Well I finally managed to get everything together today and made my first batch of hickory smoked sausage sticks. I used smoked collagen casings and a beef/pork mix. Here is the recipe I used:
2 lbs. Beef, lean (I used a 90/10 ground beef from my butcher)
2 lbs. Beef trim (50%)
1 lb. Pork trim (50%)
1 Cup Dry milk powder
2 Tbs. Salt
1 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. Paprika (I used smoked)
1 tsp. Cure #1
2 tsp. Black pepper
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Marjoram, ground
1 tsp. Nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. Ginger, ground
1/2 tsp. Chipolte powder
1 Cup Water
19mm Collagen casings
I ground the trim through a coarse plate first and then mixed in the pre-ground 90/10 mix. After the mix was blended for 5 minutes I then ran it through a fine plate, 3/16 diameter. I did the grinding the night before and then refrigerated it over night to allow the meat to be as cold as possible the next day when stuffing. Using a 3/8 tube I tied of the end and began stuffing the cases with ease. I used the back of two of my dining room chairs and as the sausage came off I looped it over the smoking rods and placed the rods between the two chair backs and just hang as I made more.
Once I finished stuffing the casings I took the sausages out to the preheated smoker at 130 degrees. I smoked it at this temperature for 1 hour the raised the temp to 145 for 3 hours using heavy smoke during this time. I chose to smoke with hickory, old school smoke first to set a base taste prior to trying other types of woods. After the three hours is over raise the temp to 160 degrees until the internal temp is 160 degrees.
Once the sausage had come to temp I removed them from the smoker and hung them again between the two chairs. (For those of you that are worried about messing up your chairs worry not. The simple solution is to covet the chair backs with an old towel.) I let them hang to cool, when you can bend the sausage stick back and it snaps, its ready. I vacuum sealed them and put them in the fridge. I can say that I am not disappointed in the results, try it and let me know what you think. Below are a couple of pictures of the finished product.
2 lbs. Beef, lean (I used a 90/10 ground beef from my butcher)
2 lbs. Beef trim (50%)
1 lb. Pork trim (50%)
1 Cup Dry milk powder
2 Tbs. Salt
1 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. Paprika (I used smoked)
1 tsp. Cure #1
2 tsp. Black pepper
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Marjoram, ground
1 tsp. Nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. Ginger, ground
1/2 tsp. Chipolte powder
1 Cup Water
19mm Collagen casings
I ground the trim through a coarse plate first and then mixed in the pre-ground 90/10 mix. After the mix was blended for 5 minutes I then ran it through a fine plate, 3/16 diameter. I did the grinding the night before and then refrigerated it over night to allow the meat to be as cold as possible the next day when stuffing. Using a 3/8 tube I tied of the end and began stuffing the cases with ease. I used the back of two of my dining room chairs and as the sausage came off I looped it over the smoking rods and placed the rods between the two chair backs and just hang as I made more.
Once I finished stuffing the casings I took the sausages out to the preheated smoker at 130 degrees. I smoked it at this temperature for 1 hour the raised the temp to 145 for 3 hours using heavy smoke during this time. I chose to smoke with hickory, old school smoke first to set a base taste prior to trying other types of woods. After the three hours is over raise the temp to 160 degrees until the internal temp is 160 degrees.
Once the sausage had come to temp I removed them from the smoker and hung them again between the two chairs. (For those of you that are worried about messing up your chairs worry not. The simple solution is to covet the chair backs with an old towel.) I let them hang to cool, when you can bend the sausage stick back and it snaps, its ready. I vacuum sealed them and put them in the fridge. I can say that I am not disappointed in the results, try it and let me know what you think. Below are a couple of pictures of the finished product.
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