Greetings for SE Louisiana.
So after reading these forums, especially the smoker build forum, I couldnt stand it and had to build me one. I have had a Bradly for years and loved it, however, it is quite small and those little biscuits are too expensive...
I used TennSmokers drawings, Pops' burner recommendation and it came out great. Burned it in for 4 hours at 225f Saturday.
I found that if I lit the center burner and left burner the temp held at 225f with minimal adjustment. With just the center burner lit and the door cracked a little it held at 130-135f. All temps taken at the rack using two thermometers to compare, not from the door thermometer.
The smokehouse will stay under cover but I am having a friend sew me a form fitting outdoor cover for it. Gonna have a zipper or velcro on the front corners, top to bottom for easy removal. Also placed it on some castors so I can roll it around.
I made my first attempt at standard Cajun Smoked Sausage beginning on Saturday. I cut up 2 pork butts and wound up with just under 10lbs of meat. I added about 1.5lbs of pork fat to that.
I seasoned with my wifes family recipe blend and ground the meat using a LEM #12 with 3/16 grinding plate. I sampled the meat and adjusted my seasonings adding a red pepper flakes, red pepper, white pepper and paprika. Once the taste was good I added two level teaspoons of InstaCure #1 and placed in covered container in fridge over night.
Yesterday my Bro-in-law and I stuffed the sausage into natural hog casings. I had limited experience doing this but it went fine. All casings were thoroughly washed prior to stuffing. Any air bubbles I noticed were pierced.
I had the smoker holding at 130 while stuffing. And in it went. I had just the center burner on high. I cracked the top and bottom door about a quarter inch and opened both top vents and bottom vents. BTW, it was about 60 degrees here yesterday. Temp was perfect 130f in smoker. Sausage dried for 1 hr 45 minutes. No condensation at all on casings.
I added soaked hickory chunks and the smoking began. I raised the temp to apprx 160-170 again using two thermometers at rack level.
After two hours I inserted a meat thermometer to check internal temp. 140f. Color was looking good and casings were firming up nice.
An hour and a half later I checked the internal temp at multiple locations and it was 155f to 160f. I removed the sausage and gave it a water bath using my water hose until the temp reached 120f.
Took it inside and let it rest for one hour.
Final product.
The sausage tasted fantastic. Casings were firm and crisp. It was leaner than any store bought sausage but not too lean.
But, I have some questions:
1. My family prefers the casings to be wrinkled and the sausage more of a darker color like the image below.
How can I achieve this? Is my meat/fat mixture too lean? Should I have cranked up the heat? Should I have use synthetic casings rather than natural to achieve the above? Cooked it longer?
2. The sausage is quite dense, meaning it is tightly packed in the casings. I would like it to be a little more losely packed.
Should I have used a 3/8 plate rather than a 3/16? Should I not stuff the casings to maximum diameter?
This posts on this site have been so helpful. I have learned a ton from this site and this book. Thanks for the help!
Clay
So after reading these forums, especially the smoker build forum, I couldnt stand it and had to build me one. I have had a Bradly for years and loved it, however, it is quite small and those little biscuits are too expensive...
I used TennSmokers drawings, Pops' burner recommendation and it came out great. Burned it in for 4 hours at 225f Saturday.
I found that if I lit the center burner and left burner the temp held at 225f with minimal adjustment. With just the center burner lit and the door cracked a little it held at 130-135f. All temps taken at the rack using two thermometers to compare, not from the door thermometer.
The smokehouse will stay under cover but I am having a friend sew me a form fitting outdoor cover for it. Gonna have a zipper or velcro on the front corners, top to bottom for easy removal. Also placed it on some castors so I can roll it around.
I made my first attempt at standard Cajun Smoked Sausage beginning on Saturday. I cut up 2 pork butts and wound up with just under 10lbs of meat. I added about 1.5lbs of pork fat to that.
I seasoned with my wifes family recipe blend and ground the meat using a LEM #12 with 3/16 grinding plate. I sampled the meat and adjusted my seasonings adding a red pepper flakes, red pepper, white pepper and paprika. Once the taste was good I added two level teaspoons of InstaCure #1 and placed in covered container in fridge over night.
Yesterday my Bro-in-law and I stuffed the sausage into natural hog casings. I had limited experience doing this but it went fine. All casings were thoroughly washed prior to stuffing. Any air bubbles I noticed were pierced.
I had the smoker holding at 130 while stuffing. And in it went. I had just the center burner on high. I cracked the top and bottom door about a quarter inch and opened both top vents and bottom vents. BTW, it was about 60 degrees here yesterday. Temp was perfect 130f in smoker. Sausage dried for 1 hr 45 minutes. No condensation at all on casings.
I added soaked hickory chunks and the smoking began. I raised the temp to apprx 160-170 again using two thermometers at rack level.
After two hours I inserted a meat thermometer to check internal temp. 140f. Color was looking good and casings were firming up nice.
An hour and a half later I checked the internal temp at multiple locations and it was 155f to 160f. I removed the sausage and gave it a water bath using my water hose until the temp reached 120f.
Took it inside and let it rest for one hour.
Final product.
The sausage tasted fantastic. Casings were firm and crisp. It was leaner than any store bought sausage but not too lean.
But, I have some questions:
1. My family prefers the casings to be wrinkled and the sausage more of a darker color like the image below.
How can I achieve this? Is my meat/fat mixture too lean? Should I have cranked up the heat? Should I have use synthetic casings rather than natural to achieve the above? Cooked it longer?
2. The sausage is quite dense, meaning it is tightly packed in the casings. I would like it to be a little more losely packed.
Should I have used a 3/8 plate rather than a 3/16? Should I not stuff the casings to maximum diameter?
This posts on this site have been so helpful. I have learned a ton from this site and this book. Thanks for the help!
Clay
