Trying to clone Conecuh sausage

[Tejasmoke]

I do believe that's it...thank you sir!! I wasn't even going to attempt it again after losing that. Check out a few of the other post to see what tweaking they think it needs. I do know that Conecuh gets their spice from 3 different vendors and no vendor knows what the others do...it closely guarded, like KFC I guess..lol. I have spoke to employees who say they dump the bags into the mix but have no idea what is in them. I am from Alabama, maybe 30 minutes from Evergreen, Alabama but absolutely no one I have ever known that works there knows a dang thing abou

Glad to help. I've had the recipe on my phone for a good while and was wanting to verify the numbers one more time before making it, but I couldn't find your post. I thought I was mistaken about where I had seen it. I guess we should forego any discussion pertaining to grommets! I can't wait to try the sausage next week. Unfortunately, I've never had any Conecuh, so I won't be any help in determining it's faithfulness to the original, but I will share my general thoughts on it.

I finally got around to trying the link I made a few weeks ago. It will definitely go into my regular rotation. Thanks for all the effort that, I'm sure, you put into it.

 

[Hijack73]

I picked up a pack of this sausage last week I found on clearance. It tastes good but damn it's got a lot of fat. I like fat, and even I thought it was greasy. It would be a good gumbo sausage IMO.

 

[river100]

I picked up a pack of this sausage last week I found on clearance. It tastes good but damn it's got a lot of fat. I like fat, and even I thought it was greasy. It would be a good gumbo sausage IMO.

It's good in red beans too. Not really traditional but a lot of people use it in red beans. On that note, there was a place in the french quarter, Takee Outee, that put pepperoni in their red beans. It was very popular. I liked it.

 

[SmokeSignalsUpBBQ]

Jasbeth, sometime ago I made note of your recipe and actually made a link of it a couple of days ago. I'm not going to sample it until next weekend when some friends come to visit. I used 60% pork butt, 20% venison, and 20% wild hog. I believe I scaled your original recipe down to 1 lb. (454g). Take a look at the following and see if it looks right.

Cure - 1.1g Mustard powder - 1g
Smoked salt - 5.65g. Karo light syrup - 5.65g
Black pepper - 2.9g. I added 10% liquid in the form of beer
Cayenne pepper - 1.5g
Garlic powder - 2g
Fine ground sage - .15g
Thyme - .15g
Marjoram - .16g
Ground clove - .15g
Smoked paprika - .15g

Thank you for sharing this! I will be attempting this recipe sometime before the week is out. My only challenge is my kitchen scale doesn't seem to be terribly accurate at these small of measurements. You wouldn't by chance have this in teaspoon measurements would you?

 

[DougE]

Thank you for sharing this! I will be attempting this recipe sometime before the week is out. My only challenge is my kitchen scale doesn't seem to be terribly accurate at these small of measurements. You wouldn't by chance have this in teaspoon measurements would you?

If you have one of them tobacco/vape/head shops anywhere near, about all of them around here sell pocket scales.

 

[Tejasmoke]

Thank you for sharing this! I will be attempting this recipe sometime before the week is out. My only challenge is my kitchen scale doesn't seem to be terribly accurate at these small of measurements. You wouldn't by chance have this in teaspoon measurements would you?

I don't have any idea what the equivalent measurements in teaspoons and tablespoons would be, sorry! That being said, I'm going to agree with DougE's suggestion that you get a "jeweler's" scale capable of measuring small amounts of seasoning and spices. They are easily found and fairly inexpensive. It will make it so much easier for you to scale recipes. For instance, if you have 7.8 lbs. of meat ground up, just multiply 7.8 by the amount listed next to each ingredient and add it to the meat. If you have 9.3 lbs. of meat the next time you make sausage, multiply the ingredient by 9.3. This method was a game changer for me. My scale will weigh up to 200g and for the batches I make, usually 10 to 15 lbs., it is completely adequate. Good luck!

 

[DougE]

One scale for meat that only does whole grams, one for spices that can do down to hundredths of a gram.

