Sausage Making Tips

[Tuc]

Lets here your sausage making tips from start to finish.

E.G.
.Do you cure
.Which technique do you using for drying before you smoke
.How long and what temps do you smoke at
.Cooling down method
.Coloring or blooming methods

I have smoked sausage in the past but can't seem to get it perfect. I found it was always to dry, bitter, hard or all of the above. Interested to hear how you guys do yours.

Thx for the input!

[walleyes]

Always interested in this topic as well. I am not set up to do my own yet but hoping to be ready for this fall if not by next for sure

[Tuc]

Yesterday I put my new smoker (got 4 xmas) together and soon going to try a batch. Another thing I heard was, if you smoke in the winter it takes longer to cook....makes sense I guess.

[Huntnut]

Lets here your sausage making tips from start to finish.

E.G.
.Do you cure
.Which technique do you using for drying before you smoke
.How long and what temps do you smoke at
.Cooling down method
.Coloring or blooming methods

I have smoked sausage in the past but can't seem to get it perfect. I found it was always to dry, bitter, hard or all of the above. Interested to hear how you guys do yours.

Thx for the input!

Sausages such as salami, garlic, summer, etc. have to have cure. You have to let the cure work for more than 12 hours. Cooking sausages do not require cure.  It is the cure that gives the meat the red color. The amount of cure depends on the sausage but I've found that most people-(including myself) use too much cure and that's where you get the salty taste from. Cooking is usually around 170-180 for about 4 hours-i find that cooking it too fast-(like over 210) makes it too dry. You have to cook it till the internal temp is 160. Smoking time varies on the smoker but that is what gives the outer casing the reddish color. To cool it down I use a big rubber maid with cold water in it-I simply take them out of the smoker and into the water till they are cool then let them hang till they are dry. One thing to remember is don't over smoke-it can make the sausage taste bitter. I am in the process of building a new smoker and will give you more detail once i start making sausage again. Those little bradleys are ok but they take a long time to cook the sausage so I am going with a much bigger one that runs on propane.

[Tuc]

My sausages are already made and frozen, I didn't add any cure in the mix. Some say you need it some say you don't. I thought most of that cure was no good for you, too much of that MSG in it?

[Huntnut]

My sausages are already made and frozen, I didn't add any cure in the mix. Some say you need it some say you don't. I thought most of that cure was no good for you, too much of that MSG in it?

It's mainly curing salt. I prefer the little bit of msg over food poisioning. The thing with the cure is if you unthaw a pack  you don't have to worry about it spoiling right away, or if you make sandwiches out of it.  This summer I made about 150lbs of deer and elk sausage and did it in 20lb batches-most batches got  a 1 ounce shooter glass of cure in them. I'm not going to worry about that small amount of msg.

[Tuc]

This summer I made about 150lbs of deer and elk sausage and did it in 20lb batches-most batches got  a 1 ounce shooter glass of cure in them. I'm not going to worry about that small amount of msg.

Next week I'm going to the butchers to pick up some dog bones, I'll ask him about the cure.

[BruceW]

Been at it for about 5 yrs now.  Wasted lot's of time making bad sausage trying internet recipe's.  Quite frankly I seriously doubt the majority were ever actually tried before posting.

We make some using the kits from wholesale.  The, "breakfast sausage" is akin to the chubs the americans usually offer with breakfasts in restaraunts;  quite spicy.  The summer sausage is excellent.  When stuffed in large casings it makes an excellent sandwich meat which we slice and vacum seal in pkg's.  We also use the pepperoni mix sometimes.  In all these we use less than 1/2 the amount of the cure provided.  On our other types it's just some basic recipe's.  We also make an excellent pork sausage with just a little salt, pepper, and sage.  We don't smoke our fresh sausage at all.  The rest of our sausage we smoke with oak.  Nothing else.  With the exception of the 3" and pepperoni casings we use fresh casings for everything else.  The salted is fine.  Just put any leftover in a small container with an end hanging out the top and toss in the deepfreeze for later use.

