My weekend sausage forray...
- Thread starter TentHunter
- Start date
nepas
New member
One thing to remember. On your MAK the temps wont be low. Smoke setting is at 175-180* Starting at a temp like this will cause cavitation of the fat in the meat thus making a possible fat-out. Try to put as much distance between the SS and the heat or even in the side smoke shelf until the meat starts to tighten up, then into the heat area.
TentHunter
Moderator
All good to learn and know!
Big Poppa you could publish a NePaS Sausage book. It would sell like hot cakes (and sausage always goes good with hot cakes)!
Big Poppa you could publish a NePaS Sausage book. It would sell like hot cakes (and sausage always goes good with hot cakes)!
TentHunter
Moderator
Update - The Cold Smoke
My son and I have to go play in a concert in Kent Ohio, so I'm going to get the smoker setup & going so the Summer Sausage & Andouille can cold smoke while we're gone. Its cold and snowing right now, which is fine it will help keeps temps down for this.
My son just started a small amount of charcoal while I made up the foil pellet pouches. I'm using a mix of half Apple & Half hickory for the smoke.
I'll setup a row of charcoal and use the minion method to allow the charcoal to ignite slowly and set the pellet pouches along the top of the row to provide about 3 hours or so of cold smoke.
There was some extra room in the smoker so its a perfect chance to throw a little cheese on to cold smoke along the sausages
.
The smoker is closed up, the light smoke is already starting and I have to leave now so I'm not late for the concert. I'll be checking back in ASAP.
My son and I have to go play in a concert in Kent Ohio, so I'm going to get the smoker setup & going so the Summer Sausage & Andouille can cold smoke while we're gone. Its cold and snowing right now, which is fine it will help keeps temps down for this.
My son just started a small amount of charcoal while I made up the foil pellet pouches. I'm using a mix of half Apple & Half hickory for the smoke.
I'll setup a row of charcoal and use the minion method to allow the charcoal to ignite slowly and set the pellet pouches along the top of the row to provide about 3 hours or so of cold smoke.
There was some extra room in the smoker so its a perfect chance to throw a little cheese on to cold smoke along the sausages
.
The smoker is closed up, the light smoke is already starting and I have to leave now so I'm not late for the concert. I'll be checking back in ASAP.
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TentHunter
Moderator
Update - Sunday Evening
We got back home about 7:25 p.m. A little more than 4 hours after we left. The Concert went well, although I knocked a percussion wooden block block off a stand & it went crashing to the floor during the very first song. I called it my wooden block solo! lol
Well we got home and the pit temp was still hovering right around 80° after 4+ hours. Pit temp is now raised & stabilized at around 180 - 190. The Andouille is almost done and the Kielbasa is now on. Remember the Kielbasa was not cured with Nitrite so it had to go on a hot smoke.
Its snowing like crazy here! The pit is under a canopy to keep the snow off.
Stay tuned...
We got back home about 7:25 p.m. A little more than 4 hours after we left. The Concert went well, although I knocked a percussion wooden block block off a stand & it went crashing to the floor during the very first song. I called it my wooden block solo! lol
Well we got home and the pit temp was still hovering right around 80° after 4+ hours. Pit temp is now raised & stabilized at around 180 - 190. The Andouille is almost done and the Kielbasa is now on. Remember the Kielbasa was not cured with Nitrite so it had to go on a hot smoke.
Its snowing like crazy here! The pit is under a canopy to keep the snow off.
Stay tuned...
TentHunter
Moderator
Smoked Sausages are DONE!
The Kielbasa (uncured) went on shortly before the Summer Sausage & Andouille were finished. This allowed me to slowly raise the pit temp to around 225 for cooking the Kielbasa.
Per NePas' recommendation, I pulled the Summer Sausage when the one had an IT of 148° (the other was at 149°). It rested at room temp on wire racks for about two hours to allow the sausage to bloom (this apparently allows the dark color to develope).
The Andouille Sausage was pulled at just under 152°. and all except one piece (for taste testing) went into a tub of very cold water to get the temp down quickly. The helps to prevent shrinkage & wrinkling by congealing the fat so it doesn't run out.
The Kielbasa was cooked in less than two hours and pulled at an IT of 162 then dunked in cold water just like the Andouille.
This is a peice of andouille (upper right) and Kielbasa (lower left) we tested... Yummy!
They were both very good. The Kielbasa's smoke ring is thick leaving only a small amount of brown in the center. The Andouille has a deeper smoke flavor & very nice heat that hits the back of your throat but isn't overwhelming. Note: the cured Andouille is pink all the way through.
Cooking & Giving Uncured Hot-Smoked Sausage a Pink Color:
Although the Danger Zone is between 40 - 140°, to be on the safe side, I like to take uncured Hot-Smoked Pork Sausage to an internal temp of 160 - 165°. The Sausage is fully cooked at this point. Just be sure to dunk whatever your not eating in ice cold water right away to keep it from fatting out.
