Summer Sausage 101

[Homebrewale]

I think it would be nice to have a thread where we can share tips on making summer sausage and other sausages. I'll kick it off.

Somehow while playing around on the internet, I found the Walton's website. This company sells sausage mixes, additives and equipment for meat processing.
https://www.waltonsinc.com/

On part of their website, they have several sections where you can learn about meat processing. They have the Meatgistics University, Walton's Community and Walton's Learning Center.
https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/

 

[Homebrewale]

One of the first things I learned on Walton's was the use of meat binders in summer sausage. My summer sausages were losing quite a bit of water while smoking. Carrot fiber can absorb up to 26 times it's weight in water. I ordered some and have used it in two batches so far. The results are that the sausage does retain more water while being smoked. So far it is a hit among my taste testers.
https://www.waltonsinc.com/carrot-fiber-binder

 

[darenative]

Had that problem with every batch of snack sticks and summer sausage i've smoked. Never heard of meat binder before

 

[ncbowhunter41]

Soy protein from The Sausage Maker is what I use. Also, powdered milk works for a binder.

 

[georgeeebuck]

I love making ,smoking and eating good summer sausage .