Summer sausage
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Dave in AZ this year I only had two people get deer, my son was given a deer and a returning customer, he had 86 lbs of trim. Typically 4-5 people. These sausages are the last of his. I still have mine to do yet. And my son knows another guy that wants me to do his 12lbs of trim if he hasn’t done anything with it yet. I take all my venison and process it into snack sticks and summer sausage and sell to others that don’t hunt. I charge them for the seasoning and pork added since it’s not legal to sell venison. So really it’s not persay a “customer” since I don’t have a certified business, just people I know. I bet typically I’d be pushing 500lbs finished product a year
twilliams I notice you have a string attached to both ends of your tubes, do you flip during your processing?
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day
Teach a man to fish and he drinks beer for a lifetime -
twilliams I notice you have a string attached to both ends of your tubes, do you flip during your processing?
glen no, it’s just to tie off the one end, my hog rings are too big to seal them correctly. I just didn’t cut the tags.
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twilliams nice, thx! I was gonna say that looks like 2 deers worth for me! Like 95% of my summer sausage eating has been venison, almost never get one at store, so I’m never really sure how my expected flavor in summer sausage stacks up to a beef commercial product. We eat a lot at deer camp. But I bought a Johnsonville one last week, and it tastes pretty much the same to me.
Do you have another favorite use for ground venison, or would you say summer sausage is the “best use”? I tried some pork venison smoked brats, kinda a German brat/hunter sausage style, but didn’t have any caraway seed… I felt they were kind of blah, so trying to decide a better or best use for the deer!
ThxDave in AZ snack sticks and summer sausage is my go to just because I sell a portion of it. I eat the snack sticks far more than the summer sausage. Ground venison is another good one if you get the proper fat content in it. Typically for some kind of dish that needs ground meat. I like to take the hind rump roast and slice them thin. Then slow cook the slices in au jus, when ready I will make a homemade horsey sauce. Take an itailian loaf and cut in thirds, split the two halves melt butter in a pan and brown the face’s, add meat and top with horsey sauce. It’s so delicious. Could also add onion ,pepper and cheese kind of like a Philly cheesesteaks
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twilliams nice, thx! I was gonna say that looks like 2 deers worth for me! Like 95% of my summer sausage eating has been venison, almost never get one at store, so I’m never really sure how my expected flavor in summer sausage stacks up to a beef commercial product. We eat a lot at deer camp. But I bought a Johnsonville one last week, and it tastes pretty much the same to me.
Do you have another favorite use for ground venison, or would you say summer sausage is the “best use”? I tried some pork venison smoked brats, kinda a German brat/hunter sausage style, but didn’t have any caraway seed… I felt they were kind of blah, so trying to decide a better or best use for the deer!
ThxDave in AZ chili would be good for venison grind too. Our deer around here if a good shot is made and not much damage average is 45-50 lbs of boneless meat per deer. Obviously the older the more meat the younger the less. Then I’m adding pork and fat to it on top so the finished yield is pretty good
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twilliams nice, thx! I was gonna say that looks like 2 deers worth for me! Like 95% of my summer sausage eating has been venison, almost never get one at store, so I’m never really sure how my expected flavor in summer sausage stacks up to a beef commercial product. We eat a lot at deer camp. But I bought a Johnsonville one last week, and it tastes pretty much the same to me.
Do you have another favorite use for ground venison, or would you say summer sausage is the “best use”? I tried some pork venison smoked brats, kinda a German brat/hunter sausage style, but didn’t have any caraway seed… I felt they were kind of blah, so trying to decide a better or best use for the deer!
ThxDave in AZ up above I made a mistake and said he had 86 lbs of trim, it was 68 lbs not 86. With pork and pork fat he is ending up with 100 lbs even.