 

[kelbro]

I do believe that's it...thank you sir!! I wasn't even going to attempt it again after losing that. Check out a few of the other post to see what tweaking they think it needs. I do know that Conecuh gets their spice from 3 different vendors and no vendor knows what the others do...it closely guarded, like KFC I guess..lol. I have spoke to employees who say they dump the bags into the mix but have no idea what is in them. I am from Alabama, maybe 30 minutes from Evergreen, Alabama but absolutely no one I have ever known that works there knows a dang thing about the flavors..

Were these instructions from your deleted post? I saved this some time ago.

We made a 20# first run, Coarse Ground (8mm plate) and stuffed in Sheep Casing. All measurements are in grams.

20# pork (75% meat, 25% fat from pork belly)
Prague #1- 22.68 grams
Smoked Salt Coarse Ground- 113 grams
Black Pepper Coarse Ground- 58 grams
Cayenne Pepper (Red Pepper Flakes)- 58 grams
Garlic Powder- 41 grams
Sage (Fine Ground)- 3 grams
Thyme- 3 grams
Marjoram- 3.33 grams
Ground Clove- 3 grams
Smoke Paprika- 3 grams
Mustard Powder- 20 grams
Karo Light Corn Syrup- 113 grams
Water, as needed.

This has varied on each run we have made. (Do NOT fold this recipe to much in order to keep the coarse grind, if you use water, use just enough to get the consistency you like. Over working the meat with this mix will result in a mushy sausage mix). If you question this or how to do it, be safe and do not add any water and stuff with the original coarse grind.

The next steps are done in one rapid sequence to avoid the ground sausage from getting to warm, you want to keep everything chilled! You should have already rinsed your casing inside and out and have been soaking them per the makers instructions.

Now is the time to chill your grinder (it needs to be cold when grinding) and get your sausage stuffer ready. We cubed the meat, applied the spice mix and placed in the freezer to firm up before grinding. (Do NOT allow the meat to freeze solid, you will end up with mush freezing the meat solid and re-thawing numerous times between grinds. You want the meat firm but not hard as a rock (See below for instructions on chilling meat before grinding). Since we are leaving this as a coarse ground sausage we always apply the spice mixtures before the first grind. This helps the coarse ground salt dissolve and helps marry the flavors since there is no "folding" of the meat and limited handling of the mixture once ground. After the first grind, we placed the meat back in the freezer, clean the grinder and place back in the freezer to chill before the second Coarse Grind. (30 minutes should be good) The mix will not freeze solid in this time but will stay firm. Grind the mixture once more with a 8mm plate. Some consider this 2nd grind unnecessary but we do to help distribute the spices through the meat, this is your choice. After the second Coarse grind, place the meat in the refrigerator to keep cool and place your stuffer "can" in the freezer, this will help keep the meat cool while stuffing the casings. Load your casing onto your stuffer tube. Remove the stuffer can from the freezer (we spray the inside with a little oil) and load with your sausage mix. Place a pan under the tube and put a dozen ice cubes and a 1/2 cup of water in the pan. This will help keep the cased sausage cool as well as letting it slide while you are making your links.
Once the links are measured and cut it's time to smoke, hot or cold, it's your choice. Conecuh is raw sausage when you buy it at the store and must be fully cooked.

Smoking your finished sausage. Hot or Cold?

Hot Smoking the sausage makes it safe to eat, where Cold Smoking is done strictly to enhance the flavor of the sausage and the sausage must still be cooked before serving.
For hot smoking sausages, maintain a temperature range of 140-180° Fahrenheit.
On the other hand, when you cold smoke sausages, temperature requirements are significantly lower at 85° Fahrenheit and below.

When it comes to cold smoking sausages or any type of meat, the general rule of thumb is the longer, the better. Your sausages should stay on the grill for at least eight hours, but to avoid any health risks, it’s best to cold smoke sausages for 24 hours. That’s why it’s essential to have patience when cold smoking sausages. Since you aren’t technically cooking the meat, just imparting a smoky flavor, you’ll need to cook it afterward. For cold smoking, the sausages need to reach 85° Fahrenheit internal temp. To be safe for consumption, cook them at temperatures up to 160-170° Fahrenheit.

