Meat Processing

Hi I’m looking for a meat department manager with experience at a chain retail supermarket near NYC area. I work for my family’s butcher shop with multiple locations. I’m looking to change up our operations and potentially even pay consulting fees too.

@hbrednek Park Sider (as usual!) pretty much accurately broke it down for you. I love Collagen because it is easier to use than Hog or Sheep casings, no prep is needed and I also like the snap from a fresh collagen more than i like the snap from a hog casing. What I don’t like is exactly what your issue was with linking, they just don’t stay as tightly wrapped, one thing you can do that will help is after you link them and before you cut them put them in a freezer for about an hour. They will still have a tendency to come undone but they will hold a little better. As for overstuffing it is a “feel” thing. You are most likely using too much pressure when holding the casing on the tube. A slightly understuffed casing is preferable in my opinion as you can simply twist it a few extra times and it will firm up where as an overstuffed casing will pop when you go to twist it.

@ace202 Glad to have you on the board! First, yes, you do have to love the old world style but I would absolutely recommend you invest in some sort of probe thermometer. Just safer that way and prevents the sticks from being overcooked. 100% pork sticks are a good way to go an untrimmed pork butt will have just about the perfect amount of fat for a nice snack stick. On to the casing question. 19-22mm sheep will be much larger than a pencil, more like a really thick sharpie. If you are looking for something the size of a pencil you would need 15 or maybe 16mm collagen casings. I would recommend you go with the 16mm smoked collagens first as you can buy a 3 pack of them which will be 3 strands and each strand will be 50 feet once stuffed. If you go with the 15mm you will have to buy an entire caddy which will be 50 strands so that would be enough to stuff 318 lb. Now, you need a stuffing tube small enough for the 15 or 16mm casings to fit over. For more information on what size tube you will need check out the chart near the bottom of the page on the here. One last thing to keep in mind, the smaller diameter casing and tube you are using the more force that is needed to stuff your product. To make your product easier to stuff make sure you keep it very cold before you stuff it, make sure it has around 25-30% fat content and you can add a little extra water. Adding water will increase your cook time a little but it will cook out eventually and is better than breaking your stuffer!

@jonathon We never use it in snack sticks. We use 50/50 venison and pork butt mix. Always come out juicy. Just don’t overcook them in the smoker.

@papa-gale I’d recommend getting sausage makers book called great sausage recipes in meat curing By founder Rytek Kutas. It has the most complete listing of sausage recipes I have ever seen I use it all the time as a reference guide. It has every ethnic version of sausage like kielbasa is Polish bratwurst is German chorizo is Mexican and so on. To answer your question which sausage is most popular I think it’s a regional thing. I grew up in the Dutch Amish part of eastern Pennsylvania which has a huge German influences… The Amish still do fundraisers to this day selling sausage with just salt and pepper in it 100% pork. As for a mix I use 50% pork butt to 50% venison. Or I use 100% pork I’ve never experimented with beef. But I do love Lebanon bologna and it’s no available here in Rochester so it’s on the list. Favorite casing has to do with what I making if I want something that has a nice nap to it I will use fresh casing if I want something they can withstand the smoker and hang and it has a lot of weight to it or use the collagen. I use Walton’s fresh 32 & 21. They are the best! Also use 32 and 19 smoked for snack sticks.

Here is a package I vacuum sealed but have not frozen. It really doesn’t have any and I think they look good. I guess I need to open one and keep it in the fridge over night and see what happens. [image: 1528240911346-img_1877-resized.jpg]

@jonathon Thanks

Hey Hip Granny, with a call sign like that…you gotta be a pretty hip granny! I’ve had great success with slightly over drying my jerky and then letting it sit for a day or so and then I vacuum seal it it small quantities (maybe 10 or so pieces). I’ve had it stored that way out in the garage for over a year and it still tastes great and didn’t give anyone the craps so i think it’s good. I’m sure some will argue with me that I can’t do it like this but they can argue all they want, I have proof it works. I’ve never tried the snack stix this way, they’re usually have much more moisture content and I just don’t think it’ll work, but the jerky works great. My advice is try a small batch, let it sit as long a you dare…then open it, give it a good sniff test and then maybe a small bite or two and see what you think. Good luck. Tom

@jonathon Thanks

@mswoody6-4 Does the cheese tend to melt when you are cooking your snack sticks? That has been a problem for me in the past if I don’t use a high temp cheese, it melts out and leaves a cavity within my stick. I’m specifically wondering about the harder cheeses, if they maybe wouldn’t melt as much?

