Processing order????
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Yeah, that’s a shame. Still wondering if dry thermal processing would have helped with the excess moisture vs. in the sous vide?
If you had to add that much moisture to keep from over-loading the chopper, your emulsion might not have been able to bind up all the extra water.Maybe next time try a mix with less water and split the batch in two separate runs through the chopper.
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Yeah I’m wondering if maybe 2-3lbs each run would be better and at that point, is it even worth having the chopper…? For what they cost…or are there emulsifiers that would work better?
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Well, results are OK at best. The bambi bologna came out spongy not firm. Very moist and squishy. Flavor is spot on but the texture is troublesome. What I learned using the buffalo chopper is that 5lb is too much meat per batch. You need to add too much water to keep the motors thermal overload switch from tripping. With 4 lbs meat and 2.5c water, the mix is too soupy. Need to fine tune my process with the hobart and should be fine. I used suregel and it definitly did its job. Retained way too much water. Bologna should be firm and rubbery, not wet and spongy. I packaged everything in vac bags after an air dry. I may try to throw a single log in the sous vide for a few hours to see if it tightens it up.
smokinbubba said in Processing order???:
With 4 lbs meat and 2.5c water, the mix is too soupy.
Wow. There’s your problem, alright. Looking back, you also added 2 cups of ice for each run, too. That’s a highly excessive amount of water to add to that much meat–more water than meat, even. You pretty much want to keep your water to no more than 1 cup per 5 pounds of meat. That’s the way Kutas does it, and that man knows a thing or two about sausage.
Besides adding water, all that ice also adds a lot of strain on your chopper. Try just adding ice cold water and no ice. I’d like to think you could get by with far less water and, hopefully, no more than that the 1 cup per 5 pounds. Otherwise, you might want to get your chopper looked at.
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Yeah, that’s a shame. Still wondering if dry thermal processing would have helped with the excess moisture vs. in the sous vide?
If you had to add that much moisture to keep from over-loading the chopper, your emulsion might not have been able to bind up all the extra water.Maybe next time try a mix with less water and split the batch in two separate runs through the chopper.
processhead that’s exactly what I plan to do. Maybe cut the sure gel some too. It a learning curve.
40lbs of fried bologna is a lot… -
smokinbubba said in Processing order???:
With 4 lbs meat and 2.5c water, the mix is too soupy.
Wow. There’s your problem, alright. Looking back, you also added 2 cups of ice for each run, too. That’s a highly excessive amount of water to add to that much meat–more water than meat, even. You pretty much want to keep your water to no more than 1 cup per 5 pounds of meat. That’s the way Kutas does it, and that man knows a thing or two about sausage.
Besides adding water, all that ice also adds a lot of strain on your chopper. Try just adding ice cold water and no ice. I’d like to think you could get by with far less water and, hopefully, no more than that the 1 cup per 5 pounds. Otherwise, you might want to get your chopper looked at.
TexLaw yep, knew there was too much water when I went to stuff it. Too late at that point. Live and learn I guess. Hope I can salvage it. If not I see lots of fried bologna in my future!
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smokinbubba if the flavor is good, it’ll be enjoyable atleast!
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smokinbubba if the flavor is good, it’ll be enjoyable atleast!

After chilled, I think it will be ok -

After chilled, I think it will be oksmokinbubba it looks good enough to eat to me. Enjoy

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Well, results are OK at best. The bambi bologna came out spongy not firm. Very moist and squishy. Flavor is spot on but the texture is troublesome. What I learned using the buffalo chopper is that 5lb is too much meat per batch. You need to add too much water to keep the motors thermal overload switch from tripping. With 4 lbs meat and 2.5c water, the mix is too soupy. Need to fine tune my process with the hobart and should be fine. I used suregel and it definitly did its job. Retained way too much water. Bologna should be firm and rubbery, not wet and spongy. I packaged everything in vac bags after an air dry. I may try to throw a single log in the sous vide for a few hours to see if it tightens it up.
smokinbubba said in Processing order???:
I used suregel and it definitly did its job. Retained way too much water.
I’ve been thinking about this, too. Sure Gel shouldn’t be a problem, but I also don’t know how much you used. I use 6.8 g/lb of meat in my both my Summer and smoked sausages, and that works very well–excellent texture (even when I experimented and cooked a couple of raw links from the a recent “smoked” sausage batch by sous vide).
I believe that 6.8 g/lb meat is at the maximum recommended.
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Well, results are OK at best. The bambi bologna came out spongy not firm. Very moist and squishy. Flavor is spot on but the texture is troublesome. What I learned using the buffalo chopper is that 5lb is too much meat per batch. You need to add too much water to keep the motors thermal overload switch from tripping. With 4 lbs meat and 2.5c water, the mix is too soupy. Need to fine tune my process with the hobart and should be fine. I used suregel and it definitly did its job. Retained way too much water. Bologna should be firm and rubbery, not wet and spongy. I packaged everything in vac bags after an air dry. I may try to throw a single log in the sous vide for a few hours to see if it tightens it up.
smokinbubba you can always bbq on the grill with your favorite sauce, it will help dry it a bit while providing a tasty meal

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smokinbubba said in Processing order???:
I used suregel and it definitly did its job. Retained way too much water.
I’ve been thinking about this, too. Sure Gel shouldn’t be a problem, but I also don’t know how much you used. I use 6.8 g/lb of meat in my both my Summer and smoked sausages, and that works very well–excellent texture (even when I experimented and cooked a couple of raw links from the a recent “smoked” sausage batch by sous vide).
I believe that 6.8 g/lb meat is at the maximum recommended.
TexLaw I used 6.7g per lb. Per the conversion chart.
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