‘Sausage’ can be prepared in a fresh style or dried/aged. Brats are fresh sausages. Both will have specific seasonings that are used traditionally. Both are tasty!

I asked the question yesterday on the live chat. I wanted to follow up with something I found:

Molds also oxidize lactic acid as well as other acids. This action produces ammonia which just happens to increase the pH.

So, apparently this is a normal occurrence. My first batch had no smell but this time it did. The real test will be when I weigh some this weekend and taste it.

blackbetty61 That would make sense since the proteins haven’t been broken down as thoroughly as they would be with a second grind. Hope it turns out well and I can’t emphasize super cold meat enough, it is a huge time saver on a second grind!

deplorablenc1 another tip to help that out is to use a sausage pricker and p***k all your sausages (do NOT p***k the top part where they will behanging over or they will split). But this way in the off chance of poor protein extraction the fat can at least render out of the casing rather than build up inside.

no_eyes_processor That is an awesome new name! You have done a lot of impressive stuff and kept pushing and trying new things and that is great, we are happy to have everyone on this board but you might have the best “story” of anyone I know of!

deplorablenc1 I pulled mine around 150 and threw them directly into the tank. I should have payed closer attention to the exact time but I think they were in there for about 45-60 minutes. I blame the rum for my memory loss.

Austin thanks Austin. I will still buy a hat to start!

Jonathon you need to try making this. I am telling you this is some of the best snacks I have ever had! Everyone that stops by when i have it loves it and starts making it.

So this fall I was out hunting in NC and found some papinkis! I grew up picking mushrooms in PA and was beyond thrilled living down here now knowing I will still find these tasty little treats!0_1550853187111_Screenshot_20190222-112628_Gallery.jpg
0_1550853199163_Screenshot_20190222-112633_Gallery.jpg

Craig Holbrook Depending on the usage it might or might not add flavor. I know that paprika is either banned or heavily frowned upon by the USDA in cured products because it can color the product a similar color without being properly cured. That might actually be your best bet as what the USDA says doesn’t apply to you and the reason they banned it is exactly what you are trying to do!

If you look at the ingredients of Chorizo you can see that all the major ingredients have a coloring function as well.

kevine Okay that makes a little more sense! It obviously has a lot of sugar in it, most seem to include cinnamon as well, nutmeg, All spice and cloves. Now that I am typing out those ingredients they sound like a good mix for a sausage don’t they? Would obviously have to add a lot of salt to aid in protein extraction and to increase the taste of the other ingredients in the meat but one of my favorite seasonings is the Apple Bratwurst so this might end up being very tasty!

We have mixed the night before and use only 1/2 the required water. Then adding cold water right before stuffing will soften the mixture. Summer sausage goes well because of the larger stuffing tube. We do the same for snack sticks that is harder through the smaller tube.

Baconator Yes you can, we freeze all of our cheese here before shipping. I have tested freezing and refreezing it and there are no noticeable issues with doing so.

Chicovt I only used a binder the very first time l made snack sticks , l will typically stuff 19mm , 23mm , 32mm , and 1 1/2" all in one batch using only a 12mm tube . I experiment with something different almost every time l stuff n smoke . I DO ALWAYS grind mix/season and stuff as my prep procedure then allow the stuffed products to rest in stuffed form for about 12 hours refrigerated , good luck Chico !!

Austin Thanks Austin I am putting together an order now. You guys are the best!

Replacement springs for the automatic marinade injector. Does anyone know where I can get replacement springs? I have lost one of them. It seems like they should be available and some should come with the injector. It comes with easy to get o-rings, but not with springs.

The Hawaiian seasoning is milder than some of the hotter seasonings; it has a nice tropical flavor profile with a touch of pineapple. I think, as a seasoning for jerky, the drying process would intensify the flavor and give a nice finished product–something my wife and grandkids would like; not too salty or too spicy.
Tbone, I also think adding a little soy sauce and maybe some pineapple juice would be great. Let’s see some pictures and a taste report when you get it done.
Best,
G

tbone I’d be leery of that because as you dehydrate meat it becomes more difficult to kill off the bad bacteria. Basically, you are creating heat-resistant bacteria and without enough moisture, you can’t kill it. Check out this article for more information on this https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/jerky-and-food-safety/ct_index

tbone First, glad the imitation bacon came out great, we love that stuff and need to make more of it! As for how it is going to work for bacon jerky my only worry would be that it might get crumbly as it gets dried to that level. It works with regular bacon because it is still a whole muscle piece of meat, when you grind it down and restructure it, you are getting a very good bind BUT it’s still not the same as a regular whole muscle piece. In the end I think you will be perfectly fine but that is the only “danger” I wanted to point out!

