OFG Trail Bologna

[disco]

That looks incredible Disco. Nice Job!

Dave

Thanks so much!

Another Great one From the MIA.
Still doing Outstanding Work, I see!!
Nice Job & Great thread!
Like.

Bear

Thanks, Bear! You still need to eat whatever happens.

Looks great Disco. I need to save that recipe.
Thanks Ed

Thanks, Ed. I hope you like it!

 

[disco]

Glad to see you back posting Disco! You returned with a bang!! It looks amazing. You also educated this Ohio guy on the Ohio origin of the name for trail bologna. Never realized that. I can buy a ton of Troyer products in my area for sure, especially at my favorite Amish market.

Thanks very much. I am jealous of being able to buy Troyer sausage.

Oh yea, that is something I'd really like. Going to give it a try for sure. Thanks David.

Thanks, Braz, they did turn out well.

Good work and thanks for the recipe. Those look like they turned out great. I will be trying this out with some venison and pork. I live smack dab in the middle of Amish country in Ohio but never knew the origin of trail bologna. Thanks again!

This works great with game! I hope you like it!

 

[disco]

Disco , looks great bud . Hope things are getting back to normal for you .

Thanks. The world is returning to what I foolishly call normal!

Your bologna came out beautiful, great write up and step by step. Going from the A-Maze-N tube to the oven then back to the smoker, nice piece of work, Like. RAY

Thanks, RAY. We do have to work with what we have.

Disco!! MIA or not, it's always great to see your smiling face my friend. Bologna looks great!! That has been a bit of a nemesis for me. Tried a couple times and it just didn't come out right. I may have to give this one a run though. I've never made anything that you've posted that wasn't fantastic.

On a different note, I notice that you have an OFG version of pretty much everything on the planet It's all good though, that's for sure!!

Robert

Har, Robert! I find the secret with bologna is to not try and make it as finely ground as store bought. Just beat it until it gets pasty and you will will get a great texture if you smoke it slowly increasing temperatures.

 

[disco]

Wow! looks great!

As far as "uncivilized" goes, I read one study that 91 % of Canadians use Imperial measure for height and weight.

87% use metric for temperature when addressing weather, 78% use Fahrenheit for cooking.

besides our family recipe for Panhas turns our perfect using uncivilized measurements every time!

going to try your recipe soon.

Thanks for the kind words. As for Canadians being all over the map on measures, guilty as charged, particularly us older Canadians. The young ones are going more metric.

Wow a great post by Disco again. Sorry to hear you had some promblems hope all is now good.

Warren

Life is going well now! Thanks for the kind words.

Funny, I was just thinking a few night back I hadn't see any post from you in a while. Glad to see you back to cooking & sharing. Jana & I also recently discussed grinding some of our own meat. Great post as always David. Try and stay warm with all that snow.

Thanks for the encouragement. We did have a foot of snow yesterday so more shoveling is in my future.

 

[pushok2018]

disco, this is one fantastic looking bologna! Great job. One question though: one exactly you didn't like in texture of 100% of beef bologna? Just curious...

 

[bacon_crazy510]

That looks amazing disco ! I give this an uncivilized , good old Yankee thumbs up!!

 

[disco]

disco, this is one fantastic looking bologna! Great job. One question though: one exactly you didn't like in texture of 100% of beef bologna? Just curious...

Thanks! I just find a touch of pork fat gives a better feel on the tongue. It is just a personal preference thing.

That looks amazing disco ! I give this an uncivilized , good old Yankee thumbs up!!

Thanks so much!

 

[fished]

Disco, what size were your casing? I'm going to make some of this, but I'll have to smoke it on Webber Kettle. My MES is down until can get a PID controller for. I should be able to smoke two 16" long clubs in my Webber.

Thanks Ed

 

[xray]

Looks spectacular Disco, welcome back. Hope all is well.

 

[crazymoon]

D, Another awesome looking sausage,thanks for the uncivilized recipe too !

 

[disco]

Disco, what size were your casing? I'm going to make some of this, but I'll have to smoke it on Webber Kettle. My MES is down until can get a PID controller for. I should be able to smoke two 16" long clubs in my Webber.

Thanks Ed

I normally use 75 mm (3 inch) but used 50 mm (2 inch) this time. They were 12 inches long.

I hope you like it as much as we do!

Looks spectacular Disco, welcome back. Hope all is well.

Thanks. It is good to be back in the saddle.

D, Another awesome looking sausage,thanks for the uncivilized recipe too !

