The last time I split a beef purchase with a friend we ended up with a beef shank.
Looking for some cooking ideas, never tackled one of these before.
Any advice would be appreciated. Happy 4th!

Joe I add culture to create a consistent flavor profile in my summer sausage, I am not trying to create a shelf stable sausage.
I used to struggle with some batches having the perfect tang and some batches almost flavorless, introducing culture to the meat mix has made all the difference in consistent flavor. You are still using a cure along with your spices and then adding the culture to the meat mix. After fermentation, cooking, smoking and hanging (4 to 7 days) I still vac seal, refrigerate and/or freeze when all done.
If your goal is to make a product that does not require refrigeration, I have never tried it, nor do I understand the required process.
I do not want my wife cashing in the life insurance either!

I just use simple pH paper. You will have to cut a small opening into a sausage to do this. But you will find that various cultures will take a predictable amount of time to do their job, as long as you provide the optimal temperature. For example, my experience using chr Hansen LHP culture with 100 grams of dextrose in a 25 lb. batch will take about 20 hours to hit a pH of 4.4

I ferment summer sausage using a culture.
You do have to hold the meat at an optimal temperature according to the culture you are using and track the pH drop.
When the proper pH is obtained I increase the temperature until the finished temperature is obtained. Shower with cold water and then smoke.
Since I prefer a semi-dry sausage, smoking at the end of the process works well for me.

Yes, the pork to fat ratio is listed as the percentage of pork in the blend, these are the pork cuts my meat source offers.
I made a few batches of brats using all 72% that grilled up a little dry, so I started to add a little more fat to the mix by using some 50%.
This is however only used as a guide because even these percentages will vary, neither 72% or 50% is exact so I have also learned to adjust the blend according to look and feel.
Which brings us to a whole other discussion about testing for fat content. Maybe Jonathon or Joe Hell know of a better method that would offer more consistent results. Because when it comes to brats to lean can be dry and flavorless, to much fat makes grilling a challenge.

Several years ago a good friend shared this Sheboygan Brat recipe with me and since we have made over 500 lbs., enjoyed by family and friends. We started with a 15 lb. batch the first time and now we make 30 lb. batches…twice a year.
So if you enjoy putting ingredients together, these brats will rival the best brat you have ever had!

For accuracy I use a gram scale for ingredients.

30 Lb. SHEBOYGAN BRAT RECIPE:
25 lbs. 72% Pork
5 lbs. 50% Pork
Grind with either 4.5mm or 6mm plate, your choice.
INGREDIENTS
2.6 grams CORIANDER
8.5 grams GROUND GINGER
8.5 grams GROUND MACE
1.8 grams RUBBED MARJORAM
8.5 grams GROUND NUTMEG
17 grams GROUND BLACK PEPPER
34 grams GROUND WHITE PEPPER
238 grams SALT
378 grams SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE
136 grams RAW SUGAR
76 grams YELLOW ONION CHOPPED (about 1.25 onion)
70 grams CHOPPED FRESH CHIVES (about 2 cups)
70 grams LEMON JUICE
300 grams ICE COLD WATER
Stuff into WALTON’S 32-35mm NATURAL TUBED HOG CASINGS.

I have made two homemade smokers. My first was propane, I liked the fast warm up time, disliked that a strong draft (on any windy day) would blow out my pilot light. With the experience of that smoker, I built my second smoker and used electric. Slower warm-up, but much more reliable with confidence that the temperature is accurate. I will be the first to admit that the issues with my first smoker was probably more design than anything else, but my experience is that electric is simply more reliable.

I should mention that this finishes as a courser grind, but that is what our gang prefers.

I make mostly venison summer sausage and snack sticks. It sounds like my partially frozen meat (cubed when we bone it out) going through the grinder is very similar to yours. I grind it with a 4.5mm plate just one time making sure the knife is sharp and get good texture with particle definition.

I had this happen once, I attributed it to using some collagen casings that were almost a year old.

Now if you slice it “potato chip thin” that is a preferred taste by many!

I use a blend of pork, 6 lbs. of 80/20 and 3 lbs. of 50/50 with 16 lbs. of lean venison.

I use a home built steamer to ferment and cook, it works great.
Its nothing more then a 50 gallon water tank with an Emerson water heating element at the bottom. The lid opening on top matches the inside dimension of my smoker. With 4" to 5" of water to cover the element at the bottom and the sausage hanging above I have perfect conditions with temperature control.

I’ve only used LHP for making Summer Sausage. Which I hang in a homemade steam chamber to hold the perfect temperature until I get the pH drop I’m looking for, after smoking you can let it hang if you have the perfect conditions, I prefer to wrap a stick with paper towel and leave it in the refrigerator until the desired dryness is achieved.

Thank you bhaataja, I would have guessed closer to 6 or 7 so I’m glad I asked!

I am working with a old family recipe that’s called Breakfast Liver Sausage.
The recipe starts with 4 pig heads that need to be cooked down and trimmed out.
I would prefer to substitute pork picnics but I’m not sure how many pounds is equal to trim from 4 heads. Any advise from the Walton’s community would be appreciated.

If you have been making sausage I think the frustration of inconsistent product haunts us all. Over the years I’ve found three variables that I pay close attention too.
I convert all recipes to grams and use a digital scale. This is especially important if you work with cultures.
It’s easier to “tweak” recipes when you keep the input meat weight consistent from batch to batch and adjust percentages of ingredients to your likening.
I have found the percentage of fat in the mix is probably the biggest obstacle for consistent finished product. For example if you are making 25 lbs. of venison summer sausage and you follow a recipe that calls for 7 lbs. of pork and 18 lbs. of venison what is the percentage of fat in the 7 lbs. of pork? If you just grind up a couple of pork butts what percentage of fat have you actually blended into your mix? I have found that being aware of this percentage is as important as anything for achieving consistent results.

I do snack sticks with a similar method.
First I wouldn’t say that I “over water”, I think your goal is just enough water that works for your stuffing process.
First I smoke sticks for 3 hours at 120 degrees.
Now I move them to my oven that has a dehydration mode. Set at 150 degrees I run until sticks are close to the preferred dryness, then I turn it up to 180 until I hit 160 internal. The total oven/dehydration time is usually 2.5 to 3 hours. I hope this helps.

I recently made 25 lbs. of H and 25 lbs. of W. I was also using carrot fiber for the first time. After receiving advice about carrot fiber from the Walton’s Community and knowing my goal is a semi-dry sausage I was confident to experiment a little. The H was mixed with 48 0z. of water and 4 oz. of carrot fiber. The W was mixed with 36 oz. of water and 3 oz. of carrot fiber. I do not notice a significant difference between the two, both have a good bind and great texture. Hope this helps.