Let us know how it turns out!

mykrawc Good question, there is a magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner near where you see your profile avatar. Once you click on that you should be able to search past posts based on titles, posts (the content), users and tags. Let me know if you have any issues with this!

sloaned Okay, then no, you do not need to soak them but dipping them in water briefly, like you would for collagen sheets might not be a bad idea, it at least wouldn’t hurt anything. Just make sure it is cool water and it is a very brief dip. If you are doing this weekend please post your results, I am interested in seeing what happens!

twigg267 Can you give us some more of your process? What cuts are you making it out of? Are you making restructured or are you making whole muscle? What seasoning are you using and are you smoking and dehydrating, just dehydrating?

I recently made 25 lbs. of H and 25 lbs. of W. I was also using carrot fiber for the first time. After receiving advice about carrot fiber from the Walton’s Community and knowing my goal is a semi-dry sausage I was confident to experiment a little. The H was mixed with 48 0z. of water and 4 oz. of carrot fiber. The W was mixed with 36 oz. of water and 3 oz. of carrot fiber. I do not notice a significant difference between the two, both have a good bind and great texture. Hope this helps.

Jonathon The Hawaiian seasoning does have a mild, slightly sweet, good porky flavor. I think I’m going to use it in the next batch of breakfast sausage I make; something a little different than the normal “country sausage” flavor profile. It should be good as a breakfast link in natural sheep casings.

I also think it would be good as a brat with pineapple added and just a splash of Chinese Soy Sauce. Sliced about 3/4 inch on a diagonal cut as the meat in a Chinese stir fry with onion, celery, bok choy and noodles. It would be a spectacular asian dinner centerpiece. Serve with ice cold Chinese beer.
You guys should hire me for recipe development!
Greg.

gerygaub I already responded in an email to this but just so everyone else can see the answer as well, the fat cap won’t really pass much cure through to the rest of the belly so it is not necessary to rub it again. However, it is not going to hurt anything either so if you want to re-rub it then go for it!

i use denuded round. higher cost, less waste, cleaner eating

Sounds good. Appreciate you checking that out. I guess there had to be a reason. Perhaps I’m just the a**l one who has to read all those warning stickers…
Thanks again Austin!

gerygaub Absolutely, that is what I have done with the bellies in the past they always turn out fantastic! Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

scott williams First, I’d recommend you use a binder like Sure Gel or Super Bind or a moisture retender like Carrot Fiber. This is always the first thing I recommend when someone has an issue with the texture of their sausage.

Your fat content is correct and it sounds like you used the correct amount of seasoning. 190° is a little higher than I would recommend, but we have all been there when it’s just taking too long so you dump it a little more than you really should! I don’t think that is the issue but check out this post titled Summer Sausage Nightmare specifically Parksider’s response to finishing it up in water. It’s a good tip and I am going to be doing some tests on it here to verify a few things.

What I think probably caused your issue was the mixing in some way. When adding pork fat to your venison I think the best time to add it is during the second grind, it’s possible that your fat didn’t really mix in well with the venison, that would explain why it seemed dry even though you had the correct fat content.

It also could have been lack of protein extraction, I looked through your posts and can’t tell if you have a mixer or are mixing by hand? With cured sausages, I always recommend using a meat mixer as getting the right level of protein extraction. I am guessing that you had some fat out where the fat renders and cooks out of the product.

Hope this helps!

twigg267 Some people will add it during the second grind and let the grinder do some of the work for you. I tend to not like this as it makes clean up that much more difficult on the grinder. I just add the seasoning to the meat after I am done grinding. To make mixing it in easier you can add some water. Just dont add as much as you would for a cured sausage. I would say for 50 lb around a pint of water will be enough to help.

The holly is great, it is our best seller for a reason!

21cedar Austin did something like this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1927KOslUNg where he tried out some of the specialty mixes, it’s not exactly the same thing though. Just thinking quickly on which would be good for putting it on the rim of the glass I would think any of the Noble Finishing Salts and I would think the Habanero Lime Snack Stick or Jerky Seasoning as it has a high salt content and some heat and lime to go with that.

Thanks so much for the information, you guys have been a lot of help. Love your products.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like moisture free and lubricated it is.

Just finished my first sous vide steaks. Wow! Cooked perfectly and the exact same all the way through - no over cooked grey edges. Vodka martini in the shaker now.

twigg267 If you are looking for something similar to the Jimmy Deans with some heat go with the Holy Regular Pork Sausage, that is very close to the taste but it doesn’t have much heat. For some heat I would add some Xtra Hot Ground Red Pepper Shaker, just be careful with this as it is very hot! It’s suggested use is 3 oz to 100 lb of meat, so for a 10 lb batch of breakfast sausage you would use .3 of an oz or 8.5 grams and that is the upper level.

