Pro in the making (a.k.a. noob)

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wuchagot

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2013
7
10
Grangeville Idaho
My name is Darren, I am 32, married, full time college student (non traditional obviously), I live in Idaho on my wife's family cattle ranch and we have A LOT OF MEAT!

The dream started off with sausage, the homemade kind, then I thought "what better way to cook it then in a smoker?".

Few hundred bucks later I ordered a meat grinder/stuffer, Hog casings, a meat mixer, a CHAR-BROIL vertical coal smoker, and a ton of smoker modding gear.

I got the $74 Char-Broil vertical smoker Wal-Mart special online with free shipping (people try to sell that thing for over $100 on eBay..REALLY?!)

I picked up an upgraded thermometer (I hear the ones that come on the cheap starter rigs are junk)

I bought some Big Green Egg felt gasket to use to seal up the doors.

I picked up the highly recommended WOK TOPPER to use for the fire basket instead of the provided dish.

In the next week or 2 I will be embarking on my first sausage making and smoking adventure.

To CURE or NOT TO CURE, that is the question

Thanks all
 
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Hello Darren, and welcome to the Forums!  Glad you joined us.  This is a great place to share ideas on our favorite pastimes...smoking and grilling great food!  There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Any time you need help, just ask and you'll get plenty!

Red
 
Welcome Darren. Glad to have you with us!  I might suggest you start with fresh (un cured) sausage. Try a few batches and play with different flavors. Get to know your equipment . You have to be carefull with using cure. The measurements and curing times must be correct to be safe.

  One more piece of equipment to get would be a good weight scale. Also, read lots of the sausage posts on this site. Great ideas and info there. And don't hesitate to ask questions!  Happy Smoking!

  Mike
 
Darren
welcome1.gif


Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David
 
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to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! Would you mind updating your profile to show the other SMF members where you are located?  Could meet a few new neighbors!

You should sign up for Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, and it's great!  This is chock full of great information....no matter what your experience level might be!

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per Jeff in Rule #11. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
We have a digital scale but I think it is a smaller 5 lbs unit used for weighing a lb of flour or sugar, not 10-20 lbs of meat. Because I plan on doing larger batches of sausage, 20 lbs or so, I was thinking of picking up a heavier duty stainless kitchen scale. I had put one in my cart and hovered over the "commit to buy" button for a few min but I backed out because I wasn't sure if I should invest in a digital commercial scale or an analog one.
 
 
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