepper pencils ready for fridge time, then drying/smoking time. More to follow.

A small bit was left over for a little patty we fried up and tasted. It was good, but could be better. We will reduce salt to 7g/lb. Pepper was spot on. Garlic and smoked paprika need lots more. Ahh...the benefits of DYI sausage! Next time, a taste test will be done before stuffing, but for this elongated project, we just wanted to get on with it.

Thanks again for all of you who helped us so much with equipment and process. Third shot of sausages in the smoker! I thought I was fairly clever in placing my temp probe in such a thin sausage. :D

 

[JckDanls 07]

@KonaRich ... They look great for the first time...

Another thing you can do to loosen it up some (without water) and make easier extrusion is to leave the mince sit on the counter for a couple of hours and let it come up to room temperature... That helps tremendously... And then give another little mix (this would be the time to add cheese if so desired) ...

 

[Fueling Around]

The recipe didn't include salt, so I didn't add any. I hope that wasn't a mistake. I also forgot NFDM as it wasn't in the recipe. They're so thin, though, that I don't think (hope) that will be a problem. Live and learn in the infinite world of sausage.
...

According to Rytek Kutas the amount of salt in cure #1 alone is enough to safely process cured meat.
I don't go that low salt (essentially 1/4%), but process anywhere between 1/2% to 1% total salt.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Lookin good Rich!

 

[KonaRich]

THE RUBBER FINALLY MEATS THE ROAD (THE SAUSAGE MEETS THE RACK)

At long last, our first sausage project has achieved lift off!! The classic first mistake was made by not having enough water in the mix, causing very difficult extruding. After abandoning that, the meat was removed from the gun and more water added. Then things went very smoothly.

The first pic shows the equipment setup used. Note the chop stick used to clean out the stuffer tube. The second pic shows the result of extrusion: 32 garlic pepper pencils ready for fridge time, then drying/smoking time. More to follow.

A small bit was left over for a little patty we fried up and tasted. It was good, but could be better. We will reduce salt to 7g/lb. Pepper was spot on. Garlic and smoked paprika need lots more. Ahh...the benefits of DYI sausage! Next time, a taste test will be done before stuffing, but for this elongated project, we just wanted to get on with it.

Thanks again for all of you who helped us so much with equipment and process. Third shot of sausages in the smoker! I thought I was fairly clever in placing my temp probe in such a thin sausage. :D

Sausage batch #1 is done, and successful...but will be better next time!

These pics show the final product all wrapped up in a zip lock in the fridge. The other, not focused well, shows me holding 1 up. They are all 12 inches long, and far thinner than I expected!

I didn't account for shrinkage. They're about half the diameter of a pencil. They taste great, have good chew and mouth feel. I wish they turned out as big as the opening on my 10mm tube. Another lesson learned.

I future, I'm going to add only 3g/lb of salt, accounting for the 1.06g/lb of salt in the 1.13g/lb of cure #1 I use. With the 8g I used for this batch, it was a total of 9.06g in that batch. I created salt pepper sticks!!! :D

I kinda like this size, for some strange reason. I can't wait to do 19mm sticks in collagen casings on the 16mm tube.. I may also try some 16mm caseless sticks right of the 16mm tube.