Got a Hi-Mountain Jalapeno summer sausage kit for x-mas, so we went to our local butcher and got enough meat to do a couple 3# chubs as a trial. we got 7 # very lean inside round beef, 3# of a fatter beef cut (don't remember name) and had it coarse ground , also got 5# pork butt ground.
We mixed up 6# of 80% beef 20% pork and the seasoning/cure, put in freezer for a couple of hours while casings soaked. Stuffed the casings and stored in fridge overnight and started smoking 11 am the next morning @120, no smoke, for 1 hr, then slowly increased temp while smoking with apple/hickory, by 1:30 temp up to 160, put meat probe in and read 111 IT, by 3:30 increased to 178 and IT was124, at 7:00 the IT finally hit 149 and stalled, an hour latter it went to 151 but then actually slowly dropped to 140. I waited until midnight before I decided it must be done (still at 140 IT ) 14 hours total cooking time. I am using maverick 732 (tested before & after)
Gave the chubs a cold bath for a few minutes and hung in cold room over night, put in fridge next morning and sampled at noon, other than a bit too much fat they turned out very good, nice flavor and the jalapeno has a bit of heat, the casings stayed tight and no wrinkles, very happy with first try.
I was also pleased with the way my MB 2 door propane smoker performed, at the low temps I left the bottom door wide open and the main door about 1/2 inch open, no problem maintaining 120, I left the burner on its lowest setting and gradually closed the doors. I used the small chip tray that came in a box of chips directly on top of burner flange and had good smoke at 140, once both doors were closed, it was at 160. I had read a lot about people having trouble maintaining low temps and generating smoke, so I was very pleased with my smoker. I put it inside my well ventilated greenhouse, out of the freezing cold and wind, also drilled 4 holes near top
of unit to raise a rack to hang sausage from
We mixed up 6# of 80% beef 20% pork and the seasoning/cure, put in freezer for a couple of hours while casings soaked. Stuffed the casings and stored in fridge overnight and started smoking 11 am the next morning @120, no smoke, for 1 hr, then slowly increased temp while smoking with apple/hickory, by 1:30 temp up to 160, put meat probe in and read 111 IT, by 3:30 increased to 178 and IT was124, at 7:00 the IT finally hit 149 and stalled, an hour latter it went to 151 but then actually slowly dropped to 140. I waited until midnight before I decided it must be done (still at 140 IT ) 14 hours total cooking time. I am using maverick 732 (tested before & after)
Gave the chubs a cold bath for a few minutes and hung in cold room over night, put in fridge next morning and sampled at noon, other than a bit too much fat they turned out very good, nice flavor and the jalapeno has a bit of heat, the casings stayed tight and no wrinkles, very happy with first try.
I was also pleased with the way my MB 2 door propane smoker performed, at the low temps I left the bottom door wide open and the main door about 1/2 inch open, no problem maintaining 120, I left the burner on its lowest setting and gradually closed the doors. I used the small chip tray that came in a box of chips directly on top of burner flange and had good smoke at 140, once both doors were closed, it was at 160. I had read a lot about people having trouble maintaining low temps and generating smoke, so I was very pleased with my smoker. I put it inside my well ventilated greenhouse, out of the freezing cold and wind, also drilled 4 holes near top
of unit to raise a rack to hang sausage from
