Ref; Things I learned making OFG Summer Sausage

[TomKnollRFV]

The casing is a lie and doesn't hold 1 pound...and your arm and hand goes numb when shooting 6 pounds of casing with a fleet farm jerky gun!

I'll post pictures tommorrow or thursday when I smoke em. I had half a casing worth left and shoved it into a mini meatloaf pan and I'll shove a thermal probe in it <Also it'll be devoured shortly after the smoking is done I'm sure>.

I used 3 pounds of 93-7 ground turkey and 3 pounds of 86-14 ground pork. <I couldn't find any thing fattier. Only leaner> So here's hoping I didn't just waste money.. I only spent 4.47 on the 3 pounds of ground turkey, about 6 on the pork. Gotta love good buys!

 

[jimmyinsd]

thats odd, i had the smaller casings that said they held a pound each and I ended up averaging about 1.15 per casing. of course I was using a stuffer and was really packing it into the casing and maybe filled them a touch over full since I had a hell of a time getting the ends closed, but still 1 pound would have been easy.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

It could have been a pound, or I lightly filled, they seemed pretty full to me; guess I'll find out if I smoke and open one up and it falls to bits on me!

Also got Pit Boss Competition Blend..40 pound bag of them pellets for 15 bucks. I'm hoping they aren't some horrible thing now because I sure got alot of em..

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Alright, in a few hours I want to smoke these bad boys but some thing is bugging me immensely... and it's not on OFG's instructions and it might be a common sense thing but..do I like prick the casings at all? I mean other then one is going to end up with a thermal probe rammed into it obviously but do I just do fork pricks into them at all?

 

[jimmyinsd]

Alright, in a few hours I want to smoke these bad boys but some thing is bugging me immensely... and it's not on OFG's instructions and it might be a common sense thing but..do I like prick the casings at all? I mean other then one is going to end up with a thermal probe rammed into it obviously but do I just do fork pricks into them at all?

I dont prick the summer sausage casings, just the fresh casing that I have used. maybe you are supposed to, but as hard as I stuff the summer sausage into those fiber casings I am afraid they would pop like a balloon if i poked them.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I dont prick the summer sausage casings, just the fresh casing that I have used. maybe you are supposed to, but as hard as I stuff the summer sausage into those fiber casings I am afraid they would pop like a balloon if i poked them.

I read some where LEM Casings have small pores in their non edible casings but as we've learned from the internet, people also will eat tide pods. I take every thing with a grain of salt from random google results.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Just curious about some thing with summer sausage and maybe some one can answer. 165f is the standard safe temperature for ground meat, and I see alot of recipes say 150-155f for IT..

Since I'm using pork and turkey I'm pretty wary about the ITs, should I stick to 165f or run it to 155f like the recipe says? I don't want to get people sick off my summer sausage!

 

[crazymoon]

TKRFV, I know this response is late as you have made your sausage.I take my SS IT to 152 ish using cure #1, I find that I get a good texture at that temp.No risk of fat out or shrively casings,just a nice plump fibrous casing.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Glad to know I can drop it that low if needed. Since I had a thermal probe crap out on me now!