Meat Processing

Made Penne pasta tonight sauced with the Supreme Italian Pizza Sausage I made a week or so ago and spaghetti sauce. Browned it up and added just a bit more Italian seasoning to the meat, it really turned out great. It makes a mild Italian sausage with a ever so slight hint of bite way off in the background. My wife didn’t notice it and said it was good even though it was 100% pork and no beef. No pics because I was busy serving hungry people wanting to watch a football game rather than help me.

@yooperdog AND the place smells like a piece of heaven. I’m smiling with you when you decide to fire up the “test” when you’re done creating.

@bmartin1000 said in Pickled Sausage: @mrobisr - How many times have I heard “I’ll try that as soon as you try that and wake up alive the next day”. You are so right, the first time I pressured canned dry beans, meaning they cooked and pressure canned in the same step, I tried some a couple weeks later and told the wife if I start stroking be sure to tell the paramedics that it is not a stoke, but botulism. Well they were wonderful and it eliminated a step in my process.

@mrobisr i think it was the carrot fiber holding to much moisture. I will be trying sure gell tonight. I am getting the stuffed nice and tight with no air.

@idaho-smokey They really put up a fight once they are hooked.

@dr_pain said in Thoughts on type of cheese for fresh brats: @papasop said in Thoughts on type of cheese for fresh brats: @dr_pain said in Thoughts on type of cheese for fresh brats: I would love if the rest of the family would be as heat tolerant me because I would really like to try the ghost pepper cheese Wish I would have saved the bag, I’d send the rest to you. My one son and I each sampled a little square. No frigging way… Long gone now. Sweating just talking about it. LOL HAHAHAA!!! I’ve had some hot experiences in my life and each I remember with better memories than what seem to have been your experience. I remember by oldest son coming hom with jerky made with ghost pepper and Carolina reapers… OMG!!! (But it was tasty) First it was sticks from another post. Now, hot experiences… As @HerbcoFood said, biting my tongue right now.

I am in the process of purchasing a hydraulic stuffer and looking at the Taslsa, Sirman and the china knockoff available on ebay. The Talsa seems to be a better quality based on pictures! Does anyone have any input?

@wdaly I’m with you on that. This is a great emulsion. I bet that blade is SHARP. If not then he will have an airated final product

@midwest_kc said in Thoughts for Cold Smoked sausage: To be clear, I would not allow the food to stay in the danger zone too long. I’m thinking if I have the sausages refrigerated, then give them, say, 2 hours of cold smoke and then back in the fridge, and then cooking them through at a later time (within a couple days, or vac sealing and freezing until I’m ready to use them). That may not be long enough, and I could probably go up to 3 hours of smoke and still be plenty safe of the danger zone. I think that is a good assumption and good plan, especially if you do it in the cold temps we are having right now

@yooperdog said in Grinding And Mixing for Breakfast Sausage and Brats: You will have a better product with a stuffer I too have been there and done that.

@bocephus Yes, I just got that Dewalt adapter for Christmas.

Thanks I think I agree with all on this one to!

@processhead said in Can snack sticks be dried?: @dr_pain said in Can snack sticks be dried?: I wonder what the water activity of those dried snack stick is to see if they would be fully shelf stable I am not sure if you can know what it is without lab analysis? Wish we had a food scientist here on meatgistics. That would be awesome!!

FOr my hot Italian sausage I normally add 1g of Calabrian pepper powder and 1.5g of red pepper flakes. Hope this helps

@mr-b I’m certainly no expert, but I wouldn’t think the extra time to increase the saltiness.

Thanks for your help!

If you included cure #1 then I would say that you go have a couple of days but the meat will start turning into a cured product. The problem you have in curing inside a regular fridge (as compared to a dedicated curing chamber) is that you will dehydrate your product too fast. As @twilliams mentioned, the sooner the better. I almost forgot, that you don’t have a culture so you may not be able to maintain a product which will acidify enough to kill bad bacteria (conjointly with the cure #1) but if you did the longer you keep it in the fridge the more acidic it will become so your tang would be yuk after you cook it (releasing the ECA)

@midwest_kc 50 lbs would make more sense, if B is 25 and C is 12.5.

@dr_pain I kept the not so visually appealing ones for my family. Still taste great. Like you all have said with the fat rendering out, the ones without casing seem to have a drier texture, which I actually don’t mind at all! Taste is spot on.

@yooperdog said in To add to the meat block weight or not?: As @mrobisr and @kyle mentioned. Cure as needed for the meat block, seasoning based on total mix of meat, veggies, cheese, etc… This!