That was awesome, thanks!

I dug the pink salt package out of the trash and it was only 11.34 grams, so it was only .4 oz which sounds correct. I had assumed it was a 1oz package.

I’ll watch the video and incorporate those instructions into my next batch.

I do this every year. Takes half the time to cook and it literally flies off the plate. There are rarely leftovers, but when there are, slices freeze great if vac sealed and make great, easy dinners.

I don’t use netting. I truss it up with butcher’s twine. I also make sure not to nick the skin or have any pieces that are separate. I always start at the breast of the bird. I get the carcass pretty clean, but what I don’t get off the bone goes into the stock pot. I don’t bone out the last two joints of the wing either. Those I just throw in the roasting pan and snack on them when they are done early. Here is a great video of the process link text. He has some great butchering videos.

I also brine all my birds and either use an herbed butter or full blown stuffing inside when I roll it up.

Jonathon Thanks! I’ve got 8 hogs to butcher this month and a freezer to clean out before hand so I’m grinding and stuffing as fast as I can right now!

So I have a few questions about the product quality. I have a lot of experience making fresh sausages and doing traditional cured sausages. I have an ancient #12 Hobart that is probably 1hp. I’ve always used it as my stuffer too.

I used another brands spice mix that I had on hand for a 10 pound batch. I boned out one of my own pork shoulders and added no additional fat. I ground it in a single pass through a 4.5mm plate. I added the spice mix, 1oz pink salt and 2oz of encapsulated citric acid then mixed in two batches in a KitchenAid for 4 minutes or so, adding the citric acid in at the end. I tried to stuff using a 3/8" tube with my grinder (with no knife and a stuffing plate) and it just made pink mush. I ran out and bought a 10# vertical stuffer and stuffed the rest.
I hung it in my Masterbuilt smoker and followed the directions on my spice mix; 1 hr at 110, 1hr at 130, 1hr at 150 (with water in the pan), then at 170 until it hit 160 internal. It plateaued at 145 for hours. Took it about 8 hours to hit 160. Used no smoke.

So the stuff that mashed into pink paste was super dry and had grainy consistency. The vertically stuffed batch had great consistency but was a little dry. I figure my shoulder was about 80/20. I think I over dried the product, even though it never reached 160. The casings are a little wrinkled. Some of my casing from the properly stuffed batch are partially filled with a jelly like substance.

My questions are: Why are they dry? Too little fat or too long in the smoker? If too long in the smoker, what do you do when your product plateaus for so long? Finally, what is that jelly like substance in some of the links?

I do know that I will be buying a proper meat mixer. The KitchenAid sucks for meat.

I’ve been raising and butchering my own hogs for about 4 years now. I’ve been getting more and more serious about creating cured products recently. Hopefully I can learn a few things here.