Slim Jims and Summer Sausage

[txbigred]

Hello all,
My first post here, I found this site when searching about sausage fatties, in fact ,I just made my first one today and have it smoking right now. I used my own home made pork breakfast sausage, rolled it out in a ziplock bag (good tip by the way!) then layered in pepperoni, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and some Cabernet marinara sauce. I rolled it spiral style. I hope it tastes as good as it looks!!

I have been making sausage for quite a while now, here are some pics of some Jalapeno & cheese slim jims and summer sausage I made about a month ago.

Dave

 

[rc1800]

Where is Humble Tx ? I am from El Paso.

 

[white cloud]

Very nice lookin sausage, welcome

 

[kookie]

Great looking sausage...........Nice looking setup.............What kinda smoker you have? Reminds me of the commercial one we had when I worked in the grocery store when I was in school..............

 

[cbucher]

good looking sausages and slim jims

 

[meat-man]

Hey brother they look great and by the way welcome aboard

 

[tbucher1218]

Sausage and slim jims look great. Welcome

 

[txbigred]

Thanks for the welcome guys. The smoker that I use for making sausage is one I made from a Traulsen hot box, it's what institutions use to keep food hot. It's stainless inside and out, and has 4 heat strips to provide the heat. I added a 220v burner for the smoke,(I use hickory sawdust) an exhaust fan and a thermostat. I got a heck of a deal on it....$150 delivered to my house. I bought it from a guy who sells restaurant equipment, he had it sitting outside, so it needed some clean up, but it works great!! I have it in my garage so I can smoke whether it's raining or not. The fan is variable speed, when set on it's lowest speed it keeps just enough negative pressure to keep my garage from filling with smoke.
Here are a couple pictures






Dave

 

[bb53chevpro]

Wow, i am impressed. That sausage looks great. Love the smoker too. I'll give you $175 for it and i'll pick it up.

 

[mossymo]

TxBigRed
Welcome to SMF, additional sausage making knowledge is always welcomed !!! Nice looking custom smoker and I like how you use your garage as a windbreak..... someday I hope to be set up that way.

 

[cowgirl]

Great looking slim jims and sausage TxBigRed. Love that smoker too

 

[kamhillbilly]

Nice looking sausage , this fall I was thinking of trying some sausage making those slim jims and summer sausage look great . I would like to make some from my moose and deer meat . Would you be willing to share your recipe?
Welcome

 

[goat]

All looks very nice. It is good to have another sausage stuffer here.

 

[txbigred]

Well, not really a recipe. I normally use the "Leggs Old Plantation" seasonings and then add on from there, Zach's is another good seasoning brand and is located here in the Houston area.
As a general rule I use 50/50 pork/Beef, the pork adds a "sweetness" to the sausage and every body seems to prefer it to straight beef. Now, when I make links, I like to use 100% pork. For the cheese, I find that 10-12% by weight is about right. for the summer sausage I cube the cheese to 1/4"-1/2" cubes, for the slim jims, I shred it. I just use cheddar that I get from Sams club, I have never used the high temp cheese, as I have never had a problem with the regular cheddar. Jalapeno's.. add to what ever your taste buds like. I use dehydrated jalapeno's, about 1/4 cup per 10 lbs. of meat. I rehydrate it before I mix with the meat. For the slim jims, I add about 3/4 tsp of cayenne pepper per 10 lbs. of meat to it for some heat, again season to what you like. Not all cayenne is created equall.

Then the normal stuff,
1 tsp. of cure per 5 lbs. of meat.
1 cup of ice cold water per 5 lbs. of meat, for the slim jims, I will add a little more water to make it easier to stuff into the 18mm casings.
Hang in smoker at about 110-115 degrees for about 1-1.5 hours to dry, start smoke and bring temp up to about 145-150 for about 2 hours, then raise temp to 165. when the internal meat temp reaches about 142-145 I take the pan of hickory sawdust out, and put in a big pot of boiling water to steam the sausage unitl internal reaches 152. The steam greatly decreases the time in the smoker and improves the bite of the sausage. When removing from the smoker be sure to give them a cold water shower to quickly lower the temp of the sausage, this will help prevent a "wrinkled" looking sausage, specially when doing links. Allow to hang and air dry before putting up in the cooler.

Dave

Dave

 

[vlap]

Excellent way to introduce yourself! Glad to have ya here!!!

 

[buckeye024]

Are there any threads here about making sausage? From the pics and above description, I'd like to give it a try....

 

[txbigred]

I'm sure there are, I'm new here too. Try doing a search. If you have any questions about making sausage, I would be happy to help any way I can.

Dave

 

[mossymo]

buckeye024
There is an entire category just for sausage, here it is if you haven't found it yet - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...splay.php?f=44

 

[fireguy]

dang man... you got sweet equiptment and nice sausage... really a great set up.. defffinatly points

 

[buck wheezer]

Agreed on both points: great looking sausage and introduce yourself in the Roll Call.

Since you mentioned it in another post, I spend my Thursdays in a Northville coffee shop writing my sermon for the week. Welcome!