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Dave in AZ snack sticks and summer sausage is my go to just because I sell a portion of it. I eat the snack sticks far more than the summer sausage. Ground venison is another good one if you get the proper fat content in it. Typically for some kind of dish that needs ground meat. I like to take the hind rump roast and slice them thin. Then slow cook the slices in au jus, when ready I will make a homemade horsey sauce. Take an itailian loaf and cut in thirds, split the two halves melt butter in a pan and brown the face’s, add meat and top with horsey sauce. It’s so delicious. Could also add onion ,pepper and cheese kind of like a Philly cheesesteaks
twilliams thx, great idea on the roast for that sandwich! I do use a lot of ground in stew, chili, meat balls. I loved it at 40% in snack sticks. Guess I will stick with those and summer sausage for now
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I am in the making of summer unit #107 no MSG, I know I should follow directions but it says to use
5.625 lbs seasoning
4oz sure cure
5 lbs cold water
All for a 100lb batchThat breaks down to for a 25lb batch
637.864 grams seasoning
1 oz sure cure
566.99 ml of cold waterThe water amount has me second guessing myself. I usually put in between 1600-1800ml of water. That is 1 1/2- 2 quarts for a 25lb batch. Which is what we have been instructed in doing before. Why would this seasoning be so much lower?
twilliams My liquid limit is 10%, but not because of any pros or cons just simply that is what the typical USDA limit is on commercial producers for what ever that is worth.
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twilliams They look fantastic whatever you did.
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glen no, it’s just to tie off the one end, my hog rings are too big to seal them correctly. I just didn’t cut the tags.
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Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
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Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
Dave in AZ said in Summer sausage:
Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
Yes to both. Be advised though, the 3/8 ring works well for SS. The 1/2 ring not so much. You would have to double over the end.
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Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
Dave in AZ said in Summer sausage:
Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
I think hog rings also allow a tighter stuff than tying with string as well, particularly if you are working alone.
Paul
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Dave in AZ said in Summer sausage:
Question… do hog rings work much better than just tying the end with string? What is their advantage, speed?
I think hog rings also allow a tighter stuff than tying with string as well, particularly if you are working alone.
processhead I agree on working alone, disagree when working with a partner. But like I said my hog rings don’t get tight, I need to look at the size to see if I am using the wrong ones, however there was only one size to choose from when I bought the pliers. Didn’t know there were different sizes available
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processhead I agree on working alone, disagree when working with a partner. But like I said my hog rings don’t get tight, I need to look at the size to see if I am using the wrong ones, however there was only one size to choose from when I bought the pliers. Didn’t know there were different sizes available
twilliams said in Summer sausage:
processhead I agree on working alone, disagree when working with a partner. But like I said my hog rings don’t get tight, I need to look at the size to see if I am using the wrong ones, however there was only one size to choose from when I bought the pliers. Didn’t know there were different sizes available
What PapaSop said earlier was correct.
The small 3/8 inch hog rings get a good grip on summer sausage casings and meat bags. The large 1/2 inch ones are only good for ham-stockinettes and other bulky casings.
I haven’t had much success in getting the large ones to overlap for a tighter grip.
Not sure why Walton’s is not stocking the 3/8 inch ones. Jonathon ?
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twilliams I have never used the old school pliers, only the auto-style and have never had an issue closing off a casing with those styles. We used to have a 3/8 in all of our processing videos https://youtu.be/dTv_Cg5feNw?t=334 for the older style and https://youtu.be/PYd-A3hfU14?t=150 sorry, i was looking for one where we got a close up shot of the newer ones but don’t seem to have it. These are all 1/2" and they seem to work fine for me. Now, if people want them we are willing to try to get the 3/8" though? Is it something that people would want?
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twilliams I have never used the old school pliers, only the auto-style and have never had an issue closing off a casing with those styles. We used to have a 3/8 in all of our processing videos https://youtu.be/dTv_Cg5feNw?t=334 for the older style and https://youtu.be/PYd-A3hfU14?t=150 sorry, i was looking for one where we got a close up shot of the newer ones but don’t seem to have it. These are all 1/2" and they seem to work fine for me. Now, if people want them we are willing to try to get the 3/8" though? Is it something that people would want?
