Various sausages over the holidays (QVIEW)

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pwrwgnwalt

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 25, 2014
7
14
Hi everyone, and thanks for all the good ideas and tips in the various posts. 

Thought I'd share a little QView of our sausage-making holiday, when my two college-aged boys were home.

We made:

4  13# brined/cured smoked turkeys

25# Fresh Bratwurst        (our own recipe, pork & elk)   

25# Fresh Cheddarwurst  (pork & elk)

25# Fresh Knockwurst     (elk & pork)

25# Landjaeger               (elk & pork- Cabela's mix)

25# Jalapeno-Cheese Snack Sticks   (elk and beef)

25# Chipotle-Cheese Snack Sticks    (deer and beef - Hi Mountain mix)

25# Thurlami                                    (our own Thuringer/Salami recipe - deer, elk, beef, pork)        


This is an early shot of the Landjaeger and Thurlami (left side of smoker), and the Jalapeno-Cheese Sticks (to the right), just getting ready to close the doors for several hours.  Had already smoked the 4 turkeys (stockinette bags) and Chipotle-Cheese sticks before Christmas (using A-MAZE-N Apple pellets).  Cooked 1 turkey in oven Christmas day, gave two to friends, and froze one. Vacuum-packed the sticks after finishing in oven. 

The smoker is an old double-door commercial fridge I've been using since 1991.  Recently have been trying to get this big space heated by electric element, but I don't have it perfected yet and it was too cold out. So, used the old method (grill, bottom right) and Stubb's charcoal to supplement the heat. The 18" A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker packed with Hickory pellets produced the perfect smoke for 8 hours, at 105 *F.  Finished in oven, hung for 1 day, then vacuum packed.  Still plenty of room in the smoker!

Here's the Landjaeger and Jalapeno-Cheese Stick I had for lunch today...  along with a few crackers.


Next:  I bought a whole pork belly; have been reading the posts and am going to try my first bacon!  (may try both brined and dry-rub versions).

- Walt
 
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I use a burner designed to convert a brinkman smoker from charcoal to electric. Gets my single door upto 250 I can't see why it would get yours upto temp to do sausage. I would like to see some pics of that rig to sounds impressive.
 
Nice looking sausage, I'll be over for a snack !
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Thanks everyone;



Busy evening putting our first Bacons together...  got a 14# whole skinless belly from local meat co., so we're doing 3 different kinds:  


1)  4#  Cover Brine, plus injected with a mix of 1 cup Maple Syrup (the real stuff) + 2 cups brine solution.  


2)  5#  Dry Cure - simple recipe, with brown sugar, and 1 cup sorghum (molasses) drizzled on after belly was in the ziploc bag.


3)  5#  Dry Cure - same basic recipe, but added 1 cup ground black pepper to rub.




Now everything is in the fridge for many (~10) days to cure.


Will be properly turned/'massaged' each day, then cold smoked with Hickory.  



Earlier, had some Thurlami and cheese for lunch, then got some Bratwurst and Cheddarwurst out for dinner on the grill...










We are finding the Cheddarwurst, while good n' cheesy off the grill, is a bit too cheesy for our liking (looks like it in the pictures, too).


Next time, will not use 5# of cheese in 25# of meat... more like 3# or 4# (although we felt 3# of cheese in the Jalapeno-Cheese Sticks was not enough...)  



 
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I use a burner designed to convert a brinkman smoker from charcoal to electric. Gets my single door upto 250 I can't see why it would get yours upto temp to do sausage. I would like to see some pics of that rig to sounds impressive.
Thanks Kyle;

I'm with you on your thinking. I was going to go that route, but got an old (~ 1953) Frigidaire - by General Motors ! - range to experiment with... but now am thinking the two oven elements (each rated 3200 W at 236 volts) just aren't going to do it at 120v  (thus producing about 800 Watts each).  So, am considering what to do next - either to extend my 240 volt line a bit, or wait until it warms up a little bit (40's?) and see how it does then, or to go another route like you did and use a 1500 Watt, 120 volt element. 

My nearby (to the smoker) outlet is 20 amp/120 volt service, so while I do have a little wiggle room, it ain't much.  May have to run two separate feeder lines and use two high-output elements in winter... or insulate the heck out of the smoker!

- Walt
 
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Hi DCURRY,

Here's our recipe. If you are using elk 'burger' (already mixed with beef fat), it should be just fine.

FRESH BRATWURST RECIPE 25 lb. recipe

5 lb. elk (or veal, or other lean meat. You can use more, up to 10 lb., adjusting pork to 15 lb. total)
7 lb. lean pork trim (fatty pork)
13 lb. pork butt/shoulder (we sometimes just use 20 lb. of pork butt, which makes a fairly lean sausage)

1 qt. whole milk. (ice cold)
9 eggs
12oz. Soy protein concentrate
1 oz. ground white pepper
1 oz. ground mace
1 oz. ground nutmeg
1/2 oz. ground ginger
1/2 oz. ground celery seed
8 oz. salt (non-iodized. We use Canning & Pickling Salt)

Meat should be very cold, a little frozen is fine, especially the pork.
Grind meats through a 3/8" grinder plate and mix together well.

Mix the eggs well, add the milk and set aside (freezer, to keep cold).
Mix the rest of the ingredients dry in a big bowl, then stir in the egg/milk mixture.

Mix the liquid seasoning mixture into the meat, and stuff into 32-35 mm hog casings (or collagen casings, whatever you prefer).
Package and freeze immediately.

Be sure to cook thoroughly, and enjoy with German Mustard or Curry Ketchup ("Curry Gewürz" , available at World Market).
Pre-cooked in beer, butter and onion before browning on the grill adds a superb flavor, too. :sausage:

{Our Cheddarwurst is essentially the same recipe, but we added 4 tsp. Liquid Smoke and some high-temp Cheddar cheese... I would recommend about 3 lb.s of cheese}

Of course, you can adjust the spices as your tastebuds dictate, we think it is a flavorful mix (not overpowering).

- Walt
:grilling_smilie:
 
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