Well, last weakend I decided to get my feet wet and try to make some homade sausage.
First, I used my jumbo jerky cannon to use up six pounds of meat. Four pounds of ground venison and two pounds of turkey. The Turkey I mixed up with Nesco Teriyaki seasoning. Two pounds of venison I used High Mountain Jalepeno seasoning and the other two pounds mixed with sweet and spicy seasoning. I rotated my racks my racks on my MES 40 and flipped the jerky once every couple of hours. I smoked them at 160 degrees for 6.5 hours.... Did the break test and they were ready to cool and
vaccum seal.
Then, I decided to grind another 8 lbs. of venison with two pounds of bacon to make snack sticks. I used the LEM hot snack stick seasoning for five pounds and the Hot Sticks seasoing for the other five pounds of meat. I followed the LEM package directions. I loaded half of the meat into my brand new "LEM" 5lb. vertical stuffer.
My 3 year old daughter did the cranking and I held the 19mm collegen casings. I will admit I did try sheep casings, but I had no luck getting on the 1/4 inch stuffer tube. So, I used mahogany casings instead. Because LEM does not sell a 3/8 inch casing I decided to modify the 3/8 stuffer tube I recieved with my Kitchen Aide. I simply cut the base of the plastic tube with a kitchen shears to make it fit in the LEM stuffer. It did hold up and did the job, but in the future I think I will order a LEM 3/8 tube because it does not have the flared tube and it will be a lot easier to fit more casings on it when you stuff your casings.
I bought a cheap 3/8 dowel at the local hardware sture and cut it in half to fit the with of my smoker. As you can see I hung the snack sticks over the dowels and was ready to smoke. I smoked the snack sticks one hour at 120 degrees - no smoke to dry the casings out. Then, I bumped up the temperature to 170 for six hours until the reached an internal temp of 160 degrees. Make sure to rotate your dowels front and back a few times during the smoke phase to ensure they all cook evenly. In my experience the MES does not heat evenly, so rotating your product is essential. Another tip, make sure to label your snack stick strinks by color so you know which one is HOT or PLAIN when they are finished. I figured I would color part of the string black to keep them separate. This is not the best picture because I was running out of daylight but here there are smoking:
Then, I soaked them in a cold water bath for a few minutes and hung them above the sink to "BLOOM"... and dry.
Into the fridge over night. Then time to cut and package.
They were not dry in side as you can see... The regular ones were awsome.... Nice and sweet.... The hot ones were good... Not to much heat, but just a little kick. Next time I will add high temperature cheese.
All vacum sealed
Last it was my first try at Summer Sausage. High Mountain Jalepeno chedder and LEM original summer sausage. Again I ground the meat added the seasoning according to package directions. Stuffed using fiberous casings. and hung them in the smoker.
Temp at 120 degress for an hour. Then, 140 for and hour with cherry and apple smoke. I use these two fruit woods because they give the sausage a milder smoke flavor, which my wife prefers. Then, I bumped the smoker up to 160 degress for 30 minutes and then to 180 degress till they were done (about 8 hours at 180.) Again, I made sure to rotate my sausage to ensure even cooking time. I did not add water or sand to my pan I just had the pan in to catch any drippings. Once I took them out of the smoker I put them in an ice bath for about 10 minutes.
Out of the water onto a rack... to dry for about 10 minutes
In the refrigerator for twenty four hours..... then I will cut them up and vaccum seal them. I will post a picture after I cut into one of these bad boys later tonight.
Key things I learned;
Rotate your product to keep them cooking evenly.
Scrap sheep casings and use collegen casings.
Label your product so you don't get them mixed up.
Fry up your sausge before you stuff it.... I did this to make sure it was the flavor I was looking for in the end product.
Get a 3/8 stainless steal stuffing tube from LEM for snack sticks. Life will be so much easier.
Last, if you plan to do it all in one weakend you will be tired on Monday!
First, I used my jumbo jerky cannon to use up six pounds of meat. Four pounds of ground venison and two pounds of turkey. The Turkey I mixed up with Nesco Teriyaki seasoning. Two pounds of venison I used High Mountain Jalepeno seasoning and the other two pounds mixed with sweet and spicy seasoning. I rotated my racks my racks on my MES 40 and flipped the jerky once every couple of hours. I smoked them at 160 degrees for 6.5 hours.... Did the break test and they were ready to cool and
vaccum seal.
Then, I decided to grind another 8 lbs. of venison with two pounds of bacon to make snack sticks. I used the LEM hot snack stick seasoning for five pounds and the Hot Sticks seasoing for the other five pounds of meat. I followed the LEM package directions. I loaded half of the meat into my brand new "LEM" 5lb. vertical stuffer.
My 3 year old daughter did the cranking and I held the 19mm collegen casings. I will admit I did try sheep casings, but I had no luck getting on the 1/4 inch stuffer tube. So, I used mahogany casings instead. Because LEM does not sell a 3/8 inch casing I decided to modify the 3/8 stuffer tube I recieved with my Kitchen Aide. I simply cut the base of the plastic tube with a kitchen shears to make it fit in the LEM stuffer. It did hold up and did the job, but in the future I think I will order a LEM 3/8 tube because it does not have the flared tube and it will be a lot easier to fit more casings on it when you stuff your casings.
I bought a cheap 3/8 dowel at the local hardware sture and cut it in half to fit the with of my smoker. As you can see I hung the snack sticks over the dowels and was ready to smoke. I smoked the snack sticks one hour at 120 degrees - no smoke to dry the casings out. Then, I bumped up the temperature to 170 for six hours until the reached an internal temp of 160 degrees. Make sure to rotate your dowels front and back a few times during the smoke phase to ensure they all cook evenly. In my experience the MES does not heat evenly, so rotating your product is essential. Another tip, make sure to label your snack stick strinks by color so you know which one is HOT or PLAIN when they are finished. I figured I would color part of the string black to keep them separate. This is not the best picture because I was running out of daylight but here there are smoking:
Then, I soaked them in a cold water bath for a few minutes and hung them above the sink to "BLOOM"... and dry.
Into the fridge over night. Then time to cut and package.
They were not dry in side as you can see... The regular ones were awsome.... Nice and sweet.... The hot ones were good... Not to much heat, but just a little kick. Next time I will add high temperature cheese.
All vacum sealed
Last it was my first try at Summer Sausage. High Mountain Jalepeno chedder and LEM original summer sausage. Again I ground the meat added the seasoning according to package directions. Stuffed using fiberous casings. and hung them in the smoker.
Temp at 120 degress for an hour. Then, 140 for and hour with cherry and apple smoke. I use these two fruit woods because they give the sausage a milder smoke flavor, which my wife prefers. Then, I bumped the smoker up to 160 degress for 30 minutes and then to 180 degress till they were done (about 8 hours at 180.) Again, I made sure to rotate my sausage to ensure even cooking time. I did not add water or sand to my pan I just had the pan in to catch any drippings. Once I took them out of the smoker I put them in an ice bath for about 10 minutes.
Out of the water onto a rack... to dry for about 10 minutes
In the refrigerator for twenty four hours..... then I will cut them up and vaccum seal them. I will post a picture after I cut into one of these bad boys later tonight.
Key things I learned;
Rotate your product to keep them cooking evenly.
Scrap sheep casings and use collegen casings.
Label your product so you don't get them mixed up.
Fry up your sausge before you stuff it.... I did this to make sure it was the flavor I was looking for in the end product.
Get a 3/8 stainless steal stuffing tube from LEM for snack sticks. Life will be so much easier.
Last, if you plan to do it all in one weakend you will be tired on Monday!
