Meat Processing

@granpa1 I would use Sure Gel as a binder and Encapsulated Citric Acid as a cure accelerator but make sure you watch this first https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/763/cured-sausage-106-basics-of-making-snack-sticks and then this https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1108/cured-sausage-206-advanced-cured-sausage-processing So, seasoning and cure that comes with the seasoning, then add a binder and then add encapsulated citric acid. I would also think of adding cheese, snack sticks do well with high temp cheese and Habanaero BBQ does really well with Cheddar now, you can absolutely make a quality product without Encapsualted Citric acid or A binder like sure gel but it won’t be as good.

@detter22 We’ve had it on our list for a long time and now that we are getting out Eller drying cabinet going we will be doing some, won’t be till the new year but we will be making some delicious Sopressa!

@erich52 may try the cheese on the next batch of HBBQ. I do not think the flavor is hot on its own. It has a little back end kick, but I think the sweetness probably offsets a little of that heat.

@Tex_77 no did 22 pounds 6 pounds breasts 16 pound thighs with fat on last grind.

@Jonathon thanks! I’ll be ordering it from you soon along with other supplies. Just got the cooler took apart and home. Now to find someone to build a cover around it and get it back up and running before deer season!

@Jonathon that should really help with the snack stix…sometimes its a struggle especially with the collagen casings. Thanks again to everyone for the comments and helpful hints.

@Jonathon If by sauce, you mean gravy, it was the drippings from the sous vide bag, flour and or corn starch, salt and pepper and probably some added water.

@Trevor-Abrams Can you tell us how long it was smoking for? It might be okay, but there is no doubt you were in the danger zone for too long. Now, it still might be okay but personally, I’d toss it to be safe. If you’re unwilling to do that I would try a small amount of it and wait for a day, if you’re fine then it should be good but I absolutely would not feed any to kids or the elderly. If we get food poisoning, oh no gonna be a rough few days in the bathroom. If a kid or older person gets it it can have serious ramifications. Also, it has happened to lots of us, I have realized it AFTER stuffing and have had to splitcasings and empty them then remix and restuff

I don’t see any reason at all to worry about oxygen absorbers for anything that’s vac-packed and frozen. As long as your seal stays intact, you should be good to go. I’ve found stuff in the back of the deep freeze that was several years old but still in good shape

@Tex_77 said in A few questions: I think you should look at the German sausage seasoning. That’s also where I would start if I were looking for a “barbecue joint” flavor that isn’t “hot” spicy and then adjust from there if you want. That said, the Hot Link blend that Jonathon mentioned is good stuff!

@Jonathon Thanks. I have been trying to find a table or source of information about different starter cultures and how to select the correct on for the product being made. Been unsuccessful so far. Can you recommend a source for this type of information? Thanks

Hatch green chili is amazing. Had it fresh and smoked some. I added sure gel and se to the smoked ones and mixed it in the mixer. I then cut up and added some diced pepper jack cheese, not high temp. They were like spicy chedderwurst. 5 lbs was gone in less than an hour with some of the guys from work. The fresh ones were equally good. Did 11 lbs with peppers and onions. Only a couple were left of those.

@mrod Carrot fiber is going to keep more moisture in the product and snack sticks are a semi-dried product, so you might have a little issue with the texture but it should still be okay but in the future use sure gel, soy protein, or super bind when making a cured sausage. Yes, cut them to length for the smoker, you will be able to fit more of them on a stick then if you loop them at the top and the bottom.

@unclebill Additionally if my memory serves me correct it’s not considered a cured product if there’s less than 60 ppm of ingoing sodium nitrite

Thanks for your help.

Awesome. Great stuff

@deanlorensen Great gift! So, what I’d do is save that pork fat and use it with your ducks/geese and other birds. I am finding more and more that I prefer pork fat when making sausage from fowl as mixing it with pork butts works but the bird kind of gets run over. Using just pork fat will let the bird stand out more and that is a good thing! Deer can stand up to pork better so I would go ahead and keep doing the pork butt thing with that. For any sausage like to be in the 70/30 to 80/20 range so I’d just add 2 lb of pork fat to 8 lb of goose. Figure the goose or duck has some fat (depending) already so adding enough to be at 20 should get you in the right area! Enjoy and make sure to share pics. If you like Pepperoni, goose with pork fat is awesome for pepperoni

You can go straight to the smoker no wait time required.

@coladad Okay, so batch in the oven didn’t have the same issue, so assuming all other things are equal I’ve got to think that there was something in that which caused the casings to burst. I wonder if the extra pressure of the hanging did it? It is also possible that the casings were old or had an issue of some sort. Clearly, it doesn’t sound like mixing was the issue. I keep zooming in on the ones that burst and the casings look like even had they not burst they would have separated from the meat. Next time you order make sure to check out podcast posts to see if we have active coupons!

@pr0wlunwoof all the base recipes were good, but I always tinker to find what I like. I am not much of a picture taker, but they were still readable. Smacznego