What Sausage To Make For A Beginner

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DelNorte
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Post by DelNorte » Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:55

Hey, I'm a blonde, so I have something to fall back on to blame when my intelligence level dips low for a moment... or two.. :mrgreen:

I see I'm going to have to be on my toes around you boys!
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Post by Bob K » Wed Mar 05, 2014 20:01

That was compliments of the:

Pleasant Peasant Pheasant Pluckers.

El Ducko will now say that 5 times fast.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Wed Mar 05, 2014 21:25

Hey, hey, Del Norte...
Here is one of my favorite sausage recipes for you to make. It's a great recipe and there are three ways to make it with three different skill levels. I suggest the "fresh" version for the first project, then as you learn, you may wish to step up to the next recipe.

Blonde eh? OOOOooooo.... when I get around a blonde, I turn into a quivering mass of neon green jello! :razz: :oops:

This original recipe for Krainerwurst required some research a few years back and it was originally for a "cured-smoked-cooked" style sausage. You may make "fresh" sausage by simply omitting the Cure #1. Later on, perhaps you`d like to try a "semi-dry cured" version of the Krainerwurst. If so, just add the Cure #1, a tablespoon of sugar, and a single gram of LHP culture. Remember to keep fresh sausage refrigerated and use it within three days or freeze it for use later.

Krainerwurst (Slovenian Sausage)
(Cured, Smoked, Cooked)


Genuine Slovenian Krainerwurst has pretty specific traditional instructions. It must contain a minimum of 68% pork, 12% beef, and 20% fresh pork belly (bacon) with a little added water and only salt, garlic, and black pepper added for seasoning. The meat must be cut into 10 to 13 mm. pieces, and the bacon into 8 to 10 mm. pieces. Only 32-36 mm. hog casings are used, and links are formed in pairs of 12 to 16 cm lengths having the weight of 180 to 220 grams. Wooden skewers are used to hold the pairs together. The sausages are cured and then hot-smoked at relatively low temperatures. It`s interesting to note that the recipe has been widely misrepresented over time, especially in America where various spices and cheeses have been added. Here is the basic recipe:

7 lbs. pork butt with fat
1-1/2 lbs. lean beef chuck
1-1/2 lbs. fresh pork bacon
2 level tspns. Cure #1 (if making "cured-cooked-smoked" sausage or "semi-dry cured" sausage).
1 gram Bactoferm™ LHP culture (if making "semi-dry cured sausage).
4 tblspns. salt
3 garlic cloves (crushed and minced)
1 tblspn. granulated garlic
2 tblspns. coarse black pepper (freshly ground)
32-36 mm. hog casings

To make "fresh" sausage:
Place the grinder knife and plate into the freezer while you separate the fat from the lean meat using a sharp knife. Cut the meat into 1-1/2 " cubes to keep sinew from wrapping around the auger behind the plate as the meat is ground. Grind the meat using the 3/8" plate and the pork fat using a 3/16" plate. Mix the Cure #1 with a little water for uniform distribution and add it to the meat. Work with small batches, refrigerating the meat and fat at every opportunity. Next, mix the meat into a sticky meat paste by adding the remaining ingredients and kneading the mixture to develop the primary bind. Stuff the sausage into 32-36 mm. hog casings, allowing them to hang and dry at room temperature for an hour. "Fresh" sausage must be refrigerated and consumed within three days, or frozen for future use.

To make "cured-cooked-smoked" sausage:
Grind the meat using the 3/8" plate and the pork fat using a 3/16" plate. Remember to add Cure #1. For ten pounds of meat, use 2 level teaspoons of cure mixed with a little water for uniform distribution and add it to the meat. Mix the cure and ingredients thoroughly throughout the primary bind. Work with small batches, kneading the meat into a sticky meat paste, refrigerating the meat and fat at every opportunity. Stuff the sausage into 32-36 mm. hog casings, allowing them to hang and dry at room temperature for an hour. Place the sausages into a preheated 130°F. (54°C.) smokehouse for an hour (with the damper open) before introducing hickory smoke and adjusting the damper to only 1/4 open. Gradually, only a couple of degrees every twenty minutes, raise the smokehouse temperature until the internal meat temperature (IMT) registers 150°F. This procedure must be done slowly to avoid breaking the fat. Remove the sausages, showering them with cold water until the IMT drops to less than 90°F. (32°C.). This sausage remains perishable and must be refrigerated until it is grilled on a smoky BBQ grill.

To make "semi-dry cured" sausage:
Grind the meat using the 3/8" plate and the pork fat using a 3/16" plate. Remember to add Cure #1, a tablespoon of sugar, and one gram of LHP culture to the recipe. For ten pounds of meat, use 2 level teaspoons of cure mixed with a little water for uniform distribution and add it to the meat. Next, prepare the culture by following the mixing directions on the packet. Use non-chlorinated water and mix the cure and ingredients thoroughly throughout the primary bind. Work with small batches, kneading the meat into a sticky meat paste, refrigerating the meat and fat at every opportunity. Stuff the sausage into 32-36 mm. hog casings.

