Heads up, work is slow so I wrote a TON of stuff here but broke it into sections noted by the bold headings per section :D
Favorite casings:
I've had no issues with The Sausage Maker casings and LEM casings so I will go with either of them. I buy directly from their website or from
Amazon where I notice they sell there too. It just depends on the amount I'm buying and which site is having the lower price + shipping.
Cellulose Casings (plant based plastic): Really my favorite to work with. These make skinless
sausages/dogs and are a breeze to work with. The only down side is that you need to tie off links (can do braided link chains to reduce tying off) and no stuffing and then vac sealing and cooking later. If you stuff these then you will have to smoke or Sous Vide (SV) them shortly after. Natural casings u can stuff, cut, vac seal, and cook at a later date.
Natural Hog (on a strip):
https://sausagemaker.com/product/pretubed-natural-hog-casings-29-32mm/
I prefer them on a strip for speed and time management. Many times I'm doing 40-100+ pounds of sausage in a limited time (when I can get a 2nd pair of hands) so time management and making it go fast is important. These things help. Again The Sausage Maker and LEM have done fine for me.
Jalapeno Powder: I've only used dehydrated jalapeno and only this one brand and it was good to go with no complaints from me. I made a jalapeno and cheese sausage.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT94W2H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Coriander and Spices: I use whatever I find on
Amazon that has good ratings and price. HOWEVER, I have bought a number of Frontier brand seasonings/spices. They seem to be one of the few brands that consistently does 1 pound and higher and seems to be dedicated to a good honest quality and practices for sourcing the products. I have always had great results with them so when they have something at a good price I never hesitate over an unknown competitor.
Coriander - I have a number of sausages that take quite a bit so I bought a bit of bulk on
Amazon and it was good to go! ($14 at the time I bought it)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VNEC68/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Fennel - This one was good to go for me
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088QMPBC6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mustard (Seed and Powder) - These are what I got and are good to go for price and flavor, though I'm sure some experts here will be able to identify hardcore and amazing mustard options.
Got this one for powder
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08H6849V3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Got this one for Seed -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055AF4GA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Pellets:
Pellets are kind of a wild west world and here is important info you need to know.
MOST pellet brands are a BLEND of pellets and NOT just the pellet that is listed on the label of the bag.
The exception are brands like Lockjaw (widely regarded as the best pellets out there). Lockjaw will absolutely tell you 100% Hickory, 100% Cherry, 100% of whatever the label is on the bag, OR they will explicitly put the word "Blend" in the lable. Like "Pecan Blend" or "Mesquite Blend".
WARNING: Other brands will say 100% Hardwood which is NOT 100% of the wood on the label!!!!! They are telling the truth but are being deceptive. So the Pitmaster or Bear Creek Hickory will be 100% Hardwood but only like 30-35% of it is Hickory and the rest will be Oak or Alder or some other hardwood thereby making this a blend.
Ok with all of that context given, brands that are top notch and will give you 100% of the wood on the bag label and brands I use (I will make my own blends out of various 100% bags I buy).
Lockjaw - they used to do a 100% of everything but a few years ago downsized and now only do a handful of popular 100% woods and then clearly labeled blends. People love the quality of their pellets all around and I agree, especially with knowing I'm getting 100% of the wood on the label.
You can find locally if you have any of these stores around you: Dick's Sporting Goods (can even order to the store I think), Rural King, and Attwoods.
CookingPellets - they do 100% hickory and maybe 1 or 2 other options. Not a lot of options but one you can trust for 100% hickory. I think you can order to your nearest home depot
Kingsford - a few years ago they tried to enter the pellet market and did so with some good 100% offerings BUT they were charging an arm and a leg. I'm not sure they still have the full variety of offerings like when they started but they also clearly stated 100% of the wood on the bag or a blend.
Shupping - they are out of Texas and are the only 100% mesquite pellets in the game that I know of since Lockjaw dropped their 100% Mesquite option.
https://texasfoodsdirect.com/products/mesquite-smoker-grilling-pellets-texas
I saw that the small grocery chain in Texas, called Market Street, had been carrying them a couple of years ago but I had already bought like 200 pounds of these for when my Lockjaw 100% Mesquite ran out.
Why does this even matter? Mesquite + beef is the best wood and meat flavor combo I know of and I live in brisket country where about 4-6 times a year I see $1.97/lb choice grade briskets on sale :D
They also seem to do 100% Oak and maybe another option but if not in the North TX area, you would have to pay deliver
Known Blend and Offenders: Pit Boss, Bear Creek,
Camp Chef, Louisiana Grills, Pacific Pellet are blends The one exception is that
Camp Chef Alder may be 100% Alder because the use Alder as their cheaper blend wood. I bought a bag of
Camp Chef Alder a few years ago so I could have a 100% alder option though I had to do a little research to discover it was 100% Alder because they don't really mention it on the bag hahahah.
