Jalapeño Cheddar Sausage…My first sausage attempt…

[Compulsive Smoker]

Weeellllll… I finally plucked up the courage to try to make my own smoked sausage, and here are the results… comments and constructive criticism welcome! (And other criticism too! )

I followed the recipe from the Meat Church website for the seasoning.

I didn’t have brisket trim, so I bought a London Broil and used that for the beef. The pork is from a pig I got butchered recently and told the butcher to save the sausage cuttings whole instead of grinding them.

Monday evening…

Cubed.

Added curing salt and mixed thoroughly then added seasonings.

Mixed thoroughly and refrigerated.

Tuesday evening…
Diced up jalapeños and cheddar cheese.

Ground all the meat in my top of the line grinder Lol ! It works good, but is pretty slow…maybe someday I’ll be able to afford a better one…

First grind…

Second grind…

Added cheese and peppers and milk powder.

Mixed thoroughly.

After this step I’m pretty sure I did about everything wrong !
Started stuffing.

I hope someone comments on this, but I think I should have made m casing fuller?!

Chef snack from the bottom of the stuffer.

I couldn’t get the links to stay twisted, so I left it in a rope for smoking…probably another mistake?! Hopefully one of you can tell me how to get nice links from collagen casings if that’s possible…

Smoked two hours with smoke tubes. Pellets and mesquite chips. Then lit the … the one thing I did right in all of this was to switch to lump charcoal for my fire base instead of briquettes!

At almost 180* I closed up the smoker and let her roll…

Had a beautiful sunset, and my wife and I sat out by the smoker for awhile until it got dark…

Hour and a half later IT hit 155*, time for an ice bath…

Another mistake, I should have spaced the rope out more, so the sides could get smoke better…

Ice bath in the kitchen for 3 minutes.

Final rope.

Cut into links.

Opened the vents on the smoker and put a few on for a bedtime snack and my lunch tomorrow…not pretty, but very delicious!!

Vacuum packed the rest for the freezer…

Final take, I’ll do this again!!!! I had a blast doing it, and in spite of my mistakes the flavor of this sausage is incredible!!
Thanks for looking, and thanks in advance for the advice!

-Mike

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Looks good to me. I have a heck of a time with the stuffing.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Thanks Brian! Glad to know I’m not the only one!

 

[DRKsmoking]

Good for you Mike. I bet it tastes great.
I see I few things that even you mentioned you should have done different, i will leave the reasons to the experts . And I have never used collagen casings, so I cannot comment on that either.

What I can comment on is I love Jalapeno and Cheese sausage, so I know that I
would love to set by your sunset and chew up a couple of those , with maybe an adult beverage or two.

Good work on your first time doing .

David

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Thanks David!

We’d be happy to have you and yours here with us!

 

[Steve H]

Looks good! Yeah, trying to twist dry collagen casings usually doesn't go very well. I just leave them as a rope as you did. Or tie them off if you really want links. Then cut the string off after you smoked and water cooled them. You could have packed them a bit tighter. After you've practiced a few times. Go to natural casings. They're not as forgiving as collagen. But I prefer them over collagen.

 

[Winterrider]

Agreed with Steve's take. I ended up tying my links off after all was stuffed as a rope. ( natural casings from then on)
Pretty good for your first go around, and I certainly would gobble them up

 

[mr_whipple]

Hey... at least there was a first time, and now that you've passed that milestone it only gets better.

That said, I've never used collagen casings for linked sausages so I have nothing to say other than buy some natural hog casings. Buy a cheap home pack to start as they're cheaper if failure occurs. Even if you under fill out of caution that can be made up for while linking by gently squeezing and moving the mince inside the casings toward the tied off end. It's a feel thing you just have to get the hang of. Trust me.. everyone has had to deal with that learning curve.

How was the bind? I don't see a lot of protein extraction sticking to the sides of that bowl. Ya gotta work that stuff till good and sticky. Anyhow, strong work for your first go round. Be careful as it is addicting once you start to get into it. There are more than a few not so expensive options for a dedicated grinder that will work leaps and bounds better than your kitchenaid. Just depends on your budget.

Again, nice! keep it up!

 

[Jim_C]

Good work!

