Tips for making summer sausage please!

[Seth Boardman]

I have tried making summer sausage before with ground venison and pork fat. My ratios are all good and i just use a LEM summer sausage packet that comes with the curing salt so it makes it very easy. When I made it the first time the exterior of the sausage was a bit crusty and I don't know why. Also when I took it off after it reached temperature it was suggested to put it in an ice bath to prevent shrinking in the casing. However, even though I did this it still got wrinkly and not as appealing to the eye. Looking for some hints and tips please!

 

[Rich G]

Hey, Seth, I haven't made summer sausage yet, but it's on my list when I bust out the grinder and stuff next.... I have had pretty good luck with the formulations from Len Poli, and have my eye on doing THIS ONE.

Can you share more information on how you made your previous batch of summer sausage? Recipe? What temp did you cook it at? What kind of casings did you stuff into? I have found that LOW is better for any of my smoked sausage products. I aim for no higher than 180F, and try to start lower than that if I can. I've experimented with various snake setups with Kingsford in the WSM to make this happen, and it is doable. If you can keep it below 180F, then you will render MUCH less fat, and keep all of that goodness in your sausage.

While it is less appealing to the eye, a well made, wrinkly sausage will still taste great! Some things you can try to avoid the wrinkles......make sure you fill the casings well (of course, don't overfill!) ....and, the ice bath......make sure your bath is very cold, keep the sausages in there until then get down below 100F at least.

Share a bit more info on your previous attempt, and maybe those of us who have made a few links can help out!

R

 

[Seth Boardman]

Hey, Seth, I haven't made summer sausage yet, but it's on my list when I bust out the grinder and stuff next.... I have had pretty good luck with the formulations from Len Poli, and have my eye on doing THIS ONE.

Can you share more information on how you made your previous batch of summer sausage? Recipe? What temp did you cook it at? What kind of casings did you stuff into? I have found that LOW is better for any of my smoked sausage products. I aim for no higher than 180F, and try to start lower than that if I can. I've experimented with various snake setups with Kingsford in the WSM to make this happen, and it is doable. If you can keep it below 180F, then you will render MUCH less fat, and keep all of that goodness in your sausage.

While it is less appealing to the eye, a well made, wrinkly sausage will still taste great! Some things you can try to avoid the wrinkles......make sure you fill the casings well (of course, don't overfill!) ....and, the ice bath......make sure your bath is very cold, keep the sausages in there until then get down below 100F at least.

Share a bit more info on your previous attempt, and maybe those of us who have made a few links can help out!

R

It's been a year since I've made it so I'm just spitballing all my numbers. I tried following this video as closely as I could

I tried to keep it low and slowly raise the temperature by 5-10 degrees over the whole cook until it was completely cooked. However I had some run away temperatures and it would heat up too quickly and keep fluctuating. I have a feeling that now that I've been smoking for a little longer now I may have better luck managing my temperatures. I was thinking about using my electric smoker to try to slowly bump the temperature up. I know there is a lot of fluctuation with electric ones but it would be easier to just bump it up a few degrees. As far as recipe I used venison and pork fat and ground them up together. I used a LEM summer sausage packet that come with the curing salt and spices. I also used the red LEM summer sausage casings as well, I believer they were 3" casings. I don't think I kept the sausage in the ice bath very long maybe until they were cool enough to handle so I could put them in the fridge. That's about all the information I can think of off the top of my head. If you think of anything else just ask!

 

[Rich G]

@Seth Boardman , I've got a batch going now using Len Poli's "German Farmer" sausage formula as my recipe. It's the incubation phase right now (48 hr @ 80F), though the recipe doesn't call for anything like Fermento, so I guess it's just a natural ferment. Anyway, I'll smoke it up tomorrow and hopefully be able to report back on the results.

I think temp control is likely your issue. With a sausage that is thicker, like this one, keeping the temps low initially are really important for smoke addition, but also to make sure that you aren't drying the exterior out to fast which makes getting the interior where you want it. Then again, I'm making my first batch right now, so I could be wong!

Here's what it looked like going into my proofing box to sit at 80F:

 

[Seth Boardman]

The exterior of mine was dried out a bit so I'm guessing your right that my temp got too high to begin with. Do you have any suggestions for a starting and end temp and how often to bump it up till you get the internal temp to done? Also why am I not getting notifications for when people comment on my posts?

 

[Seth Boardman]

@Seth Boardman , I've got a batch going now using Len Poli's "German Farmer" sausage formula as my recipe. It's the incubation phase right now (48 hr @ 80F), though the recipe doesn't call for anything like Fermento, so I guess it's just a natural ferment. Anyway, I'll smoke it up tomorrow and hopefully be able to report back on the results.

