General

Sounds good. Appreciate you checking that out. I guess there had to be a reason. Perhaps I’m just the anal one who has to read all those warning stickers… Thanks again Austin!

@gerygaub Absolutely, that is what I have done with the bellies in the past they always turn out fantastic! Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

@scott-williams First, I’d recommend you use a binder like Sure Gel or Super Bind or a moisture retender like Carrot Fiber. This is always the first thing I recommend when someone has an issue with the texture of their sausage. Your fat content is correct and it sounds like you used the correct amount of seasoning. 190° is a little higher than I would recommend, but we have all been there when it’s just taking too long so you dump it a little more than you really should! I don’t think that is the issue but check out this post titled Summer Sausage Nightmare specifically @Parksider’s response to finishing it up in water. It’s a good tip and I am going to be doing some tests on it here to verify a few things. What I think probably caused your issue was the mixing in some way. When adding pork fat to your venison I think the best time to add it is during the second grind, it’s possible that your fat didn’t really mix in well with the venison, that would explain why it seemed dry even though you had the correct fat content. It also could have been lack of protein extraction, I looked through your posts and can’t tell if you have a mixer or are mixing by hand? With cured sausages, I always recommend using a meat mixer as getting the right level of protein extraction. I am guessing that you had some fat out where the fat renders and cooks out of the product. Hope this helps!

@twigg267 Some people will add it during the second grind and let the grinder do some of the work for you. I tend to not like this as it makes clean up that much more difficult on the grinder. I just add the seasoning to the meat after I am done grinding. To make mixing it in easier you can add some water. Just dont add as much as you would for a cured sausage. I would say for 50 lb around a pint of water will be enough to help. The holly is great, it is our best seller for a reason!

@21cedar Austin did something like this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1927KOslUNg where he tried out some of the specialty mixes, it’s not exactly the same thing though. Just thinking quickly on which would be good for putting it on the rim of the glass I would think any of the Noble Finishing Salts and I would think the Habanero Lime Snack Stick or Jerky Seasoning as it has a high salt content and some heat and lime to go with that.

Thanks so much for the information, you guys have been a lot of help. Love your products.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like moisture free and lubricated it is.

Just finished my first sous vide steaks. Wow! Cooked perfectly and the exact same all the way through - no over cooked grey edges. Vodka martini in the shaker now.

@twigg267 If you are looking for something similar to the Jimmy Deans with some heat go with the Holy Regular Pork Sausage, that is very close to the taste but it doesn’t have much heat. For some heat I would add some Xtra Hot Ground Red Pepper Shaker, just be careful with this as it is very hot! It’s suggested use is 3 oz to 100 lb of meat, so for a 10 lb batch of breakfast sausage you would use .3 of an oz or 8.5 grams and that is the upper level. Anytime you are adding exta ingredients to a prepackaged seasoning mix I would suggest starting out low and then playing around with it until you have reached the desired result! Hope that helps!

Joe love the advice on seasoning.

@dennishoddy @twigg267 If you are just looking to add heat and a little red pepper taste I recommend the Xtra Hot Ground Red Pepper Shaker it is just a shaker though so if you want it in a 5 lb bag we have that as well. Just be careful with this stuff, it is extremely hot, the suggested usage is 3 oz of the spice to 100 lb of meat to add some heat!

@gadahl I’m sure both the chefs appreciated hearing from a customer how much they enjoyed their food so I bet that was a nice thing for them to see! I will have to check out some more on Purity Foods, I appreciate you letting us know. We will have to compare notes on how the Hawaiian Sausage turns out!

@macsinsac Kinda…Over the weekend I made a brisket sausage using corned beef rather than a smoked brisket. Prior to stuffing I would agree that that texture and flavor was a bit off. I added 2.75 lbs of ground pork shoulder to the 6 lbs of corned beef and it sure helped. I think I could have got away with a 50/50 mix and it wouldn’t have diluted the corned beef flavor too much. I was going for a Reuben style brat so I also added 2 cups of homemade sauerkraut and a big dollup of wholegrain house mustard. I served it with creamed horseradish and thousand island dressing…house made, of course. Overall they turned out really well but I agree with Jonathon that the texture would have been improved with additional pork.

@seth I made a batch a week ago out of pork loin , a honey jerky seasoning and Hi-Temp Swiss cheese in 19mm collagen casings. Came out great!

@dafish13 thank you

Ive seen that done as jonathan has said or if you raise the temperature of your smokehouse too fast or start too high. But for the purposes of what your wanting, after you shower them cold or place in a cold bath you can spray them with warm water or run them under a hot water faucet and it should remove any unwanted grease from the casings.

I would for sure add dextrose and honestly corn syrup solids work great too for adding a touch of sweet and better preservative and color.

@Departing-Contestant Why is that? The Atlantic is apparently saltier than the Pacific (at least according to a quick google search) and I am not familiar enough with Octopus to know any reason why it would be saltier. Please let me know why, I am very interested in this!

@Douglas-Moore I agree with @Boudreaux, 21mm fresh collagen casings are the easiest to use and I think they have a better snap then sheep casings. If you are looking to go with a Natural Casing then you would want to look at the smallest sheep casings which are generally the 22-24mm Sheep in either the entire hank or you can get that size in a HomePack as well. The home packs will stuff somewhere in the vicinity of 15 lb of breakfast sausage. You need to rinse and soak the Sheep Casings and if you go with the Home Pack you also need to rinse the inside. Check out this post https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/780/sausage-casings-103-preparing-your-casings for some more information on preparing the casings before they are used. Let us know if you need anything else!

Thank You Sir: Tarp