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- Frequent User
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- Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 14:25
- Location: Blaine, MN
Introducing "two_MN_kids"; Jean and Jim.
Greetings all,
I have been following this forum for about five months, too timid to chime in until now! I retired last month as a Toolmaker for a plastic injection manufacturer. They produce tableware for parties and caterers. They are AIB Certified, and therefore, I received some very beneficial training for this hobby.
We have tried some great recipes, and already learned many new techniques, such as freezing the meat before grinding. We are particularly fond of Devo`s "Kielbasa My Way" recipe.
Jean and I have been making sausages for over twenty years. We started because of the expense with processing venison. Having sausages made by a butcher doubled or even tripled the cost of deer processing. My brother owned a Kitchen Aid Mixer; we bought a grinder attachment for it, and mixed up a batch of fresh polish. It wasn`t very good, but we were hooked!
As the years have gone on we improved greatly. But we are still learning; always. Just a month ago we tried our first Bacon using ssorllih`s method and recipe. It got a little dried on the edge but it tastes divine. About a year ago we made our first attempt at Canadian bacon; several more followed.
We are on our fourth smoker, a Bradley Digital, and due to batch size have upgraded to an electric #12 grinder. We still use our first and only 5# stuffer. As a family, we make over 200# of sausage. We get help from the youngest son, and from the oldest son along with his wife. Even the granddaughter helps out.
I want to learn Fermented Sausage methods, and eventually how to develop my own recipes for all types of sausages. Just yesterday, the last of Stan`s books arrived. I now have the full set!
I/we are excited about being a part of this great sausage making family!
Jim
Greetings all,
I have been following this forum for about five months, too timid to chime in until now! I retired last month as a Toolmaker for a plastic injection manufacturer. They produce tableware for parties and caterers. They are AIB Certified, and therefore, I received some very beneficial training for this hobby.
We have tried some great recipes, and already learned many new techniques, such as freezing the meat before grinding. We are particularly fond of Devo`s "Kielbasa My Way" recipe.
Jean and I have been making sausages for over twenty years. We started because of the expense with processing venison. Having sausages made by a butcher doubled or even tripled the cost of deer processing. My brother owned a Kitchen Aid Mixer; we bought a grinder attachment for it, and mixed up a batch of fresh polish. It wasn`t very good, but we were hooked!
As the years have gone on we improved greatly. But we are still learning; always. Just a month ago we tried our first Bacon using ssorllih`s method and recipe. It got a little dried on the edge but it tastes divine. About a year ago we made our first attempt at Canadian bacon; several more followed.
We are on our fourth smoker, a Bradley Digital, and due to batch size have upgraded to an electric #12 grinder. We still use our first and only 5# stuffer. As a family, we make over 200# of sausage. We get help from the youngest son, and from the oldest son along with his wife. Even the granddaughter helps out.
I want to learn Fermented Sausage methods, and eventually how to develop my own recipes for all types of sausages. Just yesterday, the last of Stan`s books arrived. I now have the full set!
I/we are excited about being a part of this great sausage making family!
Jim
- Chuckwagon
- Veteran
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- Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
- Location: Rocky Mountains
Wow, what a handsome couple! It's so nice to see you folks and have you with us. Jim and Jean, don't hesitate to ask any of these fine folks for answers. This group is the best anywhere. Jim, I'm sure you'll enjoy all of Stan's books and will probably refer to "Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages" most often, although when you start making fermented sausages, you'll be very happy to have your copy of "The Art Of Making Fermented Sausages" as well. Welcome aboard folks!
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill!
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- Frequent User
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- Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2012 14:25
- Location: Blaine, MN
Thanks for the warm welcome! I visit this site daily and am just amazed at the wealth of knowledge available, and it is my hope to tap those resources to improve my skills. I just can`t imagine what I have to offer in return. I may have been doing this for a few years but still consider myself just an advanced amateur.
I am one of those people that Stan talks about in his books; always in search of the perfect recipe and if it doesn`t come out just right, move on to find a better one.
Friends and relatives are almost always impressed with the results (except for one brother who says my sausages give him gas). But they aren`t someone I can talk to about why the texture wasn`t just right, or why it took 16 hours to smoke some venison sausages only to have them so dry they were like jerky sticks.
