Need Summer Sausage wisdom

[DHarris99]

Hello all, I’m a newby to the world of sausage making. Been wanting to do it for a long time since I process my own deer and was tired of paying the cost for summer sausage. I dove in with the most recent harvest and ground 26 lbs of venison with the plan of making 4 different batches to test and improve without blowing the whole batch if I had a bad one. Armed with a recipe I found on SMF I went after it. First batch was in the fair category but needed salt, more fat and a few more spices and needed to be smoked for sure-I did it in the oven. Second batch with 1 lb of ground beef added, salt and upped the spices a bit, was much better. However, I noticed the casing wants to stick to the meat when you try to peel it off. Third batch was the best in flavor with same recipe but added a little more liquid smoke and a local sauce from Moore’s. Did B2 and B3 in a master built smoker to 160 internal temp. B3 has a great flavor with jalapeño and thai chili’s added along with sharp cheddar. Also used a local butchers fresh ground pork sausage as the added fat. However the texture is still a little broken and casings stick to the meat. Batch 4 I used a Walton’s jalapeño bag spice mix, added more red pepper flakes and hot pepper cheese. Also added liquid smoke and the Moore’s. Something in the waltons blend made the meat much more sticky during the mixing process and when stuffing there was almost no mess from water being squeezed out of the meat. Was it the dextrose? I used powdered milk as a binder in the first 3 but this was the sticky texture that I was looking for and it made stuffing easy and the final product texture turned out perfect. Casings come off easy and looks good. However, my recipe on B3 was a better flavor with the fresh ingredients I used. Can anyone tell me what we the ingredient that made the meat sticky in the Waltons mix that I can add to my B3 recipe, if I can duplicate the texture with B3 taste I will be in summer sausage heaven! Thanks for any wisdom!

 

[poacherjoe]

You might want to call Waltons for info on that. You will get MANY ideas from the members but in the end your taste buds will make the decision on what is best for you. Every time I make SS I get another idea to add just a little of this or that. I like what I make but I decided to try some pre mix from Several different sausage spice stores. My advice is to get some Trail Bologna mix from " The Sausage Company" . Owens Bbq also makes a Red Barn Trail Bologna mix but I prefer the TSM brand. They are both good but my taste buds prefer TSM. Give it a try I think you will like it and it's not expensive. After you mix 6 lbs venison with 4 lbs pork and stuff the casings set them in the fridge for a couple days before you smoke them to 154 and then ice bath them for 20 minutes. Then dry them and hang for 2 hours then toss them in the fridge. I still make my own SS with different spices but some of these pre mixes are VERY good... Good luck PJ

 

[DHarris99]

Thanks PJ! I will check those suggestions out.