If you have a "curing chamber", place the sausages in it and ferment at 100°F for 24 hours in 90% humidity. If a drier sausage is desired, ferment it for 48 hours.

If you do not have a "curing chamber", place one pound of regular table salt onto a cookie sheet with a lip around it. Spread the salt out evenly and add just enough water to barely cover the salt. Place the cookie sheet and salt in the bottom of an old fridge (unplugged) or your home kitchen oven. Keep the oven warm by using the pilot light in a gas model, or a hundred-watt light bulb covered with a large coffee can with several holes drilled in it. This will produce a warm area for a 2-day fermentation period at about 70% humidity.

When the fermentation has finished, place the links into your pre-heated 120°F smoker and introduce warm smoke. Use a hygrometer and try to maintain a 70% humidity during the process. Gradually, raise the temperature of the smokehouse by merely 2 degrees every 20 minutes. Do NOT attempt to boost the heat to shorten the duration. This procedure may take several hours. Monitor the IMT (internal meat temperature) and when it reaches 140°F, discontinue the cooking-smoking.

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! :D
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Post by el Ducko » Thu Mar 06, 2014 16:25

Krainerwurst "cured-cooked-smoked" is probably our family's favorite sausage recipe. Whenever I make it, I have to freeze some right away. Otherwise, they all get gobbled up.

This recipe definitely gets theImage "Duck Stomp of Approval."
:mrgreen:
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Post by DelNorte » Thu Mar 06, 2014 17:39

For sure this is not an easy decision! This IS WORSE for me than a woman in a shoe store trying to decide. :lol: .. garlic is always a winner ingredient and I can't imagine food without it.

Hey, could I do some "Slim Jim" type snack sticks at the same time, for my son :idea: :?: The really small diameter ones.

I hadn't paid attention before how low sausages need to be smoked at, and completely forgot about the need for culture to be added for semi-dry cured ones. Blonde moment again (Hey CW! :wink:), since I've been keeping an eye on the thread with you gents talking about using yogurt as a culture base.

We're still learning how to regulate our smoker, which is an old fridge conversion (I know quite heathenish) with just a smoke stack shaft off the back that I regulate temp by moving a metal plate back and forth on top of it an inch or so at a time. Really need to replace the double gas burner unit, because this one is not working properly and we've had it go out on us a few times. The last two times smoking, I got sick of it and just used a pan of wood and natural carbon (not like the briquettes in the States at all) to do the job of heating and smoking. Works great on ribs n pulled pork briskets. BUT now I've got to relearn our rig, and figure out how to keep it at such low temps for smoking sausages properly, since there is the issue with breaking the fat. :?:
Chuckwagon wrote:Blonde eh? OOOOooooo.... when I get around a blonde, I turn into a quivering mass of neon green jello! :razz: :oops:
Would that be lime, green apple, or something more exotic? :cool:
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Post by el Ducko » Thu Mar 06, 2014 19:06

DelNorte wrote:Hey, could I do some "Slim Jim" type snack sticks at the same time, for my son :idea: :?: The really small diameter ones.
Let me suggest Kabanosy. (See http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5373) I don't know how easy it will be for you to get sheep casing- - I used small diameter collagen, and suggest that you do too.
DelNorte wrote:Would that be lime, green apple, or something more exotic? :cool:
...prefer teal myself. CW probably turns seasick green.
:mrgreen:
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Post by Chuckwagon » Fri Mar 07, 2014 06:51

Del Norte, you wrote:
Blonde moment again (Hey CW! ), since I've been keeping an eye on the thread with you gents talking about using yogurt as a culture base.
Naw, kid! I`ve never advocated the use of a yogurt culture for meat. There are several reasons for not using it and those who study microbiological cultures know what I`m talking about. I`ve tried to tell folks why it won`t work but some people will always do what they think is best whether it is scientifically sound or not. On the other hand, after decades of study and trial, Chr Hansen (Bactoferm) has developed the finest meat cultures in the world - and they work ideally and consistently. I just can`t imagine anyone stumbling into a yogurt culture that magically works for meat.

As for your smoker, remember you need and "ingress" (draft) and an "egress" or smoke exit (damper). All you need is a thin trickle of smoke around the meat and a place for it to exit. But, sometimes folks forget that the sawdust, in order to smolder, must have some kind of source for a tiny amount of fresh oxygen. Ol` Rytek Kutas used to tell everyone to "crack the door" on the smoker a little. (Not exactly scientifically measurable, but expedient.) Once the sawdust starts to smolder, you can limit the oxygen inside with the draft and the damper to prevent the wood from bursting into flame. Be sure to check out the information at this link: http://www.meatsandsausages.com/smokeho ... at-smokers
When the page comes up, you can click on "smoke houses" in the upper, right-hand corner. There`s lots of information there by Stan Marianski.

