Meat Processing

Thanks Parksider. I’ll give it a try. I’m about to place an order with Walton’s. I’ll give the collagen casings and process a try.

@Parksider Okay, that makes more sense, thanks for clairifying

@detter22 Awesome man! I have found adding red pepper to Bologna makes it delicious, we;ve done that a few times and I love the results.

@logjammer *transglutaminase is what @Joe-Hell is referring too and it can be expensive. Photos are easier from iPhones here but I am getting about 50% luck with meatgistics automatically scaling it down when posting.

@AlexR We produce 100% beef summer sausage and snack stick at the shop I work at and it turns out great…I’d prefer some pork but we have a portion of clientele that won’t eat pork for religious reasons so beef it is!

@PapaSop looks like the inside of my Anova as well.

@glen I would second this. We make several no sugar products in our plant and i would say this should be fine. @Andrew-B I would run with the current salt content. If its good 5lbs will be gone quick and if its not well its only 5lbs and the next batch can be tweaked!

@denny66 from a taste aspect it totally depends on your preference, if you like the tang then adding it will impart or increase that. Some people use it with any seasoning mix including ones like Habanero BBQ, others only use it on traditional ones like Willies. I personally like the tang so I add it to most things.

I do the same as many others in that I grind, season and grind again before stuffing into meat bags. I think it is common knowledge that ground beef becomes tough the more it is worked due to (I assume protein extraction) so I figure the less I handle the sausage, the better. This method works well for me and gives a moist, less solid bite when cooked.

@Blippo I want to say @Joe-Hell found one somewhere for around 400. Joe, am I right? Other than that yes, they will be $1000. What are you wanting to do with it? You might be able to use one from a local university that has a meat lab if you are just trying to confirm something just once.

@MTArcher They are fairly similar but the Mexi chorizo is the right choice if you are ooking for something closer to the chorizo most of us are familiar with. The regular chorizo is excellent and can be used for making what we consider chorizo but that is the one that someone would use if they were to dry cure the sausage.

@TexLaw They were “okay”, I ended up doing antelope, beef brisket, ghost pepper cheese and pork shoulder with Hot Link seasoning. There was just something different about them that I can’t place a finger on. Was my very first time doing any sausage making.

@Jonathon Thanks, I’ll try 130° next time and see if there’s a noticable change

Thank you

@Tex_77 Thank you and lol, its like the answer to enlightenment lies at the end of this path. Though enlightenment is probably worth a lot more than the additives breakdown chart!

thanks chef and texlaw

@D-Halverson 3-d printing is becoming more and more popular and could be an awesome thing to replace wear parts and hard to get adapters and such. That is awesome that you did that!

@Parksider I will eventually make this!

@cdub2007 Few things, I am a fan of working with super cold meat as well but I normally keep it almost frozen before I grind it and then go right to mixing. By that time the meat has thawed a little and it has been completely broken down by the grinder. In fact, the few times I have frozen it too much and then ground it anyway the meat almost shaves or flakes and I think that makes protein extraction a lot easier, this is JUST A THEORY that I am working on so it might not be accurate. As far as your situation I think you have hit the nail on the head for the issues you might see. The frozen pieces that we stuffed into a casing are not going to be bound properly to the meat around it, so you might have some leaking/rendering during the smoking process. But that’s not a big deal, the bigger deal is that they probably didn’t get the cure evenly distributed throughout all of the meat and then by smoking them you created the perfect environment for nasty little things to grow in it. How bad is it? Honestly, probably nothing to worry about, its possible but all the meat around it was cured and there will be some transference during the cooking process. For food poisoning (just like anything else) the amount of harmful stuff you take in is almost as important as what it is you take in. Most of us could deal with a strand or two of ebola and fight it off, it’s when the viral load is excessive that it becomes a problem. I know this from my extensive time spent in the congo fighting infectious diseases. Or, at least I listened to a Warren Zevon song called Roalnd the Headless Thompson Gunner and he mentioned the congo. Obviously I am kidding, I probably read that in a Tom Clancy book or something, so don’t take it too seriously! For the last one I would say if you run into the same issue either yes let it thaw more or use your grinder to break it all up again! Good post/question/answers

I have found that when using a brat seasoning to make sticks what works best is using about 20% less meat per seasoning. So for example you would use 20 lbs of meat but enough seasoning for 25 lbs of meat. It helps the flavor come through a little better.