Question for the Sausage Gurus

[6GRILLZNTN]

I'm about to go all on sausage making, and I have a question. I've been using my jerky gun, and I just purchased a LEM 5lb stuffer and I want to get some opinions before I crank this thing up. I stuffed some LEM hog casings last week. They were rinsed several times, and soaked in water overnight in the fridge. I used LEM's fresh sausage mix, but added some cure to it. I let the mix meld overnight, stuffed the sausages, and let them dry in the fridge for about 12 hours. My pellet grill will go down to 150°, so I put the sausages on at 150* using comp blend until they hit around 140°. I had no idea how long they would take to get to that temp, hence the cure. It only took around 3 hours, and I then ramped the temp to 200° until they hit around 155°. Ice bath, bloom, vac seal, freeze, yada yada. I kept 2 out to eat that night. I put those 2 in the toaster oven to get them hot (around 160 IT). When I ate them, the skin had a serious snap. A little too much for me. My question is did I over dry the links? Or are these particular casings the cause? the sausage itself was perfect. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chopsaw]

If you have room to store them like this it's a game changer in my opinion .

How to handle natural casings

Thought I would post up what I do with natural casings. I use naturals 99.9% of the time when making sausages be it sheep or hog casings. I get compliments about how the casing are very delicate and have a perfect snap when you bite into the sausage. I believe the quality of the casings is part...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I've always felt that the longer on the smoker , the more snap they have . That's why I've started smoking for color then poaching or SV to finish .

I did some on my pellet smoker last year to see how it would do . Only took about 2 hours because ambient temps were high . They were good though .

Got any pics of what you made ?

 

[chopsaw]

let them dry in the fridge for about 12 hours.

Dave , did you have them covered in the fridge ? I always cover them , then sit at room temp 60 minutes or so before smoking .

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

If you have room to store them like this it's a game changer in my opinion .

How to handle natural casings

Thought I would post up what I do with natural casings. I use naturals 99.9% of the time when making sausages be it sheep or hog casings. I get compliments about how the casing are very delicate and have a perfect snap when you bite into the sausage. I believe the quality of the casings is part...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I've always felt that the longer on the smoker , the more snap they have . That's why I've started smoking for color then poaching or SV to finish .

I did some on my pellet smoker last year to see how it would do . Only took about 2 hours because ambient temps were high . They were good though .

Got any pics of what you made ?

After smoking, and ice water bath.

Dave , did you have them covered in the fridge ? I always cover them , then sit at room temp 60 minutes or so before smoking .

They were not covered. I did let them rest on the counter for about an hour before going in the smoker. I like the casings to have some snap for sure, I just felt these had too much. Other than that they were great. I ate a pound and a half of them over two nights. Thanks for your response btw. Greatly appreciated. Also, thanks for the link on storing the casings. I'll do that from now on.

 

[chopsaw]

Damn man !! Those are perfect . You're all over it . Prepping and storing the casings like that took mine over the top .
If you store in the fridge keep them covered . Outside gets to dry in my opinion . Long time in the smoker can make them the same way , but I'm thinking uncovered in the fridge my have effected them . I've never been a fan of the rinse and overnight soak on the casings myself .
Seriously , those look spot on . Really nice work for starting out . You'll get it dialed in for your taste . Really strong work bud .

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Thanks Chop. Mucho thanks for the advice and compliment. I'm going to do what I read in that link for storing the casings, and I'll cover them up in the fridge. Less smoke time as well.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Those look real good from here. I think Chop has you headed in the right direction. Probably a combination of the casing prep and your process sounds like you dried the casings a bit. Next time you heat one up try poaching it in water, this may help soften the snap.

 

[chopsaw]

Sounds great . Post 'em up .

 

[indaswamp]

Nothing to add...guys got you covered...

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Now I gotta wait on the postman to deliver the new stuffer.

 

[chopsaw]

If you see any of my sausage threads you'll see that I do smaller batches and break it up over a few days . Usually 3 , sometimes more . Getting the end result dialed in and taking the work out of it keeps it fun and rewarding .
I can't wait to see what you make .

 

[Sven Svensson]

This thread is sausage gold. I put it in my bookmark folder.

 

[tallbm]

Great work on the sausage!

I would prefer too much snap to the alternative of tough chewy casings. Try not to overcorrect too much and end up chewing rubberbands :D

 

[chopsaw]

end up chewing rubberbands

That's where I was at before I started storing like Joe's method . Don't even notice the casings now .

 

[tallbm]

That's where I was at before I started storing like Joe's method . Don't even notice the casings now .

yeah his method is killer for sure!

 

[SmokyMose]

Like others have said, nothing to add. Those look great!
I'm wondering if the toaster oven didn't crisp up the casings a little....

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Great work on the sausage!

I would prefer too much snap to the alternative of tough chewy casings. Try not to overcorrect too much and end up chewing rubberbands :D

Thanks!

Like others have said, nothing to add. Those look great!
I'm wondering if the toaster oven didn't crisp up the casings a little....

I'm not sure. They were only in there for around 10 minutes. They were still tasty on a bed of kraut.

 

[zwiller]

Guys have you covered and I am no guru but would suggest trying some strippable casings. They require zero prep and very forgiving. They allow me to focus on the sausage formula instead of the casing. Interesting related info. My fave sausage is weisswurst and is stuffed in hog casing. Love them but the casing is total rubber band and never liked it. Years later with the internet in gear I found out germans do no even eat the casing! I make mine with the strippable casing and they are perfect that way. These casings can be smoked too and that is how the typical hot dog is made.