# Smoked Beef Knackwurst (with Pix)



## couger78 (Jul 17, 2012)

I made a five-pound batch of smoked beef knackwurst (“knockwurst’) this weekend. It’s a pretty simple recipe and I had all the ingredients in-house. Knackwurst that I’ve had in the past remind me of a large ‘garlicky hot dog’—in this _adaptation_ of a Len Poli recipe, the addition of the beer I found intriguing. Nothing fancy: just a good basic smoked sausage.  :)

Here are the ingredients:








The local store had beef chuck roasts on sale so I stocked up. Here’s the start of the 3.75lb icy BEEF grind:







Always good to keep extra or leftover pork fat in the freezer!

Just need a little over a pound of the fat ground & added to the ‘lean’ beef:







After adding the spices, NFDM, and the beer, I mixed the batch until a nice, sticky paste formed (hand-mixed in about 6-9 minutes). I then stuffed 32mm natural casings and twisted off 3-4” lengths. All stuffed & ready for the smoker:







The links were hung in a pre-warmed 120°F smoker (no smoke yet ) and allowed to dry for a bout an hour & a half. I used a few SS s-hooks to help maintain the spacing between links on the support poles.

For the smoke, I used the *A-Maze-n* pellet smoker with a new mix of pellets: *“Pitmaster’s Choice”*—a blend of hickory, cherry & maple.

Two hours into the smoke:







Five hours in. The IT was getting close to being done (155°F), so I prepped a lug full of ice-water.







After the ice-bath, the knackwurst are drying & blooming on racks:







Although I prefer to let sausages rest overnight in the fridge before ‘sampling’ (they seem to firm up and ‘mellow’ a bit by doing this), this time I sliced into one of the knacks—j_ust cuz I couldn’t wait!_  My concern after nearly 7 hours in the smoker is they’d be a bit dry! My normal procedure is to smoke for about 3 hours or so & then hot-water poach them until done. Using the poaching process, the links tend not to shrivel or wrinkle as much. But I got lazy & just let them finish in the smoker...







*The results: *A very juicy sausage. with a slightly coarse texture, and with garlicky, oniony taste. The beer adds a slightly unexpected ‘tang’ to the links. These knackwursts go VERY well with a hot mustard!

If you’re interested in making these, they are pretty basic—a single medium grind, mix & stuff, then smoke. If you wanted a smoother texture (more like a hot dog) you could run the meat through a fine (3.0mm) grind a second time, or do a second mix ('chop') in a food processor.

Kevin

*Smoked Beef Knackwurst*

3.75 lb. Beef Chuck 1700.0 g 

1.25 lb.  Pork fat 570.0 g 

1 cup     Non Fat Dry Milk  73.0 g 

1.5 Tbs. Salt 30.0 g 

1.5 Tbs. Dextrose 25.0 g 

1.5 Tbs. Onion, powder 12.0 g 

1.0 tsp. Cure #1 6.0 g 

2.0 tsp. Garlic powder  6.0 g 

3.0 tsp. Paprika 6.0 g 

2.0 tsp. White pepper  5.0 g 

2.0 tsp. Ginger 3.6 g 

1.5 tsp. Mace 2.5 g 

0.5 tsp. Allspice 0.8 g 

12.0 oz. Beer*

_* I used gluten-free beer. Option: use water in place of beer_

1.   Grind meat through a 3/16 (4.7mm) plate. Grind fat separately.

2.   Add spices, NDFM and beer, mix until you get a good sticky bind.

3.   Stuff into 32mm casings & twist off 3-4" lengths.

4.   Place in smoker at 120°F with NO smoke for 90 minutes to allow casings  to dry.

5.   Increase temp to 140°F and add smoke. 

6.   Increase temps over the next 3-5 hours up to 180°F

7.   Pull links when IT of 155°F is reached. 

8.   Plunge into ice-bath to cool.

9. Hang or rack–dry to bloom.


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## chef jimmyj (Jul 17, 2012)

Sounds and looks Great ...Filed...JJ


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## diesel (Jul 17, 2012)

Yum Yum....


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## sam3 (Jul 17, 2012)

Off the charts again Kevin. Great looking links!

How do you like the Pitmaster blend?


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## couger78 (Jul 17, 2012)

sam3 said:


> Off the charts again Kevin. Great looking links!
> 
> How do you like the Pitmaster blend?


Thanks, Sam.

The smoke is rather 'sweet' smelling, and the color (RED) is definitely there from the hickory.

On the flavor-side, its a bit hard to describe on an assertively-seasoned sausage like these knackwurst are. The smoke flavor is relatively 'mild' compared to 100% hickory.

If I were to smoke a 'blander' link, then the actual 'smoke flavor' will be more in the forefront, and easier to distinguish the wood 'nuances' each bring to the party.

Kevin


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## rexlan (Jul 17, 2012)

VERY nice ... I will be trying those.

BTW .. I make that no-rise bread and use beer in it.  Excellent stuff and I have a hunch that with some mustard and your *Knackwurst* it would go down pretty smooth!


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## driedstick (Jul 17, 2012)

man that looks great - may have to try in future.


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## smokinhusker (Jul 18, 2012)

Oh my those look fantastic...gonna have to give these a try.


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## werdwolf (Jul 18, 2012)

Nicely done!

Yeah Redbridge, think I'll have to have one now.


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## boykjo (Jul 18, 2012)

Nice job Kevin.... The sausage has a nice glaze in the meat... Your right...... I bet it would go good with some hot mustard .....or make a jimmy buffs with it.... potatoes,onions,green peppers, sausage simmered in soybean oil served on a pizza bread...... I used to love that place when I was a teenager......

Joe


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## bigkahunaranch (Jul 19, 2012)

Those are wonderful looking sausages.

You have made me hungy to try that recipe out.

Couple of questions if you please.

Why the Dextrose in the recipe?

And I noticed you mentioning that you dried the sausage prior to starting the smoke.

I have seen some others do that so I ask, what is the purpose ??

Does it help with the smoke penetration?

Thanks


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## fpnmf (Jul 19, 2012)

Looks delicious!


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## gersus (Jul 19, 2012)

Looks great as always! Garlicy, beer, hotdogish.... sounds awesome! And of course your pics are always amazing!


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## couger78 (Jul 19, 2012)

bigkahunaranch said:


> Those are wonderful looking sausages.
> 
> You have made me hungy to try that recipe out.
> 
> ...


Thanks, BigK

Per you questions: Dextrose for sweetness to 'balance' the saltiness of the sausage. It*  *is approximately 70% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar). Its used often in fermented sausages. One could simply use sucrose—even powdered sugar as the textures are similar & adjust the amounts accordingly.

You are correct—the drying time ensures better smoke adhesion and penetration to whatever you're hangin' in the smoker.

Kevin


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## smokin-jim (Aug 11, 2012)

I'd like to try that. I am thinking of using Buffalo chuck instead of beef. I might need to add a little extra pork fat to make up for the leaner meat. Thoughts?


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## ironhorse07 (Aug 11, 2012)

Those look great. I was given a package of buffalo meat the other day that is marked "boiling meat". Might turn into knackwurst.


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## mojoman58 (Aug 12, 2012)

Those look great. Nice job and thanks for the recipe. I'm gonna have to try these.


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## hoity toit (Oct 14, 2012)

Im going to try your recipe...Looks great !


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## roller (Oct 15, 2012)

Those look great !


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## scarbelly (Oct 15, 2012)

Man those look great - going to have to give this a try


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## big nut brewer (Nov 13, 2015)

Ground and mixed up a batch of this tonight, substituting the beef with venison!   Planning on stuffing and smoking tomorrow!


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