Venison Summer Sausage cold+hot smoked and sous vide pics

[Miss Piggy]

View attachment 384425 We did our first ever venison summer sausage and decided to experiment a bit. We cold smoked all, then hot smoked some to 165 and sous vide some at 150 for three hours. I liked the sous vide the best, but my husband liked both equally. If you have suggestions, please post. There are a few little gaps in the sausage and I'm curious to know why. This is a jalapeño/hot pepper cheese sausage. In the pic above the one on the right is cold smoked/sous vide; the one on the left is cold/hot smoked. Same casings.

View attachment 384419

 

[crazymoon]

MP, Your SS looks good,air pockets are usually a result of not getting the casings packed tight enough.Pockets also occur from smoker temps too high which allow the fat to run out creating pockets.What was your venison/fat ratio?

 

[Miss Piggy]

This is what I did times 2:
3 lbs venison
2 lbs pork shoulder
5 T Tender Quick
1 T mustard seed
1 T maple sugar
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 jalapeños, chopped fine
1 tsp aleppo
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup water
1/2 lb high temp cheese

The sous vide was done at 150 and the hot smoke around 165 and then 195 at the end. The cold smoke at pretty much outside temp which was below 40.

Thank you! It's really tasty.

 

[klutzyspuds]

Miss Piggy.

Nice looking goodies. Looks tasty.

I cannot speak to the sous vide stuff as I have never used one. but am intrigued with them. But as for the smoker ones, when I make sausage, I run the IT 155 but try to avoid letting the smoker temp getting any higher than 180* as that is approx. the temp the pork fat will begin rendering. This may be the reason for the pockets, or as mentioned, maybe just not packed tight enough. Regardless, looks are only part of the deal. Taste is the true test of success.

hope this helps,

Mark

 

[Miss Piggy]

Mark, it's probably not packed tight enough as the sous vide logs didn't go past 150. I felt like we were packing them really tight, but apparently not. lol Thank you! The taste is really good. We were impressed with ourselves. ;D

 

[daveomak]

If you use a vertical stuffer, pack the ground meat as tight as you can, in the canister... that will help keep the air pockets out... Air pockets can be a good place for bacteria to start to grow...
I use the plunger from the meat grinder to pack the canister...
Sausage looks good....
If you are using a coarse grind of meat, for the sausage, try grinding about 25% of the meat through a fine grind... Mix the meat thoroughly.. the fine grind will (should) fill in the gaps...

 

[Miss Piggy]

We did use a vertical stuffer, but probably not packed tightly enough. I ground all of the meat the coarse die and then through the fine. Hey, if it's possible to mess it up, I can do it! Good thing is that with the sous vide, you can keep the temp low, but leave it in long enough to pasteurize it, so no bacteria worries. I think that's the way we'll do it. We both were very happy with it. Thanks!

 

[HalfSmoked]

Looking good and you are in the learning curve of what was and was not done just right. So the learning experience has begun and better things ahead.

Warren

 

[Miss Piggy]

Thank you, Warren! I really hope so. :D

 

[HalfSmoked]

Miss Piggy Thanks for the like it is greatly appreciated.

Warren