Meat Processing

@Bigtwin - This depends on your preference. I grind several deer a year, and the concensus is the chili grind plate which is 13mm.

@Camardelle I did it in the dry rub bacon video? Its impossible to keep track of everything anymore! Sorry about that, let me know your thoughts. Maybe I need to do one with and one without. Probably need to start doing just 1 thing per video/experiments now-a-days.

@Tenpoint74 One of the big things is if you are doing fresh or cured. Cured I always add everything after, fresh I can sometimes do during the grind though I rarely do as I also do all my cleaning and find it is harder to clean the plates and head when I do this. For cured, we want protein to extract so I am going to mix it a lot anyway so I dont think it matters.

@Joe-Hell said in Linguica or Spanish Chorizo?: @sidpost I’ve had zero luck with Cookshack CS and their forums are a ghost town the last I checked. I know a few folks that swear by them and I’ve seen good results but its constant babysitting. I need consistent predictability rather than a [censored] shoot. Sorry to hear that. You may want to check out BBQ Brethren and ask some questions over there. That forum is pretty active and there are a lot of Cookshack owners there that may be able to help. I know some of them who owned early models swapped out controllers and reported much better results. I don’t follow the Cookshacks too closely but, it seems like the early ones had erratic controllers and the fix was $100~$200 for the various new controllers people used. Between commercial guys, caterers, and serious hobbyists, I bet someone over there can help you get your smoker running better without babysitting.

@Jonathon I bought your 7lb stuffer that I love dearly but have the same problem 19mm casings won’t slip on the tube without unraveling them first.

@atcone155 If you have something like the Meater or Meater plus that will work but you’ll probably have to cut the bag at the seal and temp them and then reseal it. Shouldnt be more than 1 hour though.

@metlman501 While not as critical I still would recommend it. I do cure accelerators on every batch of snack sticks I make and I still run the drying cycle. It helps get the outside ready. Plus the smoke is going to be wasted at that point as 30 something degree meat isn’t going to accept much smoke flavor.

@kzwisconsin carrot fiber will work but Sure Gel will be better for a ring bologna. No, I prefer the Ring Bologna Casings which are an inedible collagen when making Ring Bologna. You could use beef middles or even 42-45 hog casings

@Jonathon The parts holder and drawer come out to about 375g so its about $7.50 in material.

You guys will laugh but I’m not a big hunter, too cold…I don’t have a problem running the trigger but I HATE gutting anything! But… once that’s done I’m all in. Harvesting game and processing pigs has always been a social event, the more the merrier and that’s what we do now. My crew has some passionate hunters, perfect for me! We also have “jobs” when we process. I’m responsible for planning and organizing and polling the crew for what we want to make and ordering supplies- thus the Waltons warehouse of supplies. Billy skins and takes off the football roasts and primal quarters. I cut the back straps off and clean then while other free hands debone. Best advice is follow the muscle groups. I don’t saw bones either. Then you can decide to chunk for stew/chili slice for jerky or cut for grind. We will free the big muscles while, once u cut them u can’t put them back together! My rule is if we get out the grinder we are doing some grinding so we’ll get pork and grind and freeze. Make it easy on yourself we do everything in 5# increments so when we are ready I can pull exact amount to make certain batches. Just some rainy Wednesday thoughts from the ROC…

@horseshoer Yes and no. It all depends on the salt content of the seasoning. If you are talking about Excalibur’s Andouille then yes you will be okay, it doesn’t have the exact amount of salt you would want but it will be enough. Just make sure you get really good protein extraction and I would recommend that you add a binder like Sure Gel though if you don’t add the binder you will still be ok, you’ll just have a better product if you do.

@DB1938 Hope you find a good supplier and can revisit those old recipes. I hear more people are raising rabbits for personal consumption these days, maybe it’ll show up in the local farmers market.

Thanks, I bought it by mistake thinking it was able to be used dry. I usually use a dry recipe. I don’t like to soak or inject my bacon. I may calculate a recipe and give it a try. I’ll let you know if I do.

@jeffchris83 I would recommend a #22 and the 50 mixer. #32s are great but they generally jump at least $100 and unless you are consistently doing huge batches the speeding up of the grind isn’t a big enough factor to warrant that increase, instead you can use that money elsewhere. That however is just my opinion, if you feel like getting a #32 go for it, they are more powerful and you can grind quicker.

@YooperDog It’s all about having some background fun.

I’ve always included the fat as part of the total weight for adding seasonings. I like things spicy and will usually add a bit more seasoning than called for as well. I would say if you like a good amount of seasoning, your better off including your fat in the “25lb”.

@Joe-Hell I do the same for the same reasons with reference to the water, I really only mix long enough to mix the seasoning blend into the meat.

Thanks for the advice. Just looking for the tang with out smoking all night.

I can’t comment directly on snack sticks, but I’ve had to hold other cured sausage for close to 48 hours because life got in the way of smoking. That batch did have a cure accelerator in it (ascorbic acid). It came out alright. At the very least, fat out was not a problem.