Really have to watch temp and time making pepperoni else you end up with it dry and hard;  only takes a couple hours and use a meat thermometer(in everything)
I like to rough grind the meat, mix, spice, and leave overnight.  Next day fry a little patty and try it;  alter the spices to your taste.  Then the final grind and stuff.
I believe it's the state of s. dak. that has a site with all the info you need about temps, cleanliness, etc.  I'll see if I can find it.  Excellent butchering/sausage info.

I would also suggest you try hams with wild game.  Key is to not only soak, but inject the heck out of it for about 10 days-2 weeks.  We smoke our hams with maple for 7 hours at a low temp, bringing the temp up the last couple hours.  Smaller pieces we pressure can in small jars for sandwich meat.  A real treat!

It's really trial and error, but as long as you keep trying a small patty as you make it and alter the spices you'll end up with sausage you like.

Hope this helps.

[walleyes]

Good info bruce.. Always wondered what the pre mixed spices would be like, I am sure the stuff from Halfords would be good as well, a good base to start from anyways. The hams I have to try been saying it for a couple years now, the idea of canning smaller pieces has me drooling just thinking about it..

Good info guys keep it coming.

[Huntnut]

Lots of good advice there Bruce. I've tried some of the kits from wholesale as well and some are hit and miss. Like you I don't use near as much cure as they say. How much pork do you use in yours? I like mine fairly dry so I keep it to about 20-25%.

[unclebuck]

A very comprehensive & informative site!!  Excellent ethnic recipes as well.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-making/curing/methods

[Tuc]

Unclebuck, thanx for that website!

[walleyes]

A very comprehensive & informative site!!  Excellent ethnic recipes as well.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-making/curing/methods

If anyone knows about sausage it's unclebuck,,, he's been playing with sausage for years 

[MAV]

Msg isn't a cure it's aflavor enhancer.

Sodium nitrite is the cure. Or nitrate I can never remember. One converts to the other over time in the mix. You should use cures when your smoking or dry curing meats. The reason for that is typically the temps used for smoking are right in the wheel house for good growing conditions for bacteria like those that produce botullism. The cures should kill all those bacteia. Because the amount needed to do this is so small they mix it with salt so mixing is made easier and safer as sodium nitrite can be dangerous at quite small levels.

For fresh sausage like brats, breakfast, or fresh italian or garlic jst keep the meat real cold while you're working it then get it in the freezer and it will be fine.

[RobMcLeod82]

My process for sausage is as follows.
1-Find embarrassingly small deer
2-Shoot said deer
3-Gut and skin said tiny deer
4-Drop off at butcher
5-Pick up sausage 

[JIMMY 808]

My process for sausage is as follows.
1-Find embarrassingly small deer
2-Shoot said deer
3-Gut and skin said tiny deer
4-Drop off at butcher
5-Pick up sausage

You forgot hammer embarrassgly small deer with giant magnum rilfe tie to quad racks and get bugged buy
Gas pump attendants in Caroline.

[MAV]

My process for sausage is as follows.
1-Find embarrassingly small deer
2-Shoot said deer
3-Gut and skin said tiny deer
4-Drop off at butcher
5-Pick up sausage

Brent is that you!

The only problem with this plan is you don't get to hang with the boys, drink beer brag of your hunting prowess and try and cut a finger off. Where's the fun with that.

[BruceW]

. How much pork do you use in yours? I like mine fairly dry so I keep it to about 20-25%.

Kinda varies with the variety and wether its fresh sausage or I'm going to smoke it.   I find fatty pork is much better than pork fat;  less if fresh sausage and more if we smoke it but we like a heavy smoke and loose a lot of moisture/grease while smoking it.  I'd like to try some beef fat but haven't found a source for some to try just straight suet in a batch.

Truth be told, other than the kit batches I don't think we end up with two the same, haha.  I try to keep records but we always just end up mixing/fry a patty, add either spice or more meat to dilute the spice until it tastes good.

Biggest variance we have is when a neighbor shows up with beer, 'cause of course if he's bringing the beer he ends up adding something to the mix.   

[Tuc]

When I made my fresh sausage I used 70% moose and 30% pork. The year before I only used 80-20. The 70-30 seems to taste better and was more moist.