I have yet to make sausage. I am in the same camp with the KitchenAide. I’d be using it as a stuffer also. Cost aside, I’m not certain I’d buy a separate grinder and stuffer. There’s only so much sausage two old folks can eat, and there’s no room!

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Looks good! Yeah, trying to twist dry collagen casings usually doesn't go very well. I just leave them as a rope as you did. Or tie them off if you really want links. Then cut the string off after you smoked and water cooled them. You could have packed them a bit tighter. After you've practiced a few times. Go to natural casings. They're not as forgiving as collagen. But I prefer them over collagen.

Thanks Steve! I’ll probably go with natural next go around!

Agreed with Steve's take. I ended up tying my links off after all was stuffed as a rope. ( natural casings from then on)
Pretty good for your first go around, and I certainly would gobble them up

Thanks WR come on over and I’ll grill a few links for you!

Hey... at least there was a first time, and now that you've passed that milestone it only gets better.

That said, I've never used collagen casings for linked sausages so I have nothing to say other than buy some natural hog casings. Buy a cheap home pack to start as they're cheaper if failure occurs. Even if you under fill out of caution that can be made up for while linking by gently squeezing and moving the mince inside the casings toward the tied off end. It's a feel thing you just have to get the hang of. Trust me.. everyone has had to deal with that learning curve.

How was the bind? I don't see a lot of protein extraction sticking to the sides of that bowl. Ya gotta work that stuff till good and sticky. Anyhow, strong work for your first go round. Be careful as it is addicting once you start to get into it. There are more than a few not so expensive options for a dedicated grinder that will work leaps and bounds better than your kitchenaid. Just depends on your budget.

Again, nice! keep it up!

Thanks Mr W! It was maybe a little loose, but over all not bad…thanks for the tip!

Good work!

I have yet to make sausage. I am in the same camp with the KitchenAide. I’d be using it as a stuffer also. Cost aside, I’m not certain I’d buy a separate grinder and stuffer. There’s only so much sausage two old folks can eat, and there’s no room!

Thanks Jim!

 

[Hijack73]

looks a whole hell of a lot better than my first run!

Another vote for natty casings. You're screwed now my friend. When I first started I had so much sausage in my freezer after about 6 weeks that I never wanted to make or eat it again. But, that was a lie. I just make MUCH less now lol.

I ate damn sausage nearly every day for WAYYYYYY to long. But it was soooo good!

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Lol I can see how it gets ahold of ya and won’t let go! There are so many variations to try!

 

[Steve H]

Lol I can see how it gets ahold of ya and won’t let go! There are so many variations to try!

Wait until you jump into summer sausages.......!!

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Wait until you jump into summer sausages.......!!

I think I’ll try to get regular sausage mastered before I open that can of worms!!

 

[KonaRich]

Good work!

I have yet to make sausage. I am in the same camp with the KitchenAide. I’d be using it as a stuffer also. Cost aside, I’m not certain I’d buy a separate grinder and stuffer. There’s only so much sausage two old folks can eat, and there’s no room!

I agree! We rarely make sausage, but our Kitchen Aid grinder is just right for us. We use a bottom-of-the-barrel stuffer that looks like a caulk gun, but it works.

We've pretty much decided to abandon links and only do patties and bulk. Patties can be smoked, too. Must use NFDM as a binder for it to work well.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

I agree! We rarely make sausage, but our Kitchen Aid grinder is just right for us. We use a bottom-of-the-barrel stuffer that looks like a caulk gun, but it works.

We've pretty much decided to abandon links and only do patties and bulk. Patties can be smoked, too. Must use NFDM as a binder for it to work well.

I have one of those as well! Works good for formed jerky…

 

[jcam222]

I'd say that's an A+ first attempt! Looks and sounds delicious.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Thank you sir! I appreciate it!

 

[Fueling Around]

Looks good from here Mike.
I've sorta used collagen casings once.
I watched and learned from the stick pro Keith (@JckDanls 07 ) at the SO FL Gathering a couple years ago.

 

[Compulsive Smoker]

Looks good from here Mike.
I've sorta used collagen casings once.
I watched and learned from the stick pro Keith (@JckDanls 07 ) at the SO FL Gathering a couple years ago.

Thanks John!