A Corona Thanksgiving
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2020 18:31
The corona isolation left me short handed as we had plans on everyone helping in the kitchen but this all fell through leaving me to do everything myself. I guess this could be viewed as a good thing because I can take credit for everything since everything turned out so good.
What I made was a cubed pork and venison for schnitzel, patty and link breakfast sausage, Redzed's newest venison pork kielbasa, smoked venison Cajun sausage, venison/pork Krakowska, jerky and a modified version of Big Guy's summer sausage. To those who didn't know him, Big Guy was a Canadian and the only member I've met in person. He was a heck of a nice guy, chemist by trade, and a heck of a meat processor and a valuable source of knowledge. If you ever see one of his recipes on the board its safe to say its worth making because he made some fine products. His character is validated by Kentucky giving him the honorary title of Colonel for his work with charities. I think all who knew him from this board know his absence has been a loss to the group.
Anyhow, the pandemic has slowed my workload down somewhat so I've been able to take some time and do some hunting and with these deer I began work toward filling the freezer.
I've learned over the years its best to pre-cure the meat a few days before processing. My impatience often dictates that I don't do this but on this batch I pacified my impatience by making some fresh sausages while the meat was curing.
On the second day of curing I got a little impatient and knowing I would be doing this solo I decided that it might be more diffident to go ahead and grind the mince and store the mince in lugs for the third day which would be that much less work on the day of stuffing. In hindsight I think this was a mistake. Not a big one but the mince began to bind somewhat and when the mince was placed in the stuffer it was much firmer than I like and I was unable to remove some air pockets from the mince even though I took extra care to try and punch these air pockets out which led to my having more air in the sausages than what I normally do. Not a real big deal but something I'll try to avoid in the future.
Anyhow, meats went in the smokehouse a little later than I hoped.
When sausages were nearly done I poached in water using my grandmother's old cast iron washout which I'm blessed to have because this thing is the charm for heating water.
Sausages were then showered with water to cool.
Then hung to dry for a few hours at room temperature.
Then a rest overnight in the fridge then sampled the next day.
On the left is BigGuy's summer sausage recipe which I tweaked only by adding some ECA and cheddar. This one is as good as I remember it being. Next is Marianski's Krakowska recipe - it was modified only in that its a blend of venison and pork. It is simply delicious and I like the contrast in the meats. The next sausage is made on a Cajun style with a myriad of peppers. Not to hot but does give the mouth a full taste of a variety of peppers. On the far right is Redzed's latest venison kielbasa sausage. (It still requires the second smoke which I hope to do this afternoon). Don't know if it needs the second smoke or not because its very good as it is. Its got a garlic flavor but its not overpowering - its just there. Very good sausage and I'd recommend others to try it. In the front is some jerky. Its a pepper based jerky but not to spicy.
Overall, barring a few tiny mistakes, things went well and am well pleased with how everything turned out.
What I made was a cubed pork and venison for schnitzel, patty and link breakfast sausage, Redzed's newest venison pork kielbasa, smoked venison Cajun sausage, venison/pork Krakowska, jerky and a modified version of Big Guy's summer sausage. To those who didn't know him, Big Guy was a Canadian and the only member I've met in person. He was a heck of a nice guy, chemist by trade, and a heck of a meat processor and a valuable source of knowledge. If you ever see one of his recipes on the board its safe to say its worth making because he made some fine products. His character is validated by Kentucky giving him the honorary title of Colonel for his work with charities. I think all who knew him from this board know his absence has been a loss to the group.
Anyhow, the pandemic has slowed my workload down somewhat so I've been able to take some time and do some hunting and with these deer I began work toward filling the freezer.
I've learned over the years its best to pre-cure the meat a few days before processing. My impatience often dictates that I don't do this but on this batch I pacified my impatience by making some fresh sausages while the meat was curing.
On the second day of curing I got a little impatient and knowing I would be doing this solo I decided that it might be more diffident to go ahead and grind the mince and store the mince in lugs for the third day which would be that much less work on the day of stuffing. In hindsight I think this was a mistake. Not a big one but the mince began to bind somewhat and when the mince was placed in the stuffer it was much firmer than I like and I was unable to remove some air pockets from the mince even though I took extra care to try and punch these air pockets out which led to my having more air in the sausages than what I normally do. Not a real big deal but something I'll try to avoid in the future.
Anyhow, meats went in the smokehouse a little later than I hoped.
When sausages were nearly done I poached in water using my grandmother's old cast iron washout which I'm blessed to have because this thing is the charm for heating water.
Sausages were then showered with water to cool.
Then hung to dry for a few hours at room temperature.
Then a rest overnight in the fridge then sampled the next day.
On the left is BigGuy's summer sausage recipe which I tweaked only by adding some ECA and cheddar. This one is as good as I remember it being. Next is Marianski's Krakowska recipe - it was modified only in that its a blend of venison and pork. It is simply delicious and I like the contrast in the meats. The next sausage is made on a Cajun style with a myriad of peppers. Not to hot but does give the mouth a full taste of a variety of peppers. On the far right is Redzed's latest venison kielbasa sausage. (It still requires the second smoke which I hope to do this afternoon). Don't know if it needs the second smoke or not because its very good as it is. Its got a garlic flavor but its not overpowering - its just there. Very good sausage and I'd recommend others to try it. In the front is some jerky. Its a pepper based jerky but not to spicy.
Overall, barring a few tiny mistakes, things went well and am well pleased with how everything turned out.