Oh yes, "Seasick" Green? What? That danged duckbeak yellow Psycho Duck is at it again. He`s a winged menace... that... that... nerve-racking drake! Why, that loopy, hyper - hadrosaur! He makes me so craaaaaaaazzzeeeyyy!

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! :D
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Post by Carpster » Sun Mar 09, 2014 05:17

Pleased Pleasant Peasant Pheasant Pluckers.
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Post by el Ducko » Thu Mar 13, 2014 02:15

I couldn't stand it after this recent series of posts. I mixed up a batch of Krainerwurst, made some "original" Frankfurters, and made some turkey/pork/bacon sausage. Dried all in the electric Masterbuilt for an hour at 130° F stack temperature, then applied mesquite smoke for 8 hours, gradually increasing stack temperature to about 170°, then took them inside and finished them to an IMT of 148° F in the kitchen oven. The fat didn't melt, but the temperature sure climbed slowly, once I hit that 140° or so "stall zone." (If you're not familiar with it, search the forum.)

...did some detailed temperature measurements in the Masterbuilt. Circulation within the box is poor and therefore there's a huge vertical temperature gradient. Hanging sausages vertically now seems like a bad idea. I'll switch to racks for now, but can anyone recommend a small fan that might help, that can withstand the temperature? (I should probably mount it outside the box, and put shaft bearings in the wall.)

We had some Krainerwurst tonight for hors d'oeuvres. For such a simply-spiced sausage, it's incredibly good. The mesquite smoke was to my liking, although occasionally I see opinions to the contrary. Beloved Spouse likes it. That makes it good enough for me.

How'd yours come out, DelNorte?
:mrgreen:
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Post by crustyo44 » Thu Mar 13, 2014 05:28

Hi Ducklett,
I bought several small fans right down to 30mm and 12 Volt. To be powered by a mobile phone charger. No supplier in Australia so I purchased them, yes in China!! I bought about 6 different ones and bought 2 of each, the most expensive one was $ 1.90. postage all included.
It makes good sense to have one mounted outside in a stainless tube that goes through a wall. I have enough fans now to mount them in any size pipe up to about 2-1/2 inch.
Good Luck,
Jan.
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A hole in the road

Post by DelNorte » Thu Mar 13, 2014 13:18

Well fellas, things came to a screeching halt a few days ago for me. My beloved Mac died and I've been trying every trick in the book to revive it. The most sickening thing for me is that I hadn't done a back-up for about a week and I have some files with a lot of time invested in them sitting on the dead computer.

I use the machine to make a living, being a freelance graphic designer. So after finalizing that it is definitely dead, I'm going to see if I can swap the hard drive out to this Mac, which is my son's. I hope it works, because I'm in a whole lot of heap of hurt without the ability to work and retrieve files. And the pocket didn't quite have in budget a new $2000 Mac, which does not count the programs. I'm sure that I'd have to buy new programs, because I was hitting the end of what I could run on the old one. *UGH*

Just to verify: there are no Mac computer dealers here and no place to take it to have it looked at. I would trust no one to touch it that only knows how to work on PCs.

So sausage making is on standby. I would have to invest in a grinder/stuffer and it's not on the list with this recent fiasco. BUT I can say this - this past weekend I made jerky and Slim Jim's for us and they turned out fantastic! Of course the Slim Jim's were just the squirt the mixture out of a tube on a rack kind, without casings. But all in all such a hot item with my son that I've had to hide them in order to keep the supply lasting more than a day. :cool:
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Post by jscarbo » Thu Mar 13, 2014 19:22

DelNorte, There are authorized Apple re-sellers and service centers in Uruguay but I don't know how close any of them are to your location. Go to this link, type in your location, and it should give you a list: https://locate.apple.com/uy/en/#

In Costa Rica, my friends who live outside San Jose use local courier services or postal express to ship such items for repair. Surely similar services are available in Uruguay. Good luck!
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Post by DelNorte » Thu Mar 13, 2014 22:09

jscarbo - thanks for the link. I've already gone that route and communicated with Apple. There are no authorized Mac repair technicians here. Of course iPods, iPads, and all that other phone stuff have representation here because there is a demand for that stuff. But not computers. I'm not going to risk sending it anywhere. I have another try up my sleeve for retrieval, which I think is going to work.

And then I still have to make an investment in another computer for my son, because he does need it for school work.

Anyway, enough on that. On to sausages!... my mouth waters so bad reading all of the posts on people making this and that kind. el ducko's being the worst for me recently. :razz:
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Post by ssorllih » Thu Apr 10, 2014 02:19

Ray, My grand daughters were panhandling for some fund raiser at school and I offered to fax them twenty bucks each. They didn't understand the joke.
If you received the equivalent in the her local currency could you have used it at a casino?
Ross- tightwad home cook
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Post by Chuckwagon » Fri Apr 11, 2014 00:09

Topic Split by CW 041014 @ 17:10. See: Where Did My Post Go? at this link: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5839
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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