Kabanosy - Troubleshooting

[Forester579]

Hello everyone

I recently made my first batch of Kabanosy (or something similar to kabanosy) and I have a few questions that I hope some of you can help me with.

The recipe I used was from Two guys and a cooler. The meat I used was 35% venison, 40% lean pork from the hind leg, 25% back fat. i ground everything once through a 6mm plate which is the smallest I have. I cured the sausages over night and then smoked to an internal temp of 155f (some got to 160). To reach desired internal temps I set my smoker to 200f at the end of the cook. I then dried the sausages in a curing chamber, some for a week some for two weeks.

The flavour of the snack sticks is very good. My issue has to do with the texture.
The fat is decently spread out but it is like little pockets of creamy lard. I don’t mind this texture but my girlfriend finds it off putting and I wouldn’t be surprised if others did as well.

Is kabanosy supposed to be like this? Or where did I go wrong? Perhaps I over cooked them and never noticed. Or maybe my grind was just too large?

Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to help me out.

Cheers

 

[SmokinEdge]

Temp of the meat and fat must be par frozen. Also the sharpness of the grinder knife and plate are crucial. Sounds to me like you ground the meat to warm, didn’t get good particle definition and may have smeared the fat( to warm when grinding).

 

[Forester579]

Temp of the meat and fat must be par frozen. Also the sharpness of the grinder knife and plate are crucial. Sounds to me like you ground the meat to warm, didn’t get good particle definition and may have smeared the fat( to warm when grinding).

Thanks for replying Smokin edge. The meat was cubed and then placed in the freezer for 1 1/2hrs. When mixing the sausage I had cotton gloves on under my latex gloves and my hands were still freezing. The separation between the pockets of fat and surrounding meat is definitely cleanly defined. This leads me to believe the issue lies else where. But I’ll definitely keep that in mind and be even more careful next batch.

 

[slavikborisov]

Hello everyone

I recently made my first batch of Kabanosy (or something similar to kabanosy) and I have a few questions that I hope some of you can help me with.

The recipe I used was from Two guys and a cooler. The meat I used was 35% venison, 40% lean pork from the hind leg, 25% back fat. i ground everything once through a 6mm plate which is the smallest I have. I cured the sausages over night and then smoked to an internal temp of 155f (some got to 160). To reach desired internal temps I set my smoker to 200f at the end of the cook. I then dried the sausages in a curing chamber, some for a week some for two weeks.

The flavour of the snack sticks is very good. My issue has to do with the texture.
The fat is decently spread out but it is like little pockets of creamy lard. I don’t mind this texture but my girlfriend finds it off putting and I wouldn’t be surprised if others did as well.

Is kabanosy supposed to be like this? Or where did I go wrong? Perhaps I over cooked them and never noticed. Or maybe my grind was just too large?

Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to help me out.

Cheers

I’d eat that no problem !

Have you tried commercially made kabonosy like at a European deli ? The fat is a pretty prominent part of the texture, I don’t find it off putting but some might as long as you like it who cares …. But as smokinedge said if you aren’t of fan of the fat texture you prolly smeared it a bit

 

[Brokenhandle]

Thinking at a temp off 200 you're dealing with temps that got too high and fat out. Try again keeping everything the same but don't use the oven at 200 degrees. Start earlier in the day and keep smoker temps below 170.

Ryan

 

[pushok2018]

Thinking at a temp off 200 you're dealing with temps that got too high and fat out. Try again keeping everything the same but don't use the oven at 200 degrees. Start earlier in the day and keep smoker temps below 170.

This is exactly what came to my head right away.... 200F way too hot to cook sausages - fat out and crumbling texture.

 

[Forester579]

I’d eat that no problem !

Have you tried commercially made kabonosy like at a European deli ? The fat is a pretty prominent part of the texture, I don’t find it off putting but some might as long as you like it who cares …. But as smokinedge said if you aren’t of fan of the fat texture you prolly smeared it a bit

I’ve never tried commercially made kabanosy so I am not entirely sure what to shoot for. I do think these things are delicious, but I like sharing the stuff I make and want others to enjoy them as well. So just trying to make sure I’m doing things correctly. But if the fat is a prominent part of the texture in real kabanosy maybe I’m not to far off.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sounds like being extra careful to keep the meat cold and smoking at a lower temp could be the way to make these sticks even better. So that is what I will try next time.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Kab starts low temps 130-140 then bumped from there, not exceeding 170.