I think temp control is likely your issue. With a sausage that is thicker, like this one, keeping the temps low initially are really important for smoke addition, but also to make sure that you aren't drying the exterior out to fast which makes getting the interior where you want it. Then again, I'm making my first batch right now, so I could be wong!

Here's what it looked like going into my proofing box to sit at 80F:

View attachment 16563

The exterior of mine was dried out a bit so I'm guessing your right that my temp got too high to begin with. Do you have any suggestions for a starting and end temp and how often to bump it up till you get the internal temp to done? Also why am I not getting notifications for when people comment on my posts?

 

[Rich G]

The exterior of mine was dried out a bit so I'm guessing your right that my temp got too high to begin with. Do you have any suggestions for a starting and end temp and how often to bump it up till you get the internal temp to done? Also why am I not getting notifications for when people comment on my posts?

I try to keep the temp under 170F when I am doing my "standard" size sausages, but will probably shoot for something under 150F for the first 2-4 hours with the summer sausage. After that, I would go 160-170 for a couple of hours, then 180-190 to finish to whatever temp is needed (the recipe I'm using says 160F.) Once they hit temp, I'll pull them off the grill, and get them in an ice bath to bring the temp down below 100F. From there it should be cool and slice. We'll see.....i've never done this recipe before, so I could be totally off!

R

PS: Notifications on your thread should be something you can set up in the profile section.....I haven't messed with that in a while, but I'm sure if you poke around, you'll find it.

 

[Seth Boardman]

I try to keep the temp under 170F when I am doing my "standard" size sausages, but will probably shoot for something under 150F for the first 2-4 hours with the summer sausage. After that, I would go 160-170 for a couple of hours, then 180-190 to finish to whatever temp is needed (the recipe I'm using says 160F.) Once they hit temp, I'll pull them off the grill, and get them in an ice bath to bring the temp down below 100F. From there it should be cool and slice. We'll see.....i've never done this recipe before, so I could be totally off!

R

PS: Notifications on your thread should be something you can set up in the profile section.....I haven't messed with that in a while, but I'm sure if you poke around, you'll find it.

Thanks Rich for the info! Keep me posted on how it turns out whenever you cook it. I'm hoping that my next summer sausage venture is more successful.

 

[Rich G]

@Seth Boardman, this turned out really well, especially for the first time making it! So, if I had to guess, temps are likely your issue. When I've done sausages previously in the WSM, I used the snake method, and I would do a row of two for 10-15 briqs, then a row of three for 10-15 briqs, finished with a 2x2 stack for 10-15 briqs. This seemed to pretty reliably step me up in heat level, usually with the vents pretty much closed down to make sure nothing ran away from me. This time, I used my pellet grill, so I had a little more control over the temp steps. I did 4 hours @ 125F, 2 hours @ 165F, then 2 hours @ 190F (in the oven) to get to 155F. Shocked in an ice bath to bring it under 95F as quickly as I could. Tasty stuff (that I now have 5 lbs of!!!)

 

[Seth Boardman]

@Seth Boardman, this turned out really well, especially for the first time making it! So, if I had to guess, temps are likely your issue. When I've done sausages previously in the WSM, I used the snake method, and I would do a row of two for 10-15 briqs, then a row of three for 10-15 briqs, finished with a 2x2 stack for 10-15 briqs. This seemed to pretty reliably step me up in heat level, usually with the vents pretty much closed down to make sure nothing ran away from me. This time, I used my pellet grill, so I had a little more control over the temp steps. I did 4 hours @ 125F, 2 hours @ 165F, then 2 hours @ 190F (in the oven) to get to 155F. Shocked in an ice bath to bring it under 95F as quickly as I could. Tasty stuff (that I now have 5 lbs of!!!)

View attachment 16657

That looks really good!!! Ive always wondered how people get it perfectly round without any wrinkles. It still tastes good just presentation is always a good thing.

 

[Rich G]

That looks really good!!! Ive always wondered how people get it perfectly round without any wrinkles. It still tastes good just presentation is always a good thing.

The casing (non-edible) did wrinkle on my a bit after I cooled it, but the sausage itself didn't wrinkle (and I peeled the casing off all five chubs I made, and will vac-pack and freeze like that.) I think that commercial summer sausage that my might get from Hickory Farms is actually in a casing that seems almost plastic to me, so they probably can't wrinkle.

Wrinkly means you can call it artisan!!

R