Muffuletta Bologna Sandwich Meat with QView!!!

[tallbm]

Well folks I did it. I made a bologna (Owens German Bologna) with a muffuletta olive salad mix in it!!! The flavor is fantastic BUT I ended up with fat out and I'm not sure why but I have some ideas.
No matter what, it's still very usable, edible, and the flavor is amazing. Pics first and then details to come :D

Look at the color from that muffuletta olive salad!!! The white liquid on the right hand side is the seasoning slurry mix. The big white blocks are my ground beef fat I just cut out of their vac seal bags and dropped on top. They got mixed in.

I mixed a lot but I think the protein extraction and bind never really took off, it got a little tacky but not usually what I'm used to and I thought "lets go with it, maybe it will be a more course sausage"... I was wrong, this likely contributed to my fat out.

5.7" chubs and then a little one for the excess

Toasted keto bread with dijon mustard. A good slice laying on top of a bunch of the crumbly scraps from slicing over 20 pounds of this stuff.

Ok now the Details:

• 80/20 ground venison and beef fat
• 20 pounds of sausage
• I used my standard 4.5gm of NFDM as a binder as there is no binder in the Owen's seasoning I used
• 56oz of muffuletta salad mix (drained was like 44 oz)
• Seasoning was Owen's German Bologna and I had to figure out how to tone down my per pound seasoning because there is a lot of salt in the muffuletta olive salad, a couple of tests and test patties and I nailed it!
• 5.7 inch fibrous casings and 1 much smaller summer sausage casing I had on hand and worked well for the left over meat
• Smoked 3 hours with 2 rows of 100% maple pellets in the AMNPS and MES set to 130F degrees just to add smoke to it all
• SV bath at 148F for 6.5 hours, I pulled the summer sausage casing at 3.5 hours since it was so much smaller

How it Turned Out:
The flavor is amazing!!!!
However, it is not holding together super well and breaks too easily and is a little crumbly but completely useable and edible, just not great sandwich meat consistency.

I am not exactly positive why I got the fat out.
i did notice that I mixed it a good amount and the protein extraction and bind just did not seem to be coming along. There is a chance that this is due to me adding the muffuletta olive salad mix in from the start and though i drained it of it's oil, it still was oily and maybe those oils coated meat and such and just didn't allow the proteins to break down, chain up, and/or do whatever they do to get really tacky.

I think in the future I would mix everything but the muffuletta until it got to that good tacky state and THEN mix in the muffuletta salad.
Any thoughts, advice, or insights are much appreciated!

In all it wasn't executed as well as most of my sausage sandwich meat is these days but it's useable and again the flavor is fantastic!!!
I was able to just dial up the size of the slices to like almost 1/2 inch thickness and this really helped keep things held together for slicing. I'm sure after freezing and defrosting it will want to tear up easily when pulling out of the back but no big deal, partial slices and large crumbles will still stack onto bread to make great sandwiches AND will be great for omelets and scrambled egg breakfast :D


Lessons Learned:

• I figured out and noted down my Owens German Bologna seasoning numbers so I have that going forward
• Even though no slice came out without some type of crumble/breaking on a edge, I drastically reduced crumbling issues by opening up the slice thickness to like 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. This really improved things and is about what I put on a sandwich anyhow. This is a good trick to deal with a fat out sausage that is still mostly holding together but has some crumbling to it when slicing or handling.
• I couldn't get a good protein extraction and bind when mixing and I think this is because I mixed the oily muffuletta olive salad in with everything else at the beginning and maybe that oil coated too much of the meat and keeping it from doing it's normal thing when mixing. Next time I'll mix meat and seasonings first and then when it's tacky like normal, I'll mix in the muffuletta salad mix.
• The 56 oz pack of Enrico Formella Muffuletta salad was like a PERFECT amount for 20 pounds of sausage meat. The distribution was not lacking one bit and was everything I was hoping for!
  
