I recently added to my Cast-Iron portfolio (Wagner #5, #6, #8, and #9 griddle are “new”) so I decided to use some of them alongside the stone for tonight’s homemade bread sticks and pizza (homemade dough and sauce using up the rest of last year’s tomatoes).

Smoked some country ribs (shoulder cut) and made cast iron corn bread and fridge pickles from our first cucumber crop of the season.

Pounded out some pork loin nice and thin, dredged it in seasoned flour then panko, and fried it up. Even the picky kids couldn’t say no!

I had the hankering to do something meat related but I didn’t feel like hauling out all the equipment. So I thawed out 1 lb of (straight) venison and made up some restructured jerky with a jerky gun. I haven’t made that in many years, and certainly not since learning about protein extraction. Smoked it up on the Pit Boss. It came out pretty darned good. I’ve never had restructured jerky like this.

That’s quite the spread Tex_77!

Used Pa’s Black Bull (soluble) for the first time today. Injected a deer loin and roasted it. Also did a butcher tie on the roast, I’d never done that before. It was a lot easier than I figured it would be. My 10yo actually cooked it (and some sides). Trying to get her practiced up in the kitchen.

I ground, mixed up, and stuffed 25 lbs of Jerry’s Brat (50/50 venison and pork shoulder).

While I had the grinder and stuffer out, I did a little experiment. Again with a 50/50 mix of deer and pork shoulder, I made some sticks using the Sweet Maple Bacon snack stick seasoning and the 26mm cellulose casings. The first time I’ve used either of those things. The skinless aspect is interesting, I just wish they were available for the home producer (small pack size) in other diameters. The flavor is good, but not something I’d make frequently. I did enjoy one with breakfast though. Might make a good hunting breakfast.

Nothing fancy, just some venison/pork Jerry’s brats in collagen.

Homemade venison corned “beef”, taters and gravy, carrots, and asparagus. Though none of that green stuff for me (gross!)

Finally got a shot with my youngest “future Meatgistics member” sporting our gear. Maybe I should get his username reserved…

Thanks again Austin

Just finished processing 3 deer, much of which is now sausage (as will more become later on in the year). I mixed up 25 lbs of cured & smoked Polish along with 25 lbs of summer sausage. I used high temp cheddar in half of the summer. A bit of the summer “extras” got stuffed into 19mm sticks casings. It all came out amazing.

I’ve gotta give a big “thank you” to the Meatgistics community as well as Austin & Jon for all of the excellent information. Last year’s summer sausage was easily the worst I’ve ever made: crumbly, water-logged, wrinkly… I did everything wrong. After spending hours pouring over posts and videos here, I produced my best-ever sausages. It’s only been a couple days and a lot of it has disappeared already!

I harvested a wild turkey on Monday. I’ve had the breasts curing since then. I tied them up and smoked 'em up for dinner today. I’ve never cured turkey before… good stuff!

I, too, love wrapping my green vegetables in bacon. After cooking, I eat the bacon and discard the greens.

Kidding… I wouldn’t let that green stuff anywhere near my bacon!

That looks great Tex_77, a true classic

Fried up some morels as an appetizer. Used cracker crumbs and butter. Can’t be beat!

Then fixed up some pork chops on the pellet grill and sweet potatoes. Used the Mrs’s new polish pottery pieces to serve (I add a piece or two to the collection every Mother’s Day).

I know it’s no longer April, but here’s something I find helpful when putting stuff into the bags (like when packaging a bunch of ground meat): I use a wide-mouth canning funnel and put that in the mouth of the bag. Since it’s wide mouth, it’s easy to push the meat through. It keeps the opening of the bag clean and free of meat/juices. It’ll seal easier without going through and cleaning the top of each bag.

Double smoked ham for dinner, yum.

Oh, and I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast using my Grandma’s old recipe.

Venison kielbasa (using Walton’s ingredients of course), homemade pierogis, and pickled beets. Yum.

Got the wife a simple “dumpling press” as one of her Christmas gifts. Beats the heck out of pressing pierogis with a fork!

Yup, that blow back is why I decided to retire mine this year. I tried buying one of the plastic “gasket” discs from eBay but it didn’t really help. And it’s a bit tiring cleaning and oiling that heavy beast. Super cool though. Mine still has the original stuffing tube, fruit straining basket, and still has some original paint/trim.

cdavis said in What did everyone cook today?:

gChart man that looks like store bought. Great job. How was the bite on those.?

Thanks! There’s some good chew for sure. Jerky has a bit of flex to it. I used some old jalapeno seasoning that I had sitting around. I’ve read recommendations on adding Sure Gel to restructured jerky. I didn’t feel like dipping into the Sure Gel for just 1 lb of meat so I added 3 tbsp NFDM and a little water; mixed until I got protein extraction. Used Pit Boss pellet grill. Did 125° for 1 hour (cracked the lid open), then 145° for 2 hours, then 175° until 160° internal temp.

Rubbed up some skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs and cooked 'em hot and fast on the Pit Boss. It was hard to stop stuffing my face.

bocephus
Our pizza dough is pretty standard stuff. Mix, let rise, punch down, let rise again, and then form into crusts. We usually triple it.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/8 tsp yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp oil

And for the pizza sauce… here it is. The addition of fennel certainly gives it a distinctive taste. We typically use our homegrown tomatoes instead of canned.