Offender - Traeger - a good number of years back they were reported to use "flavoring oils" for their flavors instead of the wood. Also I've seen people report that the quality of is just not great on Traeger
Final Pellet Point - it seems the best pellet grill success with wood flavor is to use a very good pellet like Lockjaw in a pellet tube and then use a cheap but well burning pellet for the hopper (Pit Boss). If I owned a pellet grill I would do this. I own an MES (electric) and I use the
AMNPS tray to burn 100% pellets or my own blends. One kind of exception is that I do use Pit Boss Competition Blend and I doctor it up with 100% Hickory so that I get about 65% Hickory and then even parts Maple and Cherry. This works well for me and the price point is great on the Pit Boss (which is very weak on it's own).
Sous Vide (SV): I don't do very much sous vide but I do it on my giant sausages that need it because trying to smoke 5.5inch round sandwich meat chubs and cook all the way through in the smoker is just not feasible so SV it is after smoke is applied!
I have the Anova brand which is my go to.
I also have the Inkbird (a sponsor here) which functionally is fine BUT is just not physically designed as well as the Anova for my purposes.
The Anova is precise, simple, and round.
The Inkbird seemed good enough BUT it has this "clip" built in that is supposed to help clip it to the side of the SV container when it is in place and there is no way to remove the clip without breaking it or driving out a pin that may not allow it to be easily put back in place, etc. That design does not work well for my setup.
I bought Coleman 48 Can Stacker coolers and used a hole saw to cut a round hole in the top of the lid. The inkbird with it's clip just does not sit well in it where the Anova will plop right in and be good to go. Also the inkbird has a square top where the Anova's top is round and flush fitting to cover and seal the hole in my cooler lid. These things are why I prefer Anova and Anova is regarded as like one of the most well known SV brands out there and has worked flawlessly.
Finally, it also seems like coleman is no longer making those stacker coolers which were amazing for SV :(
Conclusion: Work is slow so I wrote you an encyclopedia of info hahahaha.
Like others have mentioned, it would be good to start a little slow. I think if you take a middle of the road approach where you buy some common seasonings and some casings, you can get started when your check hits. THEN grow into other things.
An acceptable meat grinder and a good smaller sized stuffer (I'm a fan of the Hakka 7 pound stuffer since it actually fits 5 pounds where other 5 pound stuffers do not actually fit 5 pounds of sausage) those will be the starting point along with some big tubs/totes/containers to hold and work the sausage.
Next up would be seasonings for 1-2 sausages including some of the common ones like Coriander and Mustard. Salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cayenne, and maybe paprika will be major players as well if you don't have plenty of those seasonings. Oh and a tub of cure#1 if you plan to do smoked sausages or even if you want to do things like Franks or hot links but grill them fresh instead of smoking them. Cure#1 gives you the flavor that makes those things way different from fresh grilled sausages alone. Also, things like Fennel are very sausage specific like Italian or other more specific sausages (my hot links recipe has some in it) so you can hold off on low use, specialty seasonings until you get your feet wet.
Finally a good iterative plan of progress would be helpful. Like:
1. do some loose breakfast sausage and figure out the grinding process, equipment, working space, sausage making practices (like mixing and doing a test fry patty), and storage of it (vac sealed? ground poly bags? etc.).
2. move up to a simple stuffed FRESH sausage. Brats come to mind though good luck finding an amazing Brat recipe, but maybe a simple Salt, Pepper, Onion, and Garlic sausage will fit the bill and is almost fool proof with amazing flavor! This will get you in the battle of fighting with natural casings and learning them as well as processes and practices of stuffing natural before you throw on the processes and practices of also having to SMOKE cured stuffed sausages (cured are different from fresh).
3. move on to a simple cured, stuffed, and smoked sausage. You can stuff a bunch but I would not try to smoke more than 5 pounds on your 1st go unless you are 200% confident you have enough of the sausage smoking practice down along with tight heat control of your smoker!!!
If you stuff 10-15 pounds and first 5 pound batch smokes well without any issues (like no issue with smoker running too hot and getting fat out) then you can do another batch or do the rest. If things were very bad with the first 5 pound batch, you can toss the rest of the uncooked stuffed casings on the grill and still eat great sausage as you figure out your smoked sausage setup and processes for later! :D
4. move to different or more complicated approaches or sausage recipes. After getting a few natural casing smokes under your belt, maybe you decide to do a cellulose stuffed skinless smoked sausage (easier than natural casings but different). Maybe you decide to try to work with annoying sheep casing sized sausages. Maybe try a different smoked sausage recipe, etc. etc. etc.
Anyhow, a path like this will allow you to learn, get good food, and keep bumps in the road much smaller as you get into it all.
I hope this info helps, and yeah work has been slow today so I wrote this novel in response :P
Coriander for now......
if we ever meet!
