Meat Processing

@jypuckett buy the sure gel. label has the ratio for 25 lbs of meat…get your smart phone out, open calculator, and measurements can be figured out in about a minute…Good Luck Brother!

thank you so much

Thanks, that is good to know about Choice Meats. I do have a couple local butchers here but lately I process most things by myself when I can.

@jjischke I personally have not experienced trapped air in my cast iron stuffers. I generally just fill the cylinder with sausage mix and as I compress the mix during the first couple of cranks, I hear any trapped air vent out past the piston.

@Tex_77 Somewhere I imagine you have a text file that says “Jon’s answers” and they are just copied and pasted into the answers! Nicely answered BUT YOU"LL never catch me!

Whole muscle pork jerky is what I make the most of, started doing it a few years ago when beef went way up in price!

jonathon and glen…thank you both for the info on ECA

@Labradorbob I have posted this a few times but the Honey BBQ is one I don’t actually care for but everyone else really liked. I used ECA both times I made it (2nd time just to see if I was crazy) I felt the same both times but everyone else liked it again, so I am the odd one. I’d be interested in your thoughts though

@Jonathon I’d agree…the cure just didn’t penetrate far enough. So long as you followed basic safety guidelines I’d think it’s probably fine to consume now or freeze for later but it may not be something you want to take selfie’s with.

I’ve cured a venison leg round as a pastrami because I prefer my ham to have fat. It’s certainly worth a try, though. Try a maple smoke.

Anybody?

A for instance, If you have a recipe that calls for a tablespoon of salt, (what one doesn’t)? A tablespoon of table salt is a whole lot more maybe 2 to 3 times as much as a tablespoon of kosher salt. but if you weigh it in ounces then the salt content will be very close to the same. If you switch it to grams it is extremely nearly the same.

@Arod2015 I use bread to push out the remaining meat out

@bubba_mcnabb I use it 4 or 5 times a year. A chopper give you an opportunity to make some of the finer textured emulsified sausages. So far I have used it for making braunschweiger and for making snack sticks. I would like to try and make some authentic weisswurst sometime.

@Cabelas90 Thank you. I had found that chart the other day after digging in the site more. Appreciate your answering back.

@TexLaw well, I finaly got around to making another batch of summer sausage. This time I used your smoking schedule, reduced water to 0.6 oz/lb and Sure Gel at 0.24 oz/lb. Turned out MUCH better and flavor was great. Texture was still a little rubbery/spongy and moist, but quite a bit less than before. I am going to experiment with the water and Sure Gel amounts to see if I can zero in on that “perfect” semi-dry texture. Next batch I am thinking of reducing water and Sure Gel in half ( Water at 0.3 oz/lb and Sure Gel at 0.12 oz/lb) and keep the same smoking schedule. I’ll keep you posted.

@Roe-Bear Yes, grinding that 3rd time, especially since it seems you did some mixing and then put through the grinder again is going to give you a more hotdog like product. When they make hot dogs they usually use an emulsifier plate or even better would be a bowl chopper. This gives the hotdog its texture, grinding that 3rd time is what we tell people to do if the are wanting to make a hotdog. Glad everyone chimed in and helped you out!

@RJ-Adventures Yeah, that is why I go at either 177 or 172 depending on the diameter of the product. It very well might be another thing that I have been worrying over when it actually means nothing. @Parksider Ever left your sticks/summer sausage in too long and had it mushy? I’ve got to do some grinding soon for a video review on the grinder (finally) I have that meat earmarked for testing making snack sticks on a pellet grill but I might steal a few off of there and try some different sous vide temps/times. I’ll obviously let everyone know!

@Jonathon So what i get from this post is… A premixed seasoning that has sodium erythorbate in the ingredients list is ok to hold overnight? Also i can add a cure accelerator (in the proper amount) like eca or sodium erythorbate and smoke the smoke the same day? I want to try adding eca but most kits already have an accelerator like sodium erythorbate listed and direct you to smoke the same day. I don’t want to over accelerate. Thanks

Thanks, Jonathon. We finished a 25 lb batch yesterday evening and the three of us were very pleased with the finished sticks. We used 80/20 venison and beef fat for our meat block.