Two things I quickly learned that helps develope a good thick smoke ring for a nice pink color:
1) Put the sausage on at a pit temp of around 180 - 190° then slowly raise it to 225°.
2) I use a clean finishing nail to prick the uncooked Kielbasa every inch or so. This prevents steaming & cooking too quickly so the smoke ring has a chance to develope.
This was sliced after cooling in the fridge overnight. Note the fat has congealed, and again, the cured Andouille (left) is pink all through and the uncured Hot-Smoked Kielbasa is slightly brown in the center. This does NOT affect the flavor whatsoever.
Once again, I'm not an expert on this stuff; this is merely what little bit I have learned so far!
I'll post pics of the sliced Summer Sausage ASAP.
The Kielbasa (uncured) went on shortly before the Summer Sausage & Andouille were finished. This allowed me to slowly raise the pit temp to around 225 for cooking the Kielbasa.
Per NePas' recommendation, I pulled the Summer Sausage when the one had an IT of 148° (the other was at 149°). It rested at room temp on wire racks for about two hours to allow the sausage to bloom (this apparently allows the dark color to develope).
The Andouille Sausage was pulled at just under 152°. and all except one piece (for taste testing) went into a tub of very cold water to get the temp down quickly. The helps to prevent shrinkage & wrinkling by congealing the fat so it doesn't run out.
The Kielbasa was cooked in less than two hours and pulled at an IT of 162 then dunked in cold water just like the Andouille.
This is a peice of andouille (upper right) and Kielbasa (lower left) we tested... Yummy!
They were both very good. The Kielbasa's smoke ring is thick leaving only a small amount of brown in the center. The Andouille has a deeper smoke flavor & very nice heat that hits the back of your throat but isn't overwhelming. Note: the cured Andouille is pink all the way through.
Cooking & Giving Uncured Hot-Smoked Sausage a Pink Color:
Although the Danger Zone is between 40 - 140°, to be on the safe side, I like to take uncured Hot-Smoked Pork Sausage to an internal temp of 160 - 165°. The Sausage is fully cooked at this point. Just be sure to dunk whatever your not eating in ice cold water right away to keep it from fatting out.
Two things I quickly learned that helps develope a good thick smoke ring for a nice pink color:
1) Put the sausage on at a pit temp of around 180 - 190° then slowly raise it to 225°.
2) I use a clean finishing nail to prick the uncooked Kielbasa every inch or so. This prevents steaming & cooking too quickly so the smoke ring has a chance to develope.
This was sliced after cooling in the fridge overnight. Note the fat has congealed, and again, the cured Andouille (left) is pink all through and the uncured Hot-Smoked Kielbasa is slightly brown in the center. This does NOT affect the flavor whatsoever.
Once again, I'm not an expert on this stuff; this is merely what little bit I have learned so far!
I'll post pics of the sliced Summer Sausage ASAP.
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ACW3
New member
Looks good! I smoked two different sausages yesterday. Six pounds of beef sticks and six pounds of pepper and garlic (lots of garlic) pork sausage. I cooked the beef sticks at around 170 - 180 on the MAK. It had some cure in it, so that is why I chose the lowest setting. The pork sausage, on the other hand, was cranked up to 225 because it did not have any cure in it. The outside temperature was in the mid 30's with the wind blowing. All came out good. Got really busy and did not take any pictures. I'll try to remember next time. I may try some of Nepas chorizo soon.
Art
Art
TentHunter
Moderator
Very wise! Cook it quick so there's no time for the botulin bacteria to form.
Art, we need pictures my brother... lots and lots of Pics!
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TentHunter
Moderator
He he!! Yepper, here it is!
The flavor was quite good. It was plenty tangy enough for my taste and even though my mix was about 30% lower in salt than any other recipe I found, everyone who tried it said it had plenty of salt.
Next time I think I'll try adding some crushed red pepper flakes and even more mustard seed. I love that little 'pop' and burst of horseradish flavor you get from biting into a mustard seed!
For my first Summer Sausage I am very pleased!
BTW, I love these cotton casings. They're rustic and very economical. My wife bought 2 yards of the unbleached cotton muslin material for $5 and we will get a total of 18 3" x 15" casings from that. That's only 28¢ per casing.
Thanks everyone for looking, and thanks to Deb & NePas for all the advice & help.
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TentHunter
Moderator
Funny you should mention that; If you look at the pic of the spices you can see where there was more paprika and I took some off the plate. lol
Those Andouilles you made look fabulous with the bigger chunks of fat! My hand crank grinder only has one plate and I really want a better grinder since I am enjoying this. I debated between an electric grinder with a stuffing attachment or a stuffer... The stuffer won out. This close to Christmas money is a little tight, so for now I may just order a course plate for the grinder I have.
squirtthecat
New member
Fantastic!