Cold Smoking
We keep our smoker ~ 90° when cold smoking, Cold smoking takes significantly more time and you want to avoid cooking the sausage. Remember, with cold smoking it's only for flavor, the sausage will still have to be fully cooked before serving. Smoke the sausage until the internal temp is ~ 85°. This could take up to 24 hours. This is how we avoid the "Liquid Smoke" and still get a great flavor.
Hot Smoking
We keep our smoker at ~ 130° to begin with so we can smoke the sausage for a few hours before the cooking process is started. After 3 hours we raise the temp of the smoker to 180° to finish the cooking. We probe the sausage and remove from the smoker when the internal temp reaches 160°. 145° internal is considered safe to consume pork products. When Hot Smoking sausage we plan to freeze and eat later, we remove the sausage from the smoker and immediately place it in a ice bath to cool the sausage. This is done because the fats in the sausage are liquid when you remove them at the finished temp and we don't want that "goodness" seeping out before vacuum packing. The ice bath will also give the casings a good "snap" when biting into them.

Chilling (Freezing) meat before Grinding.
First thing to understand is that meat needs to be partially frozen before grinding and not rock-hard, fully frozen.
If your meat if already in the freezer, you should thaw it until it reaches a partially frozen state before running it through your meat grinder.
One way to know if meat is frozen enough for grinding is to simply touch it to check that it is nice and chill and a bit tough, and not hard as a rock.
Regardless of whether you use a refrigerator freezer or standalone freezer, leaving meat in these appliances for roughly 30 minutes will probably bring it to grinder friendly state.
Meat should be stored in the freezer before grinding and never the fridge, as the latter won’t partially freeze the meat, but will only keep it cold.
In terms of temperature, meat should be kept in the freezer before grinding until it reaches 28 degrees F. You can check the temperature of the meat easily to avoid any guesswork using a meat thermometer.
There are several reasons you should freeze meat before grinding, most notably to help it maintain its shape well, and keep it firm, so that it can be ground by the grinder easily.
Another reason to grind frozen meat is it greatly reduces the chances of bacteria growth, resulting in less chances of food contamination.
Freezing meat before grinding also gives the meat a great texture, and allows the grinder blade to easily cut rather than "mulch" the meat.
It’s also worth mentioning that the grinding action does heat the meat up a bit, so it will "squish" through the grinder if not properly chilled. This is fine for some sausage blends but Conecuh is a Coarse Ground Sausage.
Along with the meat, you should also chill certain meat grinder parts such as the hopper, auger, grinding plates and blade to reduce the heat generated by the grinding process. The spinning blades of the meat grinder create friction, causing the meat to melt, resulting in "smearing", which is a texture you absolutely want to avoid at all costs when making this recipe.

 

[SmokeSignalsUpBBQ]

Just wanted to give a huge thanks to J Jasbeth & T Tejasmoke . This was my first time making sausage and it came out really close to Conecuh. My chef sister happen to have a pack of Conecuh in her freezer that I codmpared against. While While grinding this batch a thunderstorm rolled in and knocked our power out, so it delayed me about 24 hours. I actually forgot to add the Karo Corn Syrup when i resumed the next day LOL. It was still delicious.

 

[Tejasmoke]

Were these instructions from your deleted post? I saved this some time ago.

We made a 20# first run, Coarse Ground (8mm plate) and stuffed in Sheep Casing. All measurements are in grams.

20# pork (75% meat, 25% fat from pork belly)
Prague #1- 22.68 grams
Smoked Salt Coarse Ground- 113 grams
Black Pepper Coarse Ground- 58 grams
Cayenne Pepper (Red Pepper Flakes)- 58 grams
Garlic Powder- 41 grams
Sage (Fine Ground)- 3 grams
Thyme- 3 grams
Marjoram- 3.33 grams
Ground Clove- 3 grams
Smoke Paprika- 3 grams
Mustard Powder- 20 grams
Karo Light Corn Syrup- 113 grams
Water, as needed.