Thanks, i will do that.

I finally have the Chicken Thigh Brat video done and posted to youtube you can view it here https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/573/chicken-brats-made-from-thigh-meat I have to say it made a big difference and the South of the Border Cheddarwurst was a great choice, these were probably the best Chicken Brats I have made!

@raider2119 I still havent had time to try this but I am absolutely going to be giving this a try in the next month or so. I’m just not sure I am going to be able to find the Yellow Pea, I think I have a local place that will have it but we will see!

@medeling32 Yes, I do it all the time. The casings are softer, smaller and I like them better that way. I use the pizza brat seasoning. Your reason is the same as mine. Sometimes I just want a dog and fries. Yea, I boil them then a quick toasting n the grill to brown them up. Geo.

@sausage-king Yes, you can absolutely use the Blue Ribbon Maple Bacon Cure for Canadian Bacon if you are injecting and then covering in a 50% strength solution. If you are going to just brine it then you probably don’t want to use the Blue Ribbon Maple Cure as it has Sodium Erythorbate in it and it might gas out before it fully cures the loin. If you are going to brine/pickle then I would use the Country Brown Sugar Cure. Either way you go the instructions for how to do both methods are available at https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/385/how-to-make-homemade-bacon-recipe Let us know if you need anything else!

@medeling32 Yes, Austin has a good post about this topic that should help you with this (https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/174/using-a-scale-to-measure-seasoning-for-smaller-batches) For water I like to add 1 lb (same as 1 pint) to a 25 lb batch, it makes mixing and stuffing easier. That breaks down to .64 oz of water per lb.

@parksider If the head size was equal between a pro-cut and weston, the pro-cut would win. But, since the #22 head size is much bigger than a #12, the 22 would win from weston in this scenario. The #22 Pro-Cut at only 1 HP would vastly outperform the Weston #22 at 1.5 hp. On the shopping pages, there is a “shop by” (or “filter” on mobile) that has a section for manufacturer. You can filter there to choose Speco. We don’t stock many #22 from Speco but I think I’m going to add some more options there soon. This is what is currently stock items: https://www.waltonsinc.com/parts/grinders-parts/plates-knives/22-grinder-plates-knives?manufacturer=729 If/when I get some new options added there, I’ll let you know. I really don’t have a great answer on the weston grinder knives for their length of use. They are made different from other knives, and don’t provide the same level of visual detail because of how they are designed to see the wear on them as well. If you are using them on all your plates though, it probably is time. For best results, you should pair 1 knife with 1 plate so they wear evenly together. Everything will last longer and be more efficient that way, but it does require more investment in buying additional knives to have 1 for every plate. If you’re plate is worn out though, it’d be safe to assume the knife is as well. I’d just use the plate as a guide for the knife on the weston versions. I don’t know if the ice pack on the grinder really works. I think it is at least partially a marketing gimmick, but I’ve never fully tested to see if it truly makes a difference and keeps the meat colder. If the meat is really spending that much time in the throat of the grinder too, probably something wrong there or things would be better off with a faster grinder or bigger head to it. I kind of want to test this out though and find out for sure…

@gerygaub Absolutely, you can send them to me at jonathon@waltonsinc.com and I would be happy to add them to your post, it will look just like you posted it. Just go ahead and do your post then email me and let me know what post to add it too! Can’t wait to see the pics!

I have both a 6 and 12 inch A-maze-n tubes, the guy that makes them is like 30 minutes away. Stopped and picked up the tubes and some flavored pellets last Friday but not had a chance to use them yet. Hopefully this weekend I will get some cheese smoked. I still need to do a batch of injected bacon this weekend too so I will be busy apparently.

Hey guys, doing chicken brats out of Thighs this week but can’t make up my mind on seasoning to use. Ali has a poll going on Walton’s inc Facebook page so if you are interested shoot over there and vote!