First time smoking venison summer sausage with complete recipe and how to guide

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Hello ... just wanting to know if the culrued butter milk is put in as a powder form or if its a liquid , im guessing that the non fat milk is skim milk and is added as a powder ..

Ted ...
 
Rookie mistake...wish I had read this yesterday. Made a 30lb batch of venison summer sausahe and followed the instructions that came with the kit. Well, they recommended 180 degree final cooking temp until IT was reached, aaannnndddd I had a fat out. Still looks good, i guess. Will neber go past 170 ever again!!!
 
I made this (first time making and smoking summer sausage) and it turned out great but was not tangy at all. I had it in a freeze under controlled temps for 3 or 4 days prior to smoking in hopes of making it tangy. What can I do next time to get the tangy flavor? Fermento? Thanks
 
I made this (first time making and smoking summer sausage) and it turned out great but was not tangy at all. I had it in a freeze under controlled temps for 3 or 4 days prior to smoking in hopes of making it tangy. What can I do next time to get the tangy flavor? Fermento? Thanks

Don't put it in the freezer to ferment. Put it in the refrigerator and keep it between 34~40*. Freezer is too cold for fermenting.
 
Don't put it in the freezer to ferment. Put it in the refrigerator and keep it between 34~40*. Freezer is too cold for fermenting.

Sorry I meant to say fridge. I have a mini fridge with a temperature controller on it that I use for fermenting beer. So I held it between 34 and 40 precisely (I can't remember what I set it to - maybe 38) and it holds the temp within 1 degree. If I use something like Fermento next time would I not use the Buttermilk powder and corn sugar? Good/bad idea?
 
I made a batch of this today, with a couple of tweaks. First off, I only did a half batch. Didn't want to make a bunch to find out it wasn't up to my expectations. I'm not a hunter so no venison. Used beef. I upped the black pepper and garlic powder by about 50%....because that's the way we like stuff. Lots of garlic, and lots of black pepper. I also added a tablespoon of crushed red pepper. That will hopefully add just a little bit of a glow to the sausage. Additionally, there was a post that stated that the Buttermilk was powdered. First off, I couldn't find that at my little local grocery store. Secondly, every batch of sausage I've made has called for some sort of liquid, usually ice water, so I just used the liquid Buttermilk as my liquid. It's cased and hanging in the back of the keg-o-rator getting happy now. I'll smoke it in a few days and cross my fingers. It sure sounds like a great recipe though and truly appreciate it being shared.

Summer (sausage) in Lago Vista
Robert
 
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Here is my results from yesterday for this recipe with Antelope. I’ve been using this recipe for 4 years now. I added 1# of fresh Jalapeño with seeds per 1# of meat and 1# of high temp cheddar for 10# of meat. This time I tried the water bath after the smoker to bring it up to 155*.i like the bath method. Still my favorite recipe. It’s amazin!
 

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View attachment 380551 Here is my results from yesterday for this recipe with Antelope. I’ve been using this recipe for 4 years now. I added 1# of fresh Jalapeño with seeds per 1# of meat and 1# of high temp cheddar for 10# of meat. This time I tried the water bath after the smoker to bring it up to 155*.i like the bath method. Still my favorite recipe. It’s amazin!
Hi, I was the author of the recipe and haven't looked back at the article since 2013 but a guy sent me an email yesterday about when I added the water and I replied back with the answer. This morning he sent back a thanks so I thought I'd go back and look at the article and surprised at all the posts now. I see a lot of questions around the buttermilk being liquid or powdered, it was just plain liquid buttermilk so I edited the recipe to make that clear. I'm glad you like the recipe and very happy to see others have liked it as well. Good hunting!
 
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Trying this recipe right now. Made the sausage with some diced, frozen jalapeños that we had frozen, but stuck pretty close to the recipe. I'll be smoking tomorrow, and can't wait to see how this turns out. I've used kits dozens of times, and the only time I worked from scratch was a disappointment. Feeling optimistic!
 
