Meat

92xj

Eight Pointer
I finally got the smokehouse set up at the new house and needed to finish processing some deer meat in the freezer.
With this years ground part of my elk I made Italian sausage, breakfast sausage and straight grind for burgers, tacos, etc.
So, I need a little cased sausage in my life and decided on Kielbasa and hotdogs out of deer. And then I still had a little grind left over and wanted to experiment with imitation bacon seasoning, so I made that as well. I have never ventured into the true frankfurter hotdog world until this weekend. I am amazed by the product, it taste like a freaking hotdog. Kielbasa always turns out good. The imitation bacon turned out incredibly good as well. I wouldn't put it in the same class as normal bacon. It's a really good breakfast type meat that I feel is the taste of bacon, ham and summer sausage in one. Sliced and eaten cold is amazing, sliced and heated/crisped in a skillet is amazing. All around really dang good and highly recommend.
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lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
That is some pretty work and looks like outstanding product. If you are in need of a second opinion I will gladly PM you my address in case you wanted to send some this way for an unbiased testimonial.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
I am sooooooo jealous right now! I need to up my game. Roasts, steaks, stew, burger, and sausage are all dang good, don't get me wrong. We love it and eat a ton of it....but that stuff you made looks amazing! That's on a whole 'nother level. I think you've inspired me.
 

92xj

Eight Pointer
I have received more than a few PMs about recipes and cooking process and storage of my processed meat.
As far as spices go, it’s hard to beat preblended stuff found online. I’d highly recommend looking and buying from Walton’s Inc and sausage maker supplies. They have tons of different mixes to buy as well as all your needed supplies. When you deal in large bulk you can’t beat, for the price, the blends being produced and delivered to your door in a few days.

As for the folks that are writing me asking how my product looks so perfect, and why is theirs full of holes and crumbly, that’s all in the cooking process. Well, maybe under 5% is in the stuffing process. When you load your stuffer, load it in small, hand size chunks and press all air pockets out of the meat, once in the stuffer, before stuffing the casing.
Now, the other 95% of it comes in the cooking process. Never, and I mean never, let your smoker or cooker get over 180 degrees, period. Fat begins the rendering process around 140 degrees but takes an incredibly long time at that temperature. Over 180 degrees’ fat renders a lot faster than your meat will be cooked and you will lose all your fat out of your meat creating holes and losing your binding. You will have drips in the bottom of your smoker. If you look at the bottom of my smoker on the foil, you will not see a single drip, this is because I stay low in temperature. Cooking these types of meat; Kielbasa, imitation bacon, summer sausage, etc take a long time, be patient. I smoked the kielbasa for around 10 hours. When I do summer sausage it takes around 14 hours. Do not rush it, you will get a grumbly product and be disappointed. You can choice to not listen to this advice and learn by mistake, which I have done, and get a crap product or just take the advice. Every time I post pictures of this, I get the same questions, I tell the same answer and then people question my answer. Do what you want.
I start my smoker around 125 degrees for an hour, then 140 for 2 hours. After that, I bump the temp up 10 degrees every hour until I am riding around 176-179 degrees. Once there, I leave it and wait for the internal temp of the meat to hit 152 degrees. At 152, everything comes out and they go into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Pull out, dry off, sliced to whatever serving/freezing size you want and then I vacuum seal. I seal all mine in serving sizes enough for two folks.
As far as hanging meat, the Kielbasa’s were rolled and flat this time around because I used fresh casings. If I use the smoked/mahogany collagen casing or fibrous casings, they all hang. Fresh collagen (white) or hog casings, they do not hang as they are not strong enough and will break.
Below is a picture of how I packaged the kielbasa. When I want to eat some, I throw the package into my sink with some water in it, it will thaw in about 20 minutes, I will then eat as is, slice and cook in a skillet, or grill, however you chose will work. The meat is already cooked and safe to eat.
The 2nd and 3rd picture are from my last batch of summer sausage. You can see no drips on the casings and also no holes or crumbles in the final sliced product on the counter top. The summer sausage in front is loaded with cheese and the stuff at the back right is actually a deli type salami.
Hopefully this helps and answers all the PMs in one place. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask me, I will help and give advice. Just don’t tell me I do something wrong. I don’t care about your opinion on how you do it.

And, since I forgot in the above wall of text. This mix was 70% deer 30% of the leanest pork shoulder I could find which was well under 50/50, I'm thinking closer to 60/40. So, my product is around 12% fat at the max yet still very moist but does not coat your mouth in that grease feeling, which I hate.
Hopefully this helps, if not, please ask me, I will really try and help.
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Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
i tried summer sausage last year and did really good with it. i'm almost scared to try again because it was probably beginners luck.

I'll probably do some this year and would like to add some cheese. did you use small chunks of cheese mixed in with the meat prior to stuffing?
 

92xj

Eight Pointer
i tried summer sausage last year and did really good with it. i'm almost scared to try again because it was probably beginners luck.

I'll probably do some this year and would like to add some cheese. did you use small chunks of cheese mixed in with the meat prior to stuffing?

Yeah,
I use high temp cheese from Walton's.

Grind meat, mix in spice, grind a second time, then add the cheese and fold into meat completely then stuff, rest for a night, hang and smoke.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Is that a homemade rub or store bought? Also curious what temp you ran your smoker/IT when you pulled it?


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It is my rub.
There is more info on whats in it on another thread about cooking.
I hot smoke mine in a webber kettle. Just your normal BBQ grill.
Build heat and get charcoal hot then add oak chunks around the outside and drop maple flakes on the charcoal. When it starts to flame up I close the vents about 90% just enough air to hold a good smoke and keep heat lower. Meat is added around the outside no direct heat. Drippings land on oak chunks. Temp is hard to work, I start about 300 to 350 and it falls off fast with a load of smoke, whe. It drops add more maple and it will fire up with air then put the lid on and cycle it.
Bigger chunks can go 3 to 5 hrs, this was a backstrap and went about 1 to 1.5 hrs. It is all by feel. Most look just like this but yep I screw up and it gets cooked more with little to no red. I cut that and chop for BBQ and sauce it lightly for sandwiches.

Hope it helps.
 

WNCTracker

Eight Pointer
Love this time of the year. Fresh deer meat.
Smoked some more Sunday and been eating on it a few days.
This was backstrap. Have not had time to do sausage yet.View attachment 22459

Is that a homemade rub or store bought? Also curious what temp you ran your smoker/IT when you pulled it?


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I do 200 deg and pull IT 125. It’s perfect. Last one instead of a rub I marinated in soy, sesame, coriander, brown sugar, rice vinegar, chopped jalapeño and garlic.


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