Holiday Ham, Sausage & Cheese Spread

Holiday Ham, Sausage & Cheese Spread

I'm getting a late start this year on my holiday sausage & cheese spread. Although I did get our Christmas ham going on time.

Wednesday we went to the butcher & picked up a 14.5 lb whole pork shoulder. We had him cut the shoulder in half to separate the Picnic & Butt cuts which gave us a nice 8 lb. fresh Picnic shoulder. Perfect size for curing into a nice bone-in holiday ham!

Note: Sometimes this cut is called a "Picnic Ham" because it resemble a shank end of a ham.

I made a simple brown sugar brine cure, generously injected that into the shoulder before submerging it in the brine and into the fridge for the 3 - 4 day cure. I'll take it out Christmas morning to go on the smoker.


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While at the butcher we also picked up 20 lbs. of ground beef for some holiday Summer Sausage & Peperoni.

I prefer to make my own spice mixes for sausage. Here's my mix for Summer Sausage (left) and Pepperoni (right). The yellow stuff is powdered Buttermilk which I like using as a lactic acid starter culture. It also acts as a binder.


If the meat is already ground, then mixing some filtered (or distilled) cold water with the spices helps in the mixing. The meat easily absorbs the water.


10 lbs. each: Summer Sausage & Pepperoni mixed, tightly covered with plastic wrap (to keep air out) covered and into the fridge for the 2 - 3 day minimum cure. This allows the curing salt to cure the sausage & the lactic acid to develop and give it that classic tang.



More to come...

Looks like a great start Tent! Merry Christmas buddy!

Thanks Rip, Merry Christmas to you too!

Here's an Update for the Ham...

I took the ham out of the brine this morning to let it dry and form a pellicle (thin sticky film).


The fatty side got scored. No heavy rubs or glue; only a peppering of fresh ground Allspice to all sides.


Since the MAK will be very busy today, the Stoven got relegated to "Ham Duty". I placed a water pan underneath to act as a buffer and provide a moist environment. It's in smoke mode using Sugar Maple pellets to give a nice light sweet smoke. The skin from the picnic shoulder also went on to smoke along side for some doggy treats (you can see the Ohio inspection stamp).



About two hours into the smoke, it's starting to develop some color.



More still to come...

looking great Cliff!

Cliff, I have been following your posts so I hope that you post the final pictures.

Update - The ham is now almost done. Yeah, 'cause we're hungry! Here's some more pics.

Here's the ham after about 5 hours of smoke mode, after it had been flipped and just before putting it in a pan to braise.



The braising liquid consisted of pineapple juice with some pineapple chunks & about half a jar of maraschino cherries. It will braise until it reaches an internal temp of about 145°.


At 145° I.T. the ham was put back on the grate and a glaze with brown sugar & Pineapple juice was brushed on for the final hour or so of the cook.


Almost time to eat!

Oh yeah! Looking good Cliff!

Looks fantastic Cliff!

nice looking eats TH. looks real good.

Final pics of Holiday Ham

Here's the ham glazed & finished.


Here's the ham after slicing the top off. Not the best pic, but it shows the ham is cured through evenly.



Plated up with some of the pineapple & cherries. It was delicious and NOT salty with subtle hints of the molasses from the brown sugar. I think I've finally nailed my brine recipe; this one's a keeper!





I'll post more pics of the holiday sausage as they happen.

Update - Summer Sausage & Pepperoni

Well, yesterday evening the kids, Mother in Law & I got the summer sausage & pepperoni stuffed into casings. Some went into sheep casings for snack sticks and the rest went into either 1 1/2" or 3" unbleached cotton casings (made by the Mrs. - Thanks again dear).

I'm using sugar maple pellets for a nice light slightly sweet smoke.

The snack sticks & 1 1/2" casings were loaded into the MAK first BEFORE I turned it on to smoke mode. I want these to come up to temp as slowly as possible so they don't "fat out" from too much heat being applied too soon. I kept the bigger sausages on the upper rack away from the heat source to minimize the effect.


The snack sticks are up to temp so they come off to cool while the 1 1/2" sausages continue to smoke. So far - so good!


Here's the snack sticks & 1 1/2" sausages cooling & blooming (getting darker from the air). I could barely wait 'till morning to slice into them, but they have to cool and allow the fat to re-solidify.



The 3" sausages (summer sausage & pepperoni) are in the MAK getting smoked now.



Here's the MAK 1 Star in smoke mode. Plenty of clean smoke and an almost constant 170° pit temp which is perfect for hot smoking.


Stay tuned for more...

WOW! Thanks for sharing. That looks delicious!
Randy

The holiday sausage is finished in time for new years eve snacking as well as some gifts.







Edit: See post below for comments and observations:

Looks awesome Cliff!

Looks great!
I was wondering how sausage and sticks were going to turn out in the MAK.

Comments & Observations on Using the MAK for Hot-Smoking Sausage

Chili Head said:

Looks great!
I was wondering how sausage and sticks were going to turn out in the MAK.

Click to expand...

DOH!!! I'm glad you mentioned that... I almost forgot!


Comments & Observations:

This was my first time using the MAK strictly as a hot smoker. Running in smoke mode the MAK kept a steady 170° which is a great temp for hot smoking summer sausage, Ham, Bacon, etc. There was plenty of smoke flavor in the sausage - no problems there at all!

Once the sausage reached 140° and stalled for a while I just bumped the temp up to 200° to finish it. All in all I'm pretty dang happy with the MAK and how great it works for hot smoking sausage.

The pellet consumption was modest especially considering the total time for both batches of sausage was around 17+ and it was cold and somewhat windy outside. I used approximately 15 lbs pellets so that translates to about $15. I would've spent at least that much or more on lump charcoal for a cook that long.

My recommendations for smoking sausage on the MAK: Be sure to use the upper rack to get it away from the heat and put the sausage on BEFORE you turn the MAK on to smoke mode to let the sausage heat up as slowly as possible and keep it from "Fatting out".



One further note/observation: This was the first time I ever added water for summer sausage or pepperoni. I think I added too much water to the pepperoni mix which made the pepperoni crumble just a tad. The summer sausage was fine and I barely added any water to it. lesson learned: add little or no water for summer sausage/pepperoni.

Cliff, that looks great! I love the homemade sausage casings!

gwapogorilla said:

Cliff, that looks great! I love the homemade sausage casings!

Click to expand...

I got the idea from NePas. My wife makes them from unbleached cotton (muslin) and believe it or not, they're less expensive than buying the fibrous summer sausage casings. They work really well (great smoke penetration) and I love the rustic look they give especially when giving the sausage as gifts.

If the big ones are hung, instead of laying them on racks, they'd be more round.


The 1½" D x 19" L casing were a perfect fit for the MAK 1 Star. I got 10 of them loaded onto the upper rack with enough space between them for smoke.