Well,I got at 'er again wiht the ole plywood box

[chola]

I decided to take a shot at some summer sausage style chubs..
I did 2 that were a moose garlic sausage with cubed marble cheese and 20% pork fat.(not real sure how the cheese will hold up)
They were stuffed 3 inch fibrous casings

The other was my Italian mix of spices with moose and pork fat. These were stuffed in 2.5 inch fibrous casing.
Was cool out today. Averaged about -15 celcius during the day,then dipped to -21 towards the last 2 hours of cooking. I was quite surprised as temps were easy to maintain in the plywood box..took about 11 hours start to finish...

No pics of the mixing process, just a few from the end of the smoke, the icebath and then hanging to bloom...

Boy, patience sure is a must in this hobby. They stalled out at 138 degrees,but I just left the smoker alone as it was maintaining a nice smooth 168 temp. Before I knew it, the chubs rose to 151...LOL..kinda snuck up on me...
The best thing I did, was to purchase a couple of digital thermometers.One that was stationary, and the other I could pack the reciever with me in the house..was a huge help to have them

 

[ronp]

Those look great, good job.

How did they taste?

 

[raceyb]

Wow, you guys make those at home? I love summer sausage!

 

[chola]

They turned out OK..not great in my opinion.
The spices/meat have about 50% of the flavour they did when I did a fry test patty. They are OK,but not what I had expected...hmmmm..has me confused.
The cheese held up fine though...I am going to grind the fat finer too..not a huge fan of the big chunks.

Will soy protein help in keeping them juicier and a bit plumper ?
May have to try some of that stuff eventually

 

[oneshot]

Those look great!!! Are those white spots chunks of fat???
I would grind the fat up finer and that may help with the lack of moisture.

 

[mulepackin]

Soy protein or some other type of binder will definitely help retain moisture and juiciness. Sometimes flavor seems to be enhanced just with a bloom period and staying away from it for awhile. I get what I call "sausage fatigue". I honestly think after a session of grinding, mixing and smoking, I can't tell how something tastes, so I just don't try it for a day or two after a sausage session, then everything gets back to normal and it tastes right again.

 

[chola]

Ya, that's my thinking as well...they hung to bloom for a bout 2 hours..I powered out, so placed them in the fridge and then hit the rack.
Tried them this morning and was only mildly happy with the taste.
I have to take a sampler over to my dad, he will let me know...he's the taste tester.

As far as the fat...ya..much finer grind next time..in the bigger chubs, that's a marbled cheese that I cubed up and stuffed....

It's coming together slowly, it's all still a learning process