  
  
  
  Amazon.com
• I drained the Muffuletta salad in a wire colander for 3.5 days by putting that over a bowl and in the fridge, this was mandatory
• The salt content in the Muffuletta Salad is real and must be adjusted for. I normally use 6grams of Owens German Bologna Seasoning per pound of sausage meat and had to tone it down to 2gm of Owens German Bologna Seasoning. I left the Owens Maple Cure numbers the same because it is the cure blend they provide and there is no way to tone it down without risking proper curing since the cure#1 in it is blended with all kinds of other things so keep that the same and town down the "Seasoning" to reduce the salt from the seasoning so the salt from the Muffuletta salad can replace it.
• I will need to do this again and try to improve on the fat out issue but the flavor is a home run and has that Muffuletta flavor I love which to me is much different than the olive loaf flavor that I do not like. This is NOT the same thing flavor wise unless olive loaf has morphed since I last had it (admittedly decades ago)

Anyhow folks not everything is a home run, especially the 1st attempt of anything. I would say this is a base hit and likely a double at that :P
Let me know your thoughts if you have a similar experience to my issues and have fixes to them or hell any thoughts you have at all if you enjoyed this info :D
Thanks!

 

[jcam222]

WOW! I would love that flavor! Amazing job.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I think in the future I would mix everything but the muffuletta until it got to that good tacky state and THEN mix in the muffuletta salad.
Any thoughts, advice, or insights are much appreciated!

Looks great, but for the texture, you answered your own question.

 

[chopsaw]

Well , it sure looks good .
I'm not seeing fat out .
Personally I think you need some pork in the mix . I'm not a fan of beef fat by itself in sausage .
Especially if it's store bought , and with venison . Never binds for me .
That being said , the meat paste looks good . It's a lack of adhesion to the olive mix in my opinion .

I used my standard 4.5gm of NFDM as a binder

Don't get hung on that . Use what it needs . It's all different depending on the mix .
For sandwich meats , I like Potato starch . I'm a NFDM fan , but next time try starch . Mix a little at a time until it binds . It won't take as much as the NFDM .
The lean to fat , ingredients and the salt will decide how much binder it needs .

There is a chance that this is due to me adding the muffuletta olive salad mix in from the start and though i drained it of it's oil,

Maybe . Next time dust it with whatever binder you are using , or maybe even dry for a bit in the oven .

It looks great . Pork fat and a light dusting of the olives would help in my opinion .

 

[SmokinEdge]

Additionally, the acid (vinegar) and the oils in the muffuletta will destroy the bind of the sausage.
Mix the meat and spices first. Then add either corn starch or potato starch to the muffuletta and incorporate before adding to the already protein extracted mince. This will help bind or glue the vegetables to the meat. I do black olives in my bologna sometimes and now coat them in starch so they dont fall out when slicing.

 

[JLeonard]

I’d take a sammich or two!

Jim

 

[tallbm]

Well , it sure looks good .
I'm not seeing fat out .
Personally I think you need some pork in the mix . I'm not a fan of beef fat by itself in sausage .
Especially if it's store bought , and with venison . Never binds for me .
That being said , the meat paste looks good . It's a lack of adhesion to the olive mix in my opinion .

Don't get hung on that . Use what it needs . It's all different depending on the mix .
For sandwich meats , I like Potato starch . I'm a NFDM fan , but next time try starch . Mix a little at a time until it binds . It won't take as much as the NFDM .
The lean to fat , ingredients and the salt will decide how much binder it needs .



Maybe . Next time dust it with whatever binder you are using , or maybe even dry for a bit in the oven .

It looks great . Pork fat and a light dusting of the olives would help in my opinion .

Thanks for the info. I'll keep this in mind for the next go round :D

Additionally, the acid (vinegar) and the oils in the muffuletta will destroy the bind of the sausage.
Mix the meat and spices first. Then add either corn starch or potato starch to the muffuletta and incorporate before adding to the already protein extracted mince. This will help bind or glue the vegetables to the meat. I do black olives in my bologna sometimes and now coat them in starch so they dont fall out when slicing.

Thanks! yeah I'll definitely mix the olives in last next time :D

I’d take a sammich or two!

Jim

Thanks!! So far my 1 sandwich was gooooood! I'll be eating more come Wednesday :D

 

[DougE]

Looks delicious! As others have said, mix meat and spices first until you have your protein extraction, then add the veggies last.

As far as acids like vinegar, they mess with bind as well. I mostly use canned, diced jalapenos in my jalapeno cheddar sausage, but I first open the cans, drain, and flush with a little clean water to get rid of most of the vinegar before incorporating them into the meat.

