looking for tips and tricks

[Falcoon]

Last year I bought a Masterbuilt 30" Electric Smoker. I have made hunter sausage in it a few times last year and it came out ok. What I trying to do this year is to see if anyone can tell me how you get the hunter sausage to get the wrinkles in the casing and for it to have that snap to it. All my batches last year never got to that point. I followed the cooking guides I found (Smoke at 140 F for 1 hour, then at 160 F for one hour and then 180 F until internal temperature reaches 160F) I'm also using a 50/50 mixture of beef and pork, seasoning and speed cure. Then I pulled the sausage out and let them air cooled. So I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong and they did come out good I just like my hunter sausage a bit more stiff with the snap when you break them in half.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin

 

[PolishDeli]

Let them sit in the refrigerator for a few days to dry.
When I make kabanosy, they lack snap at first.
But a week in the fridge makes a huge difference (takes some willpower though).
Kabanosy are slim, so they dry pretty uniformly. Your hunter sausages may dry on the outside and lock moisture inside.

 

[smokerjim]

as soon as you pull them out of smoker put them right in ice water for a few minutes, that will stop the wrinkles

 

[indaswamp]

Don't cook to 160* internal temp. You can pull them @152*, this will keep them from drying out. Also. shower them with water or plunge in ice water to cool below 100* INT. This will plump the sausages back up and take the wrinkles out.

Are you using cure #1? If so, you can air dry for an hour or two to bloom the links for better color.

 

[DanMcG]

You want it wrinkled right? What are you using for casings?
Wrinkling is from not enough humidity in the smoker towards the end of the cook cycle, improper cooling or under stuffing.
So don't use a water pan, and when you get an IT you like, turn off the smoker and just let the sausage cool down slowly inside.
Like PolishDeli mentioned, put them in a paper bag in the frig and let them dry out to get the snap you're looking for.
Also 180° is a little warm, try to keep the temp below 170°-175°