Title pretty much sez it all. Scored a 10 pound chub of burger for 2 bucks a pound and knew some here used it for sausage & Summer Sausage, so figured...what the hell. I also wanted to do a heavy smoked sausage in my newer Char Griller Pellet Smoker. Did a 5 pound sausage mix and froze the rest for SS. Off we go...since no grinding I mixed all together and rested the blob 4 hours for cure to work in. Stuffed into hog casings and overnight in the fridge, uncovered, to dry out. My first gripe about GB is they add water, which I forgot, for more yield. So, when stuffing I had water/wine juicing out my tube everywhere. The towel in my pan worked well to collect excess moisture. Fired up the CG on smoke mode P6 for more smoke than heat. Got about 150 for 4 hours, then bumped to 180 (lowest heat) to finish. They were starting to shrivel at about 6 hours in...IT of 125'ish. Decided it was enough smoke and got the poaching water ready. Into the water bath and pulled at 155 IT. Truthfully, I was very disappointed with the taste test. The casings were hard and inedible and the meat kinda boring. I normally poach my sausage to fully cooked and never have problems. Threw them into a open gallon zip-lock and into the fridge overnight to bloom (?) or be disposed of. Just tried them again and good enough to slather mustard on & have with a cold beer but nothing I would serve to real people. The casing must be removed much like a SS. So, I didn't toss out....I'll take most down to the boys at the Vets bar, they'll eat anything. Onward with the next batch...doubt I will ever use GB again for sausage, time will tell with the SS
ratio was 73/27
all ingredients whizzed up in blender
ratio was 73/27
all ingredients whizzed up in blender