 

[indaswamp]

OOOOH! Wow man, A+ for creativity! I love it! Congrats on a ride....

 

[indaswamp]

I agree with SmokinEdge ; Could also add some baking soda to raise the pH....but you would need a pH meter I would think to get the amount right.

Another idea is to mix your own olive salad without the acidic elements....and use ECA for the tang in the finished sausage without destroying the bind.

Or ferment the chubs.....which is what I would do....

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I'll take the little one off your hands! That look truly amazing!

 

[tallbm]

Looks delicious! As others have said, mix meat and spices first until you have your protein extraction, then add the veggies last.

As far as acids like vinegar, they mess with bind as well. I mostly use canned, diced jalapenos in my jalapeno cheddar sausage, but I first open the cans, drain, and flush with a little clean water to get rid of most of the vinegar before incorporating them into the meat.

Thanks!
Yeah thats my plan next time and with similar things. Mix meat and seasoning for bind then extras after.
The ingredients list had both oil AND vinegar in it, so I'm pretty sure that lead to my lack of bind and then the fat out.

OOOOH! Wow man, A+ for creativity! I love it! Congrats on a ride....

I agree with SmokinEdge ; Could also add some baking soda to raise the pH....but you would need a pH meter I would think to get the amount right.

Another idea is to mix your own olive salad without the acidic elements....and use ECA for the tang in the finished sausage without destroying the bind.

Or ferment the chubs.....which is what I would do....

Thanks! Wow on the carousel and it had issues, that's nice of the site :D I'll get closer to nailing it next time :D

I definitely have some options for playing around with it during the next go, but that will likely be next year. This is over 20 pounds to eat hahhaha

I'll take the little one off your hands! That look truly amazing!

Thanks! Yeah that little guy was the excess and the last of that type of fibrous casing I had on hand. It was nice that it did the job just perfectly :D

 

[fxsales1959]

Well folks I did it. I made a bologna (Owens German Bologna) with a muffuletta olive salad mix in it!!! The flavor is fantastic BUT I ended up with fat out and I'm not sure why but I have some ideas.
No matter what, it's still very usable, edible, and the flavor is amazing. Pics first and then details to come :D

Look at the color from that muffuletta olive salad!!! The white liquid on the right hand side is the seasoning slurry mix. The big white blocks are my ground beef fat I just cut out of their vac seal bags and dropped on top. They got mixed in.
View attachment 702778

I mixed a lot but I think the protein extraction and bind never really took off, it got a little tacky but not usually what I'm used to and I thought "lets go with it, maybe it will be a more course sausage"... I was wrong, this likely contributed to my fat out.
View attachment 702779

5.7" chubs and then a little one for the excess

View attachment 702780

View attachment 702781
View attachment 702782

Toasted keto bread with dijon mustard. A good slice laying on top of a bunch of the crumbly scraps from slicing over 20 pounds of this stuff.
View attachment 702783
View attachment 702784

Ok now the Details:

• 80/20 ground venison and beef fat
• 20 pounds of sausage
• I used my standard 4.5gm of NFDM as a binder as there is no binder in the Owen's seasoning I used
• 56oz of muffuletta salad mix (drained was like 44 oz)
• Seasoning was Owen's German Bologna and I had to figure out how to tone down my per pound seasoning because there is a lot of salt in the muffuletta olive salad, a couple of tests and test patties and I nailed it!
• 5.7 inch fibrous casings and 1 much smaller summer sausage casing I had on hand and worked well for the left over meat
• Smoked 3 hours with 2 rows of 100% maple pellets in the AMNPS and MES set to 130F degrees just to add smoke to it all
• SV bath at 148F for 6.5 hours, I pulled the summer sausage casing at 3.5 hours since it was so much smaller

How it Turned Out:
The flavor is amazing!!!!
However, it is not holding together super well and breaks too easily and is a little crumbly but completely useable and edible, just not great sandwich meat consistency.

I am not exactly positive why I got the fat out.
i did notice that I mixed it a good amount and the protein extraction and bind just did not seem to be coming along. There is a chance that this is due to me adding the muffuletta olive salad mix in from the start and though i drained it of it's oil, it still was oily and maybe those oils coated meat and such and just didn't allow the proteins to break down, chain up, and/or do whatever they do to get really tacky.