This has varied on each run we have made. (Do NOT fold this recipe to much in order to keep the coarse grind, if you use water, use just enough to get the consistency you like. Over working the meat with this mix will result in a mushy sausage mix). If you question this or how to do it, be safe and do not add any water and stuff with the original coarse grind.

The next steps are done in one rapid sequence to avoid the ground sausage from getting to warm, you want to keep everything chilled! You should have already rinsed your casing inside and out and have been soaking them per the makers instructions.

Now is the time to chill your grinder (it needs to be cold when grinding) and get your sausage stuffer ready. We cubed the meat, applied the spice mix and placed in the freezer to firm up before grinding. (Do NOT allow the meat to freeze solid, you will end up with mush freezing the meat solid and re-thawing numerous times between grinds. You want the meat firm but not hard as a rock (See below for instructions on chilling meat before grinding). Since we are leaving this as a coarse ground sausage we always apply the spice mixtures before the first grind. This helps the coarse ground salt dissolve and helps marry the flavors since there is no "folding" of the meat and limited handling of the mixture once ground. After the first grind, we placed the meat back in the freezer, clean the grinder and place back in the freezer to chill before the second Coarse Grind. (30 minutes should be good) The mix will not freeze solid in this time but will stay firm. Grind the mixture once more with a 8mm plate. Some consider this 2nd grind unnecessary but we do to help distribute the spices through the meat, this is your choice. After the second Coarse grind, place the meat in the refrigerator to keep cool and place your stuffer "can" in the freezer, this will help keep the meat cool while stuffing the casings. Load your casing onto your stuffer tube. Remove the stuffer can from the freezer (we spray the inside with a little oil) and load with your sausage mix. Place a pan under the tube and put a dozen ice cubes and a 1/2 cup of water in the pan. This will help keep the cased sausage cool as well as letting it slide while you are making your links.
Once the links are measured and cut it's time to smoke, hot or cold, it's your choice. Conecuh is raw sausage when you buy it at the store and must be fully cooked.

Smoking your finished sausage. Hot or Cold?

Hot Smoking the sausage makes it safe to eat, where Cold Smoking is done strictly to enhance the flavor of the sausage and the sausage must still be cooked before serving.
For hot smoking sausages, maintain a temperature range of 140-180° Fahrenheit.
On the other hand, when you cold smoke sausages, temperature requirements are significantly lower at 85° Fahrenheit and below.

When it comes to cold smoking sausages or any type of meat, the general rule of thumb is the longer, the better. Your sausages should stay on the grill for at least eight hours, but to avoid any health risks, it’s best to cold smoke sausages for 24 hours. That’s why it’s essential to have patience when cold smoking sausages. Since you aren’t technically cooking the meat, just imparting a smoky flavor, you’ll need to cook it afterward. For cold smoking, the sausages need to reach 85° Fahrenheit internal temp. To be safe for consumption, cook them at temperatures up to 160-170° Fahrenheit.

Cold Smoking
We keep our smoker ~ 90° when cold smoking, Cold smoking takes significantly more time and you want to avoid cooking the sausage. Remember, with cold smoking it's only for flavor, the sausage will still have to be fully cooked before serving. Smoke the sausage until the internal temp is ~ 85°. This could take up to 24 hours. This is how we avoid the "Liquid Smoke" and still get a great flavor.
Hot Smoking
We keep our smoker at ~ 130° to begin with so we can smoke the sausage for a few hours before the cooking process is started. After 3 hours we raise the temp of the smoker to 180° to finish the cooking. We probe the sausage and remove from the smoker when the internal temp reaches 160°. 145° internal is considered safe to consume pork products. When Hot Smoking sausage we plan to freeze and eat later, we remove the sausage from the smoker and immediately place it in a ice bath to cool the sausage. This is done because the fats in the sausage are liquid when you remove them at the finished temp and we don't want that "goodness" seeping out before vacuum packing. The ice bath will also give the casings a good "snap" when biting into them.