Here in this forum is someone that has made the same mistakes, and I hope to learn from that. Perhaps someday I will be able to share a bit of my experiences, but until then I will read and learn and ask many questions.
I am one of those people that Stan talks about in his books; always in search of the perfect recipe and if it doesn`t come out just right, move on to find a better one.
Friends and relatives are almost always impressed with the results (except for one brother who says my sausages give him gas). But they aren`t someone I can talk to about why the texture wasn`t just right, or why it took 16 hours to smoke some venison sausages only to have them so dry they were like jerky sticks.
Here in this forum is someone that has made the same mistakes, and I hope to learn from that. Perhaps someday I will be able to share a bit of my experiences, but until then I will read and learn and ask many questions.
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- Location: PA
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- Passionate
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- Location: Wisconsin
Hi everyone I have been on the forum for about a year now and have learned so much! I have been working as a Electrician for about 15 years now. I love to hunt, fish, bike, camp, make sausage, BBQ, and spend time with my family. I have been making sausage for about 3 years now, and still have plenty to learn.
- Chuckwagon
- Veteran
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- Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
- Location: Rocky Mountains
Wow! What great lookin' people! Today is Hamncheese's birthday. Happy birthday dear! My goodness, you are a knockout! I'd go sailing off into that red sunset with you any day of the week!
And just look at that handsome dude Blackriver. He's my pal of many moons and goes into the "Boundary Waters Canoe Area" often to fish. He's also got a new addition to his family and she's growing like a weed. Funny how those little ones make the world go 'round eh?
My best wishes to you folks! You are the best.
Your ol' pal,
Chuckwagon
And just look at that handsome dude Blackriver. He's my pal of many moons and goes into the "Boundary Waters Canoe Area" often to fish. He's also got a new addition to his family and she's growing like a weed. Funny how those little ones make the world go 'round eh?
My best wishes to you folks! You are the best.
Your ol' pal,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill!
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- Passionate
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- Location: Southampton Ont/Floral city Fl
Little Mace and the Colonel
How long before he can sample some snack sticks, pulled pork and have a beer with gramps. Little mason "Mace" is 11 days old .
I figure in about 2 weeks LOL
I figure in about 2 weeks LOL
Col. Big Guy
- sawhorseray
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- Location: Elk Grove, CA
- Chuckwagon
- Veteran
- Posts: 4494
- Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
- Location: Rocky Mountains
- sawhorseray
- Veteran
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- Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2012 20:25
- Location: Elk Grove, CA
When I started my apprenticeship in the financial district in SF in 1969 I was trained by all old country Italian carpenters. After a month of shovel work and nailing off sub-floor by hand to toughen my hands they taught me how to build a proper sawhorse; 4' long, 2' high, everything cut on a 3x12 (11°), morticed and gusseted. I've made hundreds of sawhorses over the years on construction sites, Xmas presents for friends and family, and when I got my state contractors license the name of my company was Sawhorse Construction. When it was time for me to get out of the field and learn how to use a computer my handle came easy. Sawhorses even have their place in sausage making, I can set-up shop just about anywhere!Chuckwagon wrote:But Ray... where did the "saw horse" come from?
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.”
- Chuckwagon
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- sawhorseray
- Veteran
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I've made quite a bit of wild hog sausage, mostly Italian sausage. I think a javalina is the same thing as a wild pig only a little smaller animal, found in Texas I think. I'll cut the wild hog meat with anywhere from 30 to 50% domestic pork butt, maybe even a little back fat, wild hogs can be very lean. I've killed 65-70 wild hogs in my hunting career, about a dozen buck deer. Up till about 15 years ago my partner and I would never bring a camera, thought they were bad luck. In my younger days it was all about drilling big tuskers, but occasionally you'll run into one that's been dining on a carcass of some kind, and that meat can STINK.Chuckwagon wrote:Terrific! And your work area looks great. Have you made any javalina sausage?
Wild hogs are so abundant here that I really don't put the crosshairs on old stinky boars anymore, try to focus on nice fat 180-200 pound sows, they're better on a plate. Of course I never pull the trigger on one that's got a brood of piglets, that would just end up feeding coyotes, and I hate coyotes with a passion. I've killed a ton of coyotes, but that's a different story. There's just no end to the uses a man can put a pair of good sawhorses to!
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.”