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Don't put it in the freezer to ferment. Put it in the refrigerator and keep it between 34~40*. Freezer is too cold for fermenting.
I use butter milk and hang in at room temp for a day or 2 by the they are dry enough to smoke. Then hang at 8 - 10 degrees 75% humidity until 30% of green weight is lost or your preference of dryness is reached.
 
I followed the recipe except didn't have prague powder. The temp stalled at about 130 so I pulled them and stuck in a hot water bath for about 1 1/2 hrs. to finish. Then put them in cold water bath followed by a couple hours of hanging. Put them in the fridge overnight. When I cut them in half today to freeze them they were all full of liquid gel. I had to squeeze it al out to wrap. Never heard of this problem before. What went wrong?
Hi All,

I spent quite a bit of time looking into using my new MES 30 Analog Smoker to make 10 lbs of venison summer sausage (VSS). Well after "harvesting" all of the information on sites like this one I came up with a recipe that was sort of a blend of many. Along with writing down the recipe I also wrote down the full procedure, from start to freezer, for making my first batch of VSS.

The main issue was getting the needed smoke at the required temperatures, and for that I very recently purchased the A-MAZE-N wood pellet smoker (AMZNPS) to fill that need; which it did so perfectly I might add! So for Step 6, the smoking procedure, its written for a smoker that is already capable of smoking at lower temperatures. From what I've read I think most commercial electric home smokers are probably not capable of producing smoke, or enough smoke at least, at low temperatures . Most are actually more like BBQs that smoke at around 225F and not a cold smoker. Two rows of hickory pellets in the AMZNPS, lit at both ends, produced a beautiful heavy smudge of white smoke for a solid 3 1/2 hours and continued to produce a lighter smoke for another additonal hour, which seems to have been near perfect for this first attempt.

When I took the first taste of the VSS this morning I was very very happy with the results, in fact you might say I was amazed. Way better than I expected considering this was the first time I ever smoked anything, and with a more or less untested recipe. I took a half of a stick of the freshly smoke VSS along with some sharp cheddar and Vermont chedder to a sportsmans club I belong to at around noon today and it was gone in no time with several of the guys asking for the recipe. So I've since printed out copies of the below to give to them next weekend.

I did modify my smoker so it can hold a fourth rack as well as allow hanging of the sticks of sausage from some square tubing near the top.

If you have any questions on anything in this start of a thread please feel free to ask.

So without further blather here's a photo of my slightly modified smoker at the start of the smoking with the sticks of VSS hung and the AMZNPS smoking, the recipe, and the full process I used. I hope it helps anybody else who is completely clueless like I was when I first got interested in smoking meats:


Smoked Venison Summer Sausage Recipe, for 10 lbs

(Adapted from numerous venison summer sausage recipes by Pat Thompson, 12-11-12)

Ingredients:

1) 6 lbs coarse ground venison

2) 4 lbs course ground fatty pork butt/shoulder

3) 3/4 cup + 1 tblsp low fat cultured buttermilk (Edit on 12-22-18, I used liquid buttermilk, like you would drink. I see there are a lot of questions related to liquid or powdered.)

(Cultured buttermilk will help give sausage its "tangy" flavor.)

4) 2 tblsp non-fat dry milk, for binder and additional lactose for fermenting

5) 2 tsp (0.40 oz) of Prague Powder #1

6) 4 tblsp + 2 tsp kosher salt, can substitute 4 tblsp of pickling salt

7) 2 tblsp whole mustard seed

8) 3 tblsp coarse ground black pepper

9) 4 tsp sugar, for fermenting to get tang.

10) 1 tblsp garlic powder

11) 1 tblsp onion powder

12) 2 tblsp paprika

13) 1 tsp ground marjoram

14) 1/4 tsp ground ginger

15) 1/4 tsp ground coriander

16) 1 tsp monosodium glutamate (optional), Same as Accent seasoning

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First grind of the meat - Cut the meat into 1" cubes and put in freezer for 30 to 45 minutes to firm meat for grinding. Grind with coarse plate for proper texture. Always keep the meat cold (< 40[sup]o[/sup] F).

2. Season the meat - Add all ingredients to ground meat and thoroughly mix by hand or with a meat mixer.

3. Regrind the meat before stuffing* - Regrind the meat with the coarse plate to assure the desired texture for stuffing and mixing of all the ingredients.

