Smoking & Grilling

@jonathon Thanks. You are the whip when it comes to this stuff. I am really excited to start making my own sausages and snacks.

That is to cool, I like that design

@sstory That’s the manliest way to clean anything I have EVER heard of. “Got a mess here, Gotta grab my flamethrower!”

@gerygaub That’s so awesome! I’m so happy that you finally got a chance to do this and that it turned out well! I really love seeing you trying all this stuff out and not letting anything keeping you from trying new things!

@slotown I would say the best way to do this would have been to add some Hickory Smoke Powder when mixing it but it sounds like we might be a little past that! If you have something like Flip Professional Smoke Box and cold smoke it for a little. This shouldn’t be a problem if it is as cold wherever you are as it is here right now! just make sure you put the smoke source as far away from the meat as possible so it does not heat it up. A probe thermometer would be a good idea to make sure your meat is staying below the low 40’s!

@FarmerRon Great question on the “No Smoke” initial phase that we often recommend. We use a PK 100 which can cook and smoke at very low temperatures, far lower than most grills or even pellet grills. We say not to use smoke because it is a waste at that point, the smoke won’t adhere and since we are doing a drying phase with dampers wide open you could potentially run through a lot of chips. Also, if your product doesnt spend that first hour drying and get a lot of smoke on it it could be streaky at the end. I hope I answered your question, let me know if I didn’t Im typing this on a treadmill trying to wake up on a Saturday Morning! Have a great day and I hope anyone reading this has something good to smoke, cook and drink tonight!

@sausage-king Thanks you! I’ll give that recipe a shot this weekend! I’ve already got the Excalibur fixins in my shopping cart for the next order.

@revid We have broken this all out by weight and by volume on our Additive Conversion Chart by 1 and 5 lb batches! I am amazed at how much use those have gotten, had I known it would be that useful I would have done it ages ago.

@BradJ I actually usually put the water on top of the drip tray to keep it further away from the burner just in case it somehow spills. I want the burner to have that little bit of protection from the water spilling down into it.

thank you for your response. I believe I will order some fibrous casings.

@calldoctoday I would say that a little heavy or a little light will be fine. It would be most important to just not use multiple times more than what you need, and also not just 10% of what you need. Close will be ok, but I would definitely put a small kitchen scale on your wishlist! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving too!

@jycangelica Sorry for the confusion… Both may be actually correct. If you are injecting, we recommend holding overnight (12-24 hours is fine) in a 50% diluted solution of the brine, and then smoking the after that. If you are only brining and not injecting, then you should hold for 5-7 days, then smoke it. You can read the full instructions in our recipe here: https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/203/how-to-make-homemade-smoked-ham-recipe When you get to the “process” section, follow either the “Injection” instructions or the “Brining” instructions, but not both.

@rusty my dehydrator won’t go over 160 so after I follow the first part of thermal processing in low temps, I move my snacks sticks, summer,sausage etc, into the oven at 175 for hr Check temp,if still not 155 raise it to 200for 15 min, check temp. Keep checking,every 15min or so til it reaches 155.

@papag Thank you!! That is what I had intended to do but wanted verification.

I smoked many a summers on my traeger. Turning them a few times during the process will ensure that you won’t get “cooked product” on the side that is facing the grill.

@loadpin To make sure we are talking about the same thing, at the Seasoning Conversion Chart the 6th from the top is Andouille Cajun Seasoning, it shows it is 1tbsp and 1 tsp to get to .94 oz for 1 lb of meat and just below that is Apple Bratwurst Seasoning that is 1tbsp and 1 tsp to get to .6 oz for 1 lb of meat? The two both require the same volume measurement (1 tbspn + 1 tspn) but have different weight measurements because they have different densities. I hope I understood and answered your question?

Try it on just smoke. That should work fine.

@bob-s-meatgistics I moved one of my first pork butts into the oven and my whole house smelled like smoke. My wife did not stop complaining for a week until the smell was gone from both the house and the oven. I finish all my cooks outside. If you wrap it to speed up the cook you may want to unwrap it for the last hour to put the bark back on it.

@glenn-0 I would recommend soaking it for sure. If you don’t I think there is a very good possibility that it will be too salty to enjoy. It adds 40 minutes to your processing time but overly salty bacon can be difficult to eat, let alone enjoy!

@djc51 Here is a link to an analysis of soaking vs not. The article argues against soaking except under certain circumstances. It seems to make sense to me. https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/myth-soak-your-wood-first