Har! One day, you 'mericans will join the rest of the world in the metric system! Thanks for the kind words.

 

[PapaRed]

First, I apologize for being MIA the last month or so. Age and circumstances overcame me. Life is improving except for heavy snow here in the Canadian Rockies today.

Trail Bologna is an all beef sausage that originated in Trail, Ohio. You can still buy Troyer’s a brand from one of the original purveyors. However, I don’t like the texture of 100% beef sausage so I tried to maintain a tasty version with some pork in it.

I have had to do work arounds for making sausage. To get a good texture in cured sausage, you need 2 things. First, you must keep the meat cold at all times.

Second, you need to start it at a low temperature that you slowly increase to prevent the fat breaking from the meat giving a poor texture from a fat out.

My trustee old Bradley would go to low temperatures but my newer pellet smokers don’t. I have got by by using my WSM mini but I am getting lazy and wanted an more automated system.

I have started cold smoking my sausage with a A-Maze-N tube smoker and then using my oven to do the slow cooking at the lowest temperatures. I then put it in my pellet smoker when the desired temperatures are in that range.

I put a couple of fibrous casings in warm water to soak.

View attachment 431596

I started with a mixture of 70% lean beef and 30 % fatty pork shoulder. I have made this with venison and moose instead of the beef. I used ground beef and ground my own pork shoulder. I put the meat in the fridge to get very cold.

View attachment 431597

I mixed a slurry to add to the meat. For each kilogram of meat, you will need:

• 100 ml dry skim milk powder
• 13 ml Kosher salt
• 7 ml dry mustard
• 7 ml paprika
• 5 ml white pepper
• 5 ml garlic powder
• 4 ml onion powder
• 2 ml celery seed
• 1.5 ml dried chili flakes
• 1 ml ground cardamom
• 1 ml ground mace
• 0.5 ml ground nutmeg
• 0.5 ml ground coriander
• 2.6 grams (2 ml) Prague powder #1
• 90 ml ice water
• 10 ml light corn syrup

If you are uncivilized and use US measures, for each pound of meat you will need:

• 3 tablespoons skim milk powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/16 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/5 teaspoon Prague powder #1
• 3 tablespoons ice water
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

I spread the meat on a large sheet tray and poke holes in it with my fingers. I poured the slurry over the meat and mixed by folding half of it towards me and pressing the meat flat. Turn the tray 1/4 turn, fold towards me and press. Continue turning and pressing for 3 minutes.

I put the meat in the fridge for an hour to chill.

I put 1 kg (2 pounds) of the meat in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. I mixed at medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes.

View attachment 431598

You are looking for the meat to be pasty and sticky. It took two batches to mix it in my stand mixer. I refrigerated the meat for 1 hour.

I stuffed the meat into the casings and tied off the open end.

View attachment 431599

I refrigerated the chubs overnight to allow the ingredients to blend.

My pellet smoker just doesn't go low enough to do the sausage well. I cold smoked for 2 hours with my A-Maze-N Tube smoker and refrigerated overnight.

I put the chubs in the oven as follows:

• 1 hour at 140 F (60 C)
• 1 hour at 150 F (65 C)

I moved them to my smoker and smoked at:

• 1 hour at 160 F (70 C)
• 1 hour at 170 F (75 C)

I increased the temperature to 180 F (80 C) and cooked until the internal temperature of the sausage was 155 F (68 C).

I plunged the chubs into ice water for 10 minutes to stop the cooking. Then let them sit at room temperature for 4 hours.


View attachment 431600

View attachment 431601


The Verdict

I love this recipe. It has a nice firm texture, hints of bologna spices but with a great garlic hit and just a touch of spice.

Disco

I know this response is to an old post, but I just want to thank you for the recipe.
The first time we were in Ohio Amish country (Holmes County) I was introduced to Trail Bologna. Love the stuff.
We always loaded up when in Ohio in our RV. It's not available outside Ohio, and store- bought baloney makes me burp all day.
Have attempted to create the recipe many times without luck until now. Tastes just like Ohio!

 

[zwiller]

I'm an hour from the source and can get it less than a mile away. I was not making sausage when disco was running threads but man did he do a good job. LOVE the cheap shot against us not using metric LOL. If I am picky about it, should be a natural casing formed in a ring and that's where the "ring bologna" name comes from. Not critical.

Hopefully, that's baby swiss you got there. Myself, I do small pretzels with pepper mustard instead of saltines.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Always good to see old threads... missed this the first time around!

Ryan