Summer sausage

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Smokemrite

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 18, 2020
3
0
I made 3 5# logs of summer sausage, I made them with pure pork ( Had no beef or venison), I ground up the whole batch at the same time but spiced and mixed them separately. All three turned out different, the one on the left looks and tastes like store bought sausage. the one on the right was OK and the one in the middle was not very good, still tasted fine but poor texture. All where smoked at the same time in my Bradley smoker.
Anyone have any Ideas why they would turn out so different, I used basically the same spices, Fermento and prauge powder. Could the amount of mixing make that much difference, I don't have a mixer so it was all by hand, Im sure by the third batch I was getting tired and not mixing as enthusiastically. but I do not remember which was which.
 

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mixing could be part of it, if you didn't use the exact recipe for each one that will throw off the flavor, also when you smoked them did you rotate once in a while, ya might have hot spots in your smoker so some may be over cooked. what temps did you smoke at.
 
Post your recipe . Could be a few different things . Mixing , percentage of salt . How much liquid .
The white - ish color makes me think to much Fermento , but hard to tell .
Anytime you make different flavors from the same grind you have to be careful to make sure you get the fat content right in all 3 . Did you mix after grinding before you split it up ?
 
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how did you store meat while doing each batch?? if really cold or just enough is difference in texture. and how spices are absorbed. just an opinion
 
O.K. lots of questions.
1) Different spices should not a;alter the texture
2) Smoking temperature was the same as I do with any sausage, start out at about 120 then hourly increase temp to max 170 and yes rotating a few times. As I said all have good flavor no complaints about that just texture.
3) all fifteen # were ground with the same amount of fat at 20% if that was a factor all three batches would be the same. As with all my sausage I flatten out my pile of meat and salt it to a level that I would like to eat it, have never had any problem with that before. the amount of fermento was the same in all actually the lighter colored one is the best, again flavor is not the problem. I always grind twice through the biggest wheel I have.
4) I always grind half frozen meat and portion out what I want to stuff. In the mean time meat is stored in a dedicated fridge set at 33 deg.
Sorry for the long wind. I am not new to making smoked sausage, I have made hundreds of pounds, always turned out good. Even these are not bad, just more uneven. This is however the first time making large sausage like summer, unfortunately I did not label the batches so I could what I did something different to each batch.
My concern that I hoped someone would help me with is, and the conclusion I came to is the mixing, I do not have a mechanical mixer and by the time I got to the third batch I was getting tired and probably did not mix as much, and was wondering if that would or could make that much of a difference.
Also new to this forum and would like to thank those who replied.
 
I do my mixing by hand. Your fat can smear even by hand as your hands get warm.

Looking at your pic the meat looks kinda mealy and smeared. You did use cure 1? Just saying because the meat (pork even) does not look to have the pinkish/red tint of cued meat.
(not trying to hijack your post)
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Did you use a binder of any kind?
 
No problem I agree used the right amount of cure, Think the pale look is due to the Fermento. I actually think its the one that looks most like the sausage you buy in the store and tastes like it, I only used pork for this one. And also has the best mouth feel of the three.
Your pick is more like what we call farmer sausage have made piles of that and has always turned out great. This is the first time making a large sausage like summer. All great fun the best thing about home smoking sausage is the experimentation.
As they say the worst sausage you smoke is still better that that you buy in the store. Or any meats.
 

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Thats ring bologna.

We all still learn, So many new ways out now.

I lost count of sausage making at 4200 lbs 9or there abouts)
 
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