This is my first time posting. I hope someone can help me. Made some summer sausage last weekend and the texture, the color and the flavor was not like the test patties we cooked up or previous attempts, which turned out GREAT! Followed the same recipe I'd made a year ago, so I'm not sure what happened. The dentsity and texture was not right and it was a bit mushy. Could this be from over mixing, or was the smoker temp to hot?
Here's how I made them:
First ground The elk and pork through a 3/8 inch die.
2. Mixed the pork and elk (50/50) together with cure, dry ingredients And some water with beef base.
3. Then we ran the mixture through a 1/4 inch die one last time.
4. Put the mixture in the refrigerator and let it set overnight .
5. The next day we stuffed into mahogany casings .
6. Hung sausage for 2 to 3 hours with the fan blowing on it to dry It.
7. Smoker at 120 for 2 to 3 hours heavy smoke then turned up to 170 no smoke and it took over 24 hours to reach 152° IT . (Actually had to turn temp up to 190 to get it done.)
8. Put sausage in icewater bath then let hang for several hours then put in fridge .
Any ideas what went wrong? The density/texture was just off and the outer edge of the summer sausage seemed very hard. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Here's how I made them:
First ground The elk and pork through a 3/8 inch die.
2. Mixed the pork and elk (50/50) together with cure, dry ingredients And some water with beef base.
3. Then we ran the mixture through a 1/4 inch die one last time.
4. Put the mixture in the refrigerator and let it set overnight .
5. The next day we stuffed into mahogany casings .
6. Hung sausage for 2 to 3 hours with the fan blowing on it to dry It.
7. Smoker at 120 for 2 to 3 hours heavy smoke then turned up to 170 no smoke and it took over 24 hours to reach 152° IT . (Actually had to turn temp up to 190 to get it done.)
8. Put sausage in icewater bath then let hang for several hours then put in fridge .
Any ideas what went wrong? The density/texture was just off and the outer edge of the summer sausage seemed very hard. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.