4. Stuff the sausage into casings - Keep meat cold (< 40[sup]o[/sup] F) while stuffing. Stuff into synthetic or fibrous casings that are 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. A 2 1/2" dia. by 17" long stick will weigh about 3 1/2 lbs.

5. Cure the sausage at 40[sup]o[/sup] F - Store sticks in the refrigerator and refrigerate at least overnight. Can be kept in refrigerator for up to three days. "Tang" of summer sausage will increase the longer it is refrigerated. I refrigerate mine for about two days. Do not let internal temperature get below 34[sup]o[/sup] F or mix will not ferment. Active bacteria in the cultured buttermilk will metabolize (ferment) the added sugar and lactose in non-fat dry milk to lactic acid giving the summer sausage its characteristic "tangy" taste. You really won't "taste" any of the sugar that has not been metabolized but the sausage may seem to taste less salty than expected.

6**. Smoke the sausage in smoker - Preheat smoker to 120[sup]o[/sup] F. Hang or lay sausage on racks in smoker, making sure the sticks are well separated from each other. Insert temperature probe into center of sausage near the middle of the smoker. Allow to dry for one hour with damper wide open at 120[sup]o[/sup] F. Add wood chips (hickory is suggested) to the wood pan, close damper to 1/4 open, and increase smoker temperature to 150[sup]o [/sup]F for four hours, add water to water pan and increase temperature to 170[sup]o[/sup] F (Max) to finish cooking. (Edit on 12-22-18, Don't exceed the 170F, or much above 160F in the sausage, or you could experience "fat-out" where the fat redistributes and seriously changes the texture of the sausage) While smoking add wood as necessary in 1/4 cup amounts and generate smoke for three to ten hours (suggest four or five hours for first try) depending on how "smoky" you want it to taste, continue cooking without smoke until internal temperature of sausage reaches 155[sup]o[/sup] F. (Edit on 12-22-18, The time to reach 155F takes quite a long time. I was pretty surprised at how long it took actually.)

Some recipes recommend using a heavy smudge during the smoking process. A "heavy smudge" is produced using lots of heavy white smoke. This is difficult to do with most home smokers at 150[sup]o [/sup]F unless you have an additional smoke generator attached to or within your smoker to produce the necessary level of smoke.


7. Stopping the smoking/cooking - To stop the cooking process once the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 155[sup]o[/sup] F immediately plunge the sticks into ice cold water to drop the internal temperature to 100[sup]o[/sup] F. You can also plunge the sticks into deep snow if present. I used the available snow and this cool down took about a 1/2 to 3/4 hour to complete.

8. Blooming: Dry the outside of the sticks with a towel and allow to further air dry while hanging at room temperature for a few hours to reach proper color and then store in a cooler or freeze. If wrapped in aluminum foil and butcher paper the sausage will stay fresh in a freezer for several months. Vacuum packing and freezing will insure freshness for up to a year.

*Note: You can grind the meat finer during the second grind if you prefer a finer texture to the summer sausage. I prefer a coarser sausage.

**Note: Most home smokers are not meant for low temperature smoking. You may need to purchase an additional low cost sawdust or pellet smoke generator, such as sold by A-MAZE-N Products, that is designed for cold smoking.
 
Sounds like you had some type of fat out. This was probably due to one smoker being hotter than you thought, the water bath being hotter than you thought(180*), or the fat smeared when you ground it.

And the Prague powder is the most important step...it keeps you from dieing

I followed the recipe except didn't have prague powder. The temp stalled at about 130 so I pulled them and stuck in a hot water bath for about 1 1/2 hrs. to finish. Then put them in cold water bath followed by a couple hours of hanging. Put them in the fridge overnight. When I cut them in half today to freeze them they were all full of liquid gel. I had to squeeze it al out to wrap. Never heard of this problem before. What went wrong?
 
If I were to use "Encapsulated Citric Acid" instead of Buttermilk, should I add water to this recipe? I wanted to try this so I could do it all in one day.
 
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