Chilling (Freezing) meat before Grinding.
First thing to understand is that meat needs to be partially frozen before grinding and not rock-hard, fully frozen.
If your meat if already in the freezer, you should thaw it until it reaches a partially frozen state before running it through your meat grinder.
One way to know if meat is frozen enough for grinding is to simply touch it to check that it is nice and chill and a bit tough, and not hard as a rock.
Regardless of whether you use a refrigerator freezer or standalone freezer, leaving meat in these appliances for roughly 30 minutes will probably bring it to grinder friendly state.
Meat should be stored in the freezer before grinding and never the fridge, as the latter won’t partially freeze the meat, but will only keep it cold.
In terms of temperature, meat should be kept in the freezer before grinding until it reaches 28 degrees F. You can check the temperature of the meat easily to avoid any guesswork using a meat thermometer.
There are several reasons you should freeze meat before grinding, most notably to help it maintain its shape well, and keep it firm, so that it can be ground by the grinder easily.
Another reason to grind frozen meat is it greatly reduces the chances of bacteria growth, resulting in less chances of food contamination.
Freezing meat before grinding also gives the meat a great texture, and allows the grinder blade to easily cut rather than "mulch" the meat.
It’s also worth mentioning that the grinding action does heat the meat up a bit, so it will "squish" through the grinder if not properly chilled. This is fine for some sausage blends but Conecuh is a Coarse Ground Sausage.
Along with the meat, you should also chill certain meat grinder parts such as the hopper, auger, grinding plates and blade to reduce the heat generated by the grinding process. The spinning blades of the meat grinder create friction, causing the meat to melt, resulting in "smearing", which is a texture you absolutely want to avoid at all costs when making this recipe.

I'm 99.9% sure that is Jasbeth's recipe and instructions that he posted some time ago. Great job saving all of that. I'm sure he's going to be excited when he sees it!

 

[Tejasmoke]

Just wanted to give a huge thanks to J Jasbeth & T Tejasmoke . This was my first time making sausage and it came out really close to Conecuh. My chef sister happen to have a pack of Conecuh in her freezer that I codmpared against. While While grinding this batch a thunderstorm rolled in and knocked our power out, so it delayed me about 24 hours. I actually forgot to add the Karo Corn Syrup when i resumed the next day LOL. It was still delicious.


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Excellent! I'm curious, did you get yourself a gram scale? If so, how did you like measuring the ingredients by weight instead of volume?

 

[SmokeSignalsUpBBQ]

Excellent! I'm curious, did you get yourself a gram scale? If so, how did you like measuring the ingredients by weight instead of volume?

I did order a pocket scale from Amazon. The first one I ordered was DOA lol. But I replaced with a more robust model. I kinda like weighing the seasoning. I'm ready to go all in now and buy a LEM or Meat Your Maker 1HP along with the Sausage stuffer. My grinder has a stuffer attachment, but you have to basically send the meat through the grinder again.

 

[Tejasmoke]

I did order a pocket scale from Amazon. The first one I ordered was DOA lol. But I replaced with a more robust model. I kinda like weighing the seasoning. I'm ready to go all in now and buy a LEM or Meat Your Maker 1HP along with the Sausage stuffer. My grinder has a stuffer attachment, but you have to basically send the meat through the grinder again.

Yep, a dedicated stuffer is well worth the expense if you are planning to make sausage fairly reguarly. I've got the 5 lb. model from LEM and am perfectly satisfied with it. I still use my #12 Chop - Rite 2 manual grinder and probably always will.

 

[Fueling Around]

Fun thread. Love getting to the roots of favorite recipes.
As DougE pointed out you need 2 scales. I have both here in MN as well as FL.
I like my milligram scale in FL better than my MN one. I like my big scale in MN better than my FL one. I hope that makes sense.
Not a fan of Conecuh. It is OK, but not something I want to make.
I need to get creative and start working on a recipe to replicate Uncle John's Pride from Tampa.