I think in the future I would mix everything but the muffuletta until it got to that good tacky state and THEN mix in the muffuletta salad.
Any thoughts, advice, or insights are much appreciated!

In all it wasn't executed as well as most of my sausage sandwich meat is these days but it's useable and again the flavor is fantastic!!!
I was able to just dial up the size of the slices to like almost 1/2 inch thickness and this really helped keep things held together for slicing. I'm sure after freezing and defrosting it will want to tear up easily when pulling out of the back but no big deal, partial slices and large crumbles will still stack onto bread to make great sandwiches AND will be great for omelets and scrambled egg breakfast :D


Lessons Learned:

• I figured out and noted down my Owens German Bologna seasoning numbers so I have that going forward
• Even though no slice came out without some type of crumble/breaking on a edge, I drastically reduced crumbling issues by opening up the slice thickness to like 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. This really improved things and is about what I put on a sandwich anyhow. This is a good trick to deal with a fat out sausage that is still mostly holding together but has some crumbling to it when slicing or handling.
• I couldn't get a good protein extraction and bind when mixing and I think this is because I mixed the oily muffuletta olive salad in with everything else at the beginning and maybe that oil coated too much of the meat and keeping it from doing it's normal thing when mixing. Next time I'll mix meat and seasonings first and then when it's tacky like normal, I'll mix in the muffuletta salad mix.
• The 56 oz pack of Enrico Formella Muffuletta salad was like a PERFECT amount for 20 pounds of sausage meat. The distribution was not lacking one bit and was everything I was hoping for!
  View attachment 702785
  
  Amazon.com
• I drained the Muffuletta salad in a wire colander for 3.5 days by putting that over a bowl and in the fridge, this was mandatory
• The salt content in the Muffuletta Salad is real and must be adjusted for. I normally use 6grams of Owens German Bologna Seasoning per pound of sausage meat and had to tone it down to 2gm of Owens German Bologna Seasoning. I left the Owens Maple Cure numbers the same because it is the cure blend they provide and there is no way to tone it down without risking proper curing since the cure#1 in it is blended with all kinds of other things so keep that the same and town down the "Seasoning" to reduce the salt from the seasoning so the salt from the Muffuletta salad can replace it.
• I will need to do this again and try to improve on the fat out issue but the flavor is a home run and has that Muffuletta flavor I love which to me is much different than the olive loaf flavor that I do not like. This is NOT the same thing flavor wise unless olive loaf has morphed since I last had it (admittedly decades ago)

Anyhow folks not everything is a home run, especially the 1st attempt of anything. I would say this is a base hit and likely a double at that :P
Let me know your thoughts if you have a similar experience to my issues and have fixes to them or hell any thoughts you have at all if you enjoyed this info :D
Thanks!

Loves me some Muff.... shame you got to go to Nawlins to get a good one.

 

[gmc2003]

Looks great on my screen.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[Hijack73]

I cannot stand the smell of commercial bologna, but I bet I could plow though a good bit of that before I remember that I 'don't like baloney'

That is olive loaf turned up to 1000! My one question, where de cheese at yo!

 

[tallbm]

Loves me some Muff.... shame you got to go to Nawlins to get a good one.

Hahhaha yeah me too :D
We can get some of those sandwiches around here so it's nice to be able to find them every now and then :D

Looks great on my screen.

Point for sure
Chris

Thanks, it sure was good! :D

I cannot stand the smell of commercial bologna, but I bet I could plow though a good bit of that before I remember that I 'don't like baloney'

That is olive loaf turned up to 1000! My one question, where de cheese at yo!


View attachment 702832

Oh yeah this thing would murder olive loaf if it ever came near :P
Ah I wanted to put cheese but I made this guy while I had just finished vac sealing and putting all the vac seal packs in the freezer.
I then ate this guy and proceeded to clean and put up all the mess that had been made so I was just kind of running and gunning to get my place back to sanitary and livable.
I think I'll get me a good cheesy one going wed or thursday when I can get back to eating some of it :D

 

[Winterrider]

It certainly looks tasty, congrats on the carousel !

 

[tallbm]

It certainly looks tasty, congrats on the carousel !

Thanks! Tomorrow I'll be able to have some more of it and really dig in :D