 

[zwiller]

Good ideas thus far. My thinking is all was fine and the grind size a little too big. That said, those look REALLY nice!

 

[crazymoon]

F579, Mariansky (Polish Sausages book) recommends a 5mm plate for class two pork and an 8 mm for class one pork. IMHO your plate size is fine BUT when mixing venison with pork,beef, fat, etc. you need two grinds to get the proper mix. That and as others mentioned your temp was too high, I never go above 165* .Your sticks look good and practice will give you your desried results ! Here is what a batch of mine looked like (all pork)

 

[Forester579]

F579, Mariansky (Polish Sausages book) recommends a 5mm plate for class two pork and an 8 mm for class one pork. IMHO your plate size is fine BUT when mixing venison with pork,beef, fat, etc. you need two grinds to get the proper mix. That and as others mentioned your temp was too high, I never go above 165* .Your sticks look good and practice will give you your desried results ! Here is what a batch of mine looked like (all pork)View attachment 684463

Crazymoon, do you mean two grinds as in - put class 2 pork and venison through the 5mm plate and class 1 pork through the 8mm plate?
Or
- put everything through the 5mm plate twice?

 

[crazymoon]

Crazymoon, do you mean two grinds as in - put class 2 pork and venison through the 5mm plate and class 1 pork through the 8mm plate?
Or
- put everything through the 5mm plate twice?

F579, Sorry for the confusion, put everything through your 6mm (or an 8mm ) plate twice. Also IMHO you could cut back on the back fat to 15-20% and replace it with pork butt.

 

[Forester579]

Ok. I will give that a shot. Thanks everyone for the tips.

 

[Forester579]

Finally got around to making another run of kabanosy. Wanted to thank everyone that chimed in troubleshooting the last batch. This batch turned out a little more how I expected it too. I think the double grind and the lower smoke temperature is what did it.

That being said, the courser grind I had last time grew on me a lot. In the future, I think I will try the courser grind again. As sometimes when I’m eating this new batch I find myself wishing for the creamier/fattier texture of the course grind.

I guess it just depends on what you’re in the mood for. Thanks again everyone

Cheers

 

[boykjo]

Curious, did you use the same fat in the second batch used in the first batch. Fat differs from suppliers. I tried different fat suppliers and only use one now. I get high quality uncured fatback and remove the skin. Vacuum seal it immediatley and store for freshness. Also fat storred inproperly can get freezer burn and become mushy in the meat....... Many things can contribute to your first result.

 

[Forester579]

Yes I used the same fat. Or at least as far as I can tell I did. My fat comes from the few hogs we raise every year. That being said, it was most likely from a different bag in the freezer though. Maybe the first bag was more freezer burnt? What are the distinguishing signs of freezer burnt fat?

 

[boykjo]

Yes I used the same fat. Or at least as far as I can tell I did. My fat comes from the few hogs we raise every year. That being said, it was most likely from a different bag in the freezer though. Maybe the first bag was more freezer burnt? What are the distinguishing signs of freezer burnt fat?

in the freezer or in the sausage... Fat with freezer burn can look discolored and dry. IMO it wont bind well with meat. and vise versa. Freezer burnt meat wont bind well with good fat. A vacuum sealer is a great way to keep meats fresh for up to 3 yrs in the freezer.

 

[Forester579]

in the freezer or in the sausage... Fat with freezer burn can look discolored and dry. IMO it wont bind well with meat. and vise versa. Freezer burnt meat wont bind well with good fat. A vacuum sealer is a great way to keep meats fresh for up to 3 yrs in the freezer.

Ok thanks for the info. I don’t remember any of the fat being discoloured or dry looking, all of it was a creamy ivory colour. I did not think fat was very prone to freezer burning, so that is good to know and something I will keep an eye out for in the future

 

[SmokinEdge]

If you are going to do a drying step for a week or two, the larger grind is better. Will dry a little faster.