Jonathon said in Summer sausage:
twilliams I have never used the old school pliers, only the auto-style and have never had an issue closing off a casing with those styles. We used to have a 3/8 in all of our processing videos https://youtu.be/dTv_Cg5feNw?t=334 for the older style and https://youtu.be/PYd-A3hfU14?t=150 sorry, i was looking for one where we got a close up shot of the newer ones but don’t seem to have it. These are all 1/2" and they seem to work fine for me. Now, if people want them we are willing to try to get the 3/8" though? Is it something that people would want?
I would describe my hog ring pliers, which I pictured earlier, as the old school variety. As I mentioned, they work well with 3/8 inch rings on summer sausage casings. I suspect this basic design doesn’t have enough leverage for them to work well with the 1/2 inch rings on the casings we are discussing.
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twilliams I have never used the old school pliers, only the auto-style and have never had an issue closing off a casing with those styles. We used to have a 3/8 in all of our processing videos https://youtu.be/dTv_Cg5feNw?t=334 for the older style and https://youtu.be/PYd-A3hfU14?t=150 sorry, i was looking for one where we got a close up shot of the newer ones but don’t seem to have it. These are all 1/2" and they seem to work fine for me. Now, if people want them we are willing to try to get the 3/8" though? Is it something that people would want?
Jonathon
I’ve tried the 1/2in auto feed with the Walton’s one. Just doesn’t seal with the standard fibrous SS casings. The 3/8 work fine but can no longer find these.From what I could tell from those videos you were using the 3/8.
Side note. My original auto feed was an LEM that used 3/8 rings. Went to Scheels after the Walton’s 1/2 in didn’t work to get the 3/8 for the LEM, didn’t have them, all 1/2 in. What???
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Jonathon said in Summer sausage:
twilliams I have never used the old school pliers, only the auto-style and have never had an issue closing off a casing with those styles. We used to have a 3/8 in all of our processing videos https://youtu.be/dTv_Cg5feNw?t=334 for the older style and https://youtu.be/PYd-A3hfU14?t=150 sorry, i was looking for one where we got a close up shot of the newer ones but don’t seem to have it. These are all 1/2" and they seem to work fine for me. Now, if people want them we are willing to try to get the 3/8" though? Is it something that people would want?
I would describe my hog ring pliers, which I pictured earlier, as the old school variety. As I mentioned, they work well with 3/8 inch rings on summer sausage casings. I suspect this basic design doesn’t have enough leverage for them to work well with the 1/2 inch rings on the casings we are discussing.
processhead
I also have the hand held 3/8 single use one. The whole idea of the auto speed was to , obviously, speed things up. -
processhead
I also have the hand held 3/8 single use one. The whole idea of the auto speed was to , obviously, speed things up.PapaSop said in Summer sausage:
processhead
I also have the hand held 3/8 single use one. The whole idea of the auto speed was to , obviously, speed things up.To be honest, I have never had to clip more than maybe a dozen casings. Speed, or a lack of it, was never an issue with my plain jane pliers.
If I was a commercial operator, I might be looking for a faster clipping solution.
Paul
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PapaSop said in Summer sausage:
processhead
I also have the hand held 3/8 single use one. The whole idea of the auto speed was to , obviously, speed things up.To be honest, I have never had to clip more than maybe a dozen casings. Speed, or a lack of it, was never an issue with my plain jane pliers.
If I was a commercial operator, I might be looking for a faster clipping solution.
processhead said in Summer sausage:
PapaSop said in Summer sausage:
processhead
I also have the hand held 3/8 single use one. The whole idea of the auto speed was to , obviously, speed things up.To be honest, I have never had to clip more than maybe a dozen casings. Speed, or a lack of it, was never an issue with my plain jane pliers.
If I was a commercial operator, I might be looking for a faster clipping solution.
I agree. The whole idea is to not have insert another ring into a hand held while sealing. Extra step.
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