Roll Call (Start Here First)

[Jonathon]

Hi JDub We recently smoked the brisket for 3 hours and then finished up in a sous vide cooker. You could skip the sous vide and just go right into a slow cooker or roaster and receive similar results I would imagine? Here is the finished video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ7oCVt4SDo

[39Buick]

Mike from Smiths Alabama.
Joined the group looking to learn and share ideas. I recently purchased a smoker and some tools to start making my own sausages and snack sticks and anything else meat related that comes along!
Looking forward to chatting with the group!

[craigrice]

welcome to a good distraction during this current situation in the world !

[skibumben]

Welcome JDub and 39Buick. This is a great community with tons of excellent information and help. Best forum I’ve seen and been a part of.

[Redneck Vet]

Checking in from Cross, SC. Really want to take it “From Animal to Edible!”, but having trouble finding a butcher who will handle beef. (lots of deer & hog handlers though) Used to break 'em down to quarters as a kid in Virginia, but then the processor would finish the job. Hoping to find some tips, tricks, and or links to help me learn the trade!

[PapaSop]

Redneck Vet
You’ve come to the right place. Nice color’s btw.

[Redneck Vet]

Thank you sir! May I say I admire yours as well!

[Andrew]

Hi fellow enthusiasts I am from South Africa South of Johannesburg.
I recently found this new hobby/ interest and am amazed at the variety of product available in Usa.
In South Africa we have a very limited source of everything apart from spices but lack starter cultures, additives, reasonable equipment as everything is so deer
( expensive).
I would love to offer and run a branch of Waltons products from here to offer what is needed and wanted.
Keep safe during this testing time!!

Ciao Andrew

[bocephus]

Andrew Welcome aboard Andrew, I think you will find this a very informative site. The Walton’s group is very helpful at trying to solve any issues you may have. And by the way be sure to sign up for team Orange, the only true Walton’s color!

[ginsu14]

Hi Greg Hintz from Clay, MI. i’ve made homemade fresh sausage for years (my grand father taught me) and want to learn more about snack sticks, summer sausage.

[skibumben]

ginsu14 welcome to the party! Tons of experience in this room. Definitely watch their videos on making snack sticks. Great info.

[skane]

I am from SW Kansas, new to this blog and am getting familiar with this site, and goofed and put post on the Bragging Rights… Been smoking & cooking on Traeger & Webber Smokey Mountain for around 10 yrs, but new to to curing & sausage making. This past week I Cured a 10 lb Pork Butt with 8 oz. Dry Bacon Cure & 1 oz. Bacon Taste Booster for 7 days, just like in the bacon video. Smoked with Apple on Traeger to 155, and It turned out to be really good Buckboard Bacon. Can’t wait to make Brats with the Blue Ribbon Brat seasoning. Also Not sure how to upload a few pics I took. Not seeing an Icon to upload a picture.

[bocephus]

skane Make sure you sign up for team orange! Here from New Mexico

[YooperDog]

skane welcome to the site. You can post pics by selecting reply and then selecting the picture icon from the tool bar. Bacon is looking good.

[Jonathon]

skane Welcome! And to see all the tools/options on posting you need to hit the Reply button and not the “Post quick reply”

[HaroldR]

Hi
New to making my own sausage. From Mid Missouri and have made 2 small batches of sausage, First time used Grocery store ground pork and put together my own seasoning. Didn’t turn out too bad.Then I spent weeks reading and decided to take the plunge. Bought a Weston #12 Butcher Grinder and some Holly seasoning from Waltons. Had our first cooked patties this morning. Ta
sted good but the shrank more than I expected.

So I’m here to learn from the experts.

[Jonathon]

HaroldR What was the fat content of your meat block, how much water did you add and how were they cooked? When you said they shrank more than you expected, can you give us an estimate of how much they shrank?

[HaroldR]

Jonathon

Not sure the percent fat. The meat was a butt roast purchased from grocery store. The grind came out with a lot of white in it.

Used 1/8 cup water for one pound of grind

Put meat and water in kitchen aid mixer with paddle blade. Mixed in seasoning on low speed and then turned speed up to maybe 30% and mixed until meat started to get sticky. At that point used norpro mini burger press to make patties. Then froze.

Thawed patties in microwave 2 min at 50% power then cooked in non stick pan on electric burner maybe medium heat.

Shrinkage estimate maybe 20% in diameter and 10% in thickness. We do the same cooking process with rb rice sausage and get almost no shrinkage.

[Jonathon]

HaroldR When you do it next with ground meat that you grind yourself I’d be interested to see if you have the same issue. Your water is right at 1.5 pints per 25 lb batch which is good, a fresh sausage with no binder might not need that much but certainly, that amount is nothing that should cause an issue. I would suggest that when you do this again that you do everything else the same so you are only changing one variable at a time. Carrot fiber might be a good thing to add to prevent this, it is pretty inexpensive and holds up to 26 times its weight in water, so it will bind up water that is being cooked out once the meat reaches around 130°.

If you do it again please let us know the results!

[JerkyMan]

Coatsville IN here. Got bored during the crony shut down and decided to pick up a new hobby. Bought a Pit Boss vertical smoker from Lowes. Smoked my first Pork Shoulder with a rub recipe that I found on the net. It turned out fabulous after 8 hours in the smoker. I got hooked so i decided to make Srew on a Shingle (SOS) from another recipie that I found on the net. It was a three week process but it makes for a great breakfast. Now I’m on to making jerky. My wife is all in even after she saw what I’ve spent on equipment to make jerky, meat slicer, marinade, heat/vacuum sealer pouches for samples etc… I did agree to smoke a cow neck (brisket) for her. She said "I see you’re enjoying your new hobby but when are you going to smoke my cow neck "! Soon Sweat Heart!