Tubes o' meat! (Summer Sausage)


 
Rich G

Rich G

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I know, I know, it's not even summer! :)

I haven't made any sausage in, I don't know how long! I did, however, have a few packages of ground pork and beef in the freezer that were nearing their "need to use" date. So, yesterday I thawed out about 5 lbs of ground brisket and shoulder (probably 2lbs brisket and 3lbs pork), then mixed 'em up with this stuff (listed as percentages of the total meat weight):

1.53% Salt
.31% Pepper
.29% Mustard seed
.28% Cure #1
.20% Marjoram
.17% Paprika
.15% Mace
.12% Garlic powder
.09% Carraway
.04% Juniper berries, ground
8% Ice Cold Water

Since this batch wasn't going to be fermented, I left out the dextrose/sugar. Mixed up the spices in the water, then hand mixed all of this into my ground meat until I could no longer feel my fingers (this is how you know that you mixed everything well, AND that your meat is cold enough!) :) The spiced meat then went into a gallon zip lock (funny how 5 lbs fits PERFECTLY in a gallon zip lock) and rested overnight in the fridge.

This morning, I set up my faithful Enterprise stuffer:

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....and not too many minutes later, I had five nice chubs of sausage ready to relax a bit before hitting the smoker:

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My stuffer leaves precisely 8 oz of meat in the bottom, which, strangely enough, is the correct amount for four, 2oz sausage patties! :)

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I only cooked two.....save the other two for my kids when they get up. I'll hang the chubs in my pellet smoker at about 160F or so to get smoke for about six hours. Then I'll poach them in a water bath to get up to 152F. Dunk in an ice bath to cool them down, let them rest in the fridge a few days, then enjoy.

I'll post up some more pics later, but right now I need to fire up the grill, then head off to my tee time! ;)

Rich
 
Ok, I finally got a finished pic. Summer sausage turned out great, though I do miss the tang of the fermented version......I'll either ferment the next batch, or will add some Fermento. Either way, very tasty stuff, and easy to make!

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Those look great! Well done. Have you ever used encapsulated citric acid? I have used it in snack sticks and it gives you the tang you're looking for and also you can go right into smoker after stuffing and not hold overnight. Either way, your summer sausages look great! Thanks for sharing.
 
CLasko said:
Those look great! Well done. Have you ever used encapsulated citric acid? I have used it in snack sticks and it gives you the tang you're looking for and also you can go right into smoker after stuffing and not hold overnight. Either way, your summer sausages look great! Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, Chris, they were good. I haven't used Fermento or ECA, though they are two products that use different ingredients to arrive a the same/similar result (tang with no fermentation.) I may actually use ECA if I don't ferment since it's non-dairy. FWIW, these were in the smoker about 2 hours after I stuffed them. I do like to let the cure #1 work overnight most of the time before I smoke my sausages, so I did that in bulk form prior to stuffing (which can also have the effect of making the mince a bit stiffer and harder to stuff.

I'm down to just one chub left, so I'm calculating my next sausage adventure. Pretty sure I'll do a 15 lb day resulting in some bulk (breakfast, Italian) and some links (brats, Polska wedlona, and bologna.)

Rich
 
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