Meat Processing

@Lmick1979 Our old store room manager used to make goose sticks out of the habanero stick seasoning and it was excellent! The habanero is hot but not burning hot if you like a little heat. Pair that with some cheese like the Cheddar to cut the heat or the ghost pepper cheese to seriously increase the heat! I agree on Willies, it is a HARD one to describe because you do sort of want to say slim jim but for most people that associates it with something that they don’t like and that’s unfair because it is delicious!

@erich52 I’ve never seen that happen before but I suppose it is possible. How clumpy are we talking about? As long as it was thoroughly mixed in with the meat I would imagine not as the clumps would break down. Now, if you are saying it created two big lumps and was never distributed through the meat then yes, it might prevent the nitrite from being evenly distributed through the sausage.

Thank you bhaataja, I would have guessed closer to 6 or 7 so I’m glad I asked!

@deplorablenc1 yes sir!!!

Salt, Brown and Cane Sugar, Sodium Erythorbate (1.09%), Sodium Bicarbonate (1% buffering agent), Sodium Nitrite (0.40%). Above is the “dry rub bacon cure”… It’s too low in nitrite to use on other meats… It will make it too salty… UNLESS you up the nitrite… Also it has erthorbate in it… erthorbate should only be used when injecting liquids… because, it instantly starts breaking down the nitrite into nitric oxide… When dry curing, that breakdown should be a slow process while it cures the meat…

@Jonathon @Joe-Hell Thanks fellas, appreciate the info

@daveomak I think your response cut off at the end? Were you saying that you use Maple Bacon Cure to make Summer Sausage? @jbird I need to have a discussion with our application specialist before I can answer you the correct amount. I know his first response is going to be something along the lines of “why would you want to do that?” or “tell them we don’t recommend it” and then once we get past that hopefully I can get you a portion per lb that will work for you!

@Jonathon ah…looks like that might be out of my league for now. I don’t know if I’m actually having a problem with that or not. The masterbuilts seem to hold humidity quite well. It just seems to take twice as long as I’m used to when using the MB40 vs. my old 30. Outside temps have been quite cold of course but the smoker seems to stay a constant temp

@lamurscrappy said in Recovering denatured meat …: @DeerSlayer add more water and keep on mixing! I’m kind of glad I don’t know any better. LOL! Since I do more “Shotgun” cooking, I tend to adjust on the fly. If I get too much water on the front end, it always dries out on the tail end. Or more accurately, it stays in the smoker until I’m happy with it. (IE: Wrinkled enough, smoked enough, tastes OK.) I’m a simple man, with simple ways. But like Lamurscrappy sez, I just dribble in a bit more water, and keep mixing until I get what I think is gooey and sticky enough to push into casings (Collagen). I course grind. Season and Mix. Grind again finer. Then that second grind is discharged into my Stuffer tank to be mashed into sticks. I seem to wind up with a Hot Dog appearing stuffing mixture, with some appearance of peppercorn and mustard seed. I prefer as simple an approach as I can. So far it must be working out, I’m still here. LOL! (Much to some’s dismay…) (And if my ways knock me off, I promise not to tell anybody.) Water tends to dry up, with enough heat and patience.

@archeryrob I loved shooting the Martin longbows…specifically the ‘Savannah’. I’d play around with the compounds as the job required it but they weren’t my favorite. I was damn good at building them and working on them though!

@Joe-Hell I think @jayjayb42 is wanting to brine though so he needs enough water to cover his belly, It is doing to slightly depend on what container you are using but you should be able to get away with FAR less than a gallon of water to cover a belly. I like to use the Stark Bucket Liners, but you could use really any heavy duty, food safe bag. Also, though the volume measurements arent perfect, the weight measurements should be accurate on our Cure Conversion Chart. Add the correct amount of cure for your 1.5 lb of bacon then add as little water you can to cover your belly, you should be fine!

@DeerSlayer Don’t give up on the snack sticks! I reference it all the time but there is post on this board calledSummer Sausage Nightmare by @gadahl where @Parksider brought up finishing up in water instead of smoking the summer sausage the entire time. I’ve not done it on snack sticks but you might read that post and give it a try? It works amazingly well on both Bologna and Summer Sausage!

@deplorablenc1 I am fairly sure our application specialist and I did this last year in some testing, let me look at my notes and check with him. If I dont get back to you it will be because I am misremembering things!

@Ed_Orum I put mine in the chamber as it requires a higher temp usually around 80 degrees and 80% humidity for the first 12 or so hours to incubate. Alot of people use a heat pad and cooler with a bowl of water (if you already are in constant stage 55 deg in the chamber this is a good option). I also use Mold 600…can never be too safe!

@Ed_Orum not sure non-working is the way you want to go. If you are trying to cure at a high of 55 and it is 65 you will need the compressor to cool your enclosure. Anyway, I bought to Inkbird controllers one for temp and one for humidity. They both have 2 working outputs that are just plug in so for temp I have the fridge plugged in and then I cut a hole in the bottom and added a lightbulb to heat it and it does a great job when I do the initial 80 degrees for 12 hours. The humidity control i have a humidifier plugged in to one with a tube into the enclosure and a dehumidifier on the inside. Tip here is make sure the units you buy have a switch for on off not a button or they will not automatically turn on once they are triggered off. I bought a small computer fan that I plug in when the dehumidifier runs to. Good luck! It is alot of fun to have a curing set up! [image: 1552180293059-20190309_200319-1209x1612.jpg] [image: 1552180301552-20190309_200325-1209x1612.jpg]

@EHaworth13 you should have an outdoorsman type store around you that you should be able to find some cheap jerky seasoning at. Just buy that and pull the nitrite out of it for your sausage. Just make sure you follow the ditections on how much you need pound for pound. That would probably be your quickest option.

@Jonathon no worries! We all know your a busy man making youtube videos Let us know how your sticks turn out! Always love to see or hear how they turned out!

@ruppy41 I’ve never made it so I can’t help but there shouldn’t be any reason it wouldn’t work well. Commercial processors do it all the time, it has low intramuscular fat and a good taste and texture. I’d say make sure you trim off any fat from the outside and grind twice, first through a 3/8 and then through a 1/8th plate. Good luck!

The blue ribbon contains sodium erythorbate to speed up the cure so we don’t recommend it for pickling but people have done it and continue to do it and they say they like the results, we just can’t guarantee it will be perfect. If you are going to pickle it then use 2 lb of cure to a gallon of water and hold them for 5 days since you aren’t injecting. You’ve probably already seen it but there is some good information here https://www.waltonsinc.com/blue-ribbon-maple-bacon-cure

@mts1829 I’ve never added any liquor to bacon but I’d say you are on the right track with going for Canadian Bacon first. It’s easier to get an uncured loin than a belly for one thing!