Anytime you are adding exta ingredients to a prepackaged seasoning mix I would suggest starting out low and then playing around with it until you have reached the desired result!

Hope that helps!

Joe love the advice on seasoning.

dennishoddy twigg267 If you are just looking to add heat and a little red pepper taste I recommend the Xtra Hot Ground Red Pepper Shaker it is just a shaker though so if you want it in a 5 lb bag we have that as well.

Just be careful with this stuff, it is extremely hot, the suggested usage is 3 oz of the spice to 100 lb of meat to add some heat!

macsinsac Kinda…Over the weekend I made a brisket sausage using corned beef rather than a smoked brisket. Prior to stuffing I would agree that that texture and flavor was a bit off. I added 2.75 lbs of ground pork shoulder to the 6 lbs of corned beef and it sure helped. I think I could have got away with a 50/50 mix and it wouldn’t have diluted the corned beef flavor too much. I was going for a Reuben style brat so I also added 2 cups of homemade sauerkraut and a big dollup of wholegrain house mustard. I served it with creamed horseradish and thousand island dressing…house made, of course. Overall they turned out really well but I agree with Jonathon that the texture would have been improved with additional pork.

seth I made a batch a week ago out of pork loin , a honey jerky seasoning and Hi-Temp Swiss cheese in 19mm collagen casings. Came out great!

DaFish13 thank you

Ive seen that done as jonathan has said or if you raise the temperature of your smokehouse too fast or start too high. But for the purposes of what your wanting, after you shower them cold or place in a cold bath you can spray them with warm water or run them under a hot water faucet and it should remove any unwanted grease from the casings.

I would for sure add dextrose and honestly corn syrup solids work great too for adding a touch of sweet and better preservative and color.

Departing Contestant Why is that? The Atlantic is apparently saltier than the Pacific (at least according to a quick google search) and I am not familiar enough with Octopus to know any reason why it would be saltier. Please let me know why, I am very interested in this!

Douglas Moore I agree with @Boudreaux, 21mm fresh collagen casings are the easiest to use and I think they have a better snap then sheep casings. If you are looking to go with a Natural Casing then you would want to look at the smallest sheep casings which are generally the 22-24mm Sheep in either the entire hank or you can get that size in a HomePack as well. The home packs will stuff somewhere in the vicinity of 15 lb of breakfast sausage. You need to rinse and soak the Sheep Casings and if you go with the Home Pack you also need to rinse the inside.

Check out this post https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/780/sausage-casings-103-preparing-your-casings for some more information on preparing the casings before they are used.

Let us know if you need anything else!

Thank You Sir:
Tarp

KSHusker I just emailed you. Thank you again I appreciate it.

angel4us Yes, Pa’s Black Bull does have phosphate in it so do not add any more as too much phosphate will give it a soapy taste! You should not us Smoked Meat Stabilizer in anything you are going to add water too as it will quickly gas out and could create a dangerous gas, so stay away from that product when marinating!

Re: Jerky
Thank You

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try a couple of ideas your suggestions have given me.

Robert Tartaglia You will want to put the Hi-Temp cheese in after grinding and at the very end of mixing. So if you grind everything first and then add your seasonings and cures (if needed) then get everything all mixed into the meat, the correct level of protein extraction and then add your Cheese for the last minute or so, just to get it evenly distributed throughout the meat. If you added seasoning between grinds then I would still do the same you just would have to mix a little bit less.

The grinding would smear the cheese and the point of using hi-temp is for it to retain at least some of its original form.

Let me know if you need anything else!

21cedar Right now there isn’t any way to know. If you want to send me some requests I will let you know. It might not be a bad idea for me to go through all of them and list out on the website if the particle size is Small, Medium or Large. For now though just send me shakers you have questions on.

One other thing you can do to help burger shrinkage is put a thumb indention in the middle of the burger. It won’t stop the shrinkage but it will be a very noticeable difference next to one that doesn’t have an indention!

I just watched the video of Bone Marrow Burgers, first let me say thanks for the research and follow up on this as I’ve been so interested.
The recipe in the video looks and sound super will try and can’t wait!

mswoody6.4 The first question would be are you doing it through waltonsinc.com/win? I am assuming that you are so if that is correct the next thing to check is to make sure you are logged in on that page. You will need to login to the account first, I find the easiest way to do this is via my facebook account. Then when you click to comment it should prompt you to log in with your youtube or google account so that it can track who is commenting. If the pop-up for logging in to youtube/google is not coming up you might have a pop-up blocker running on your account and that will need to be turned off.

Gary T Nop, you did not miss it! Once we draw the winner (usually in the first few days) we attempt to contact them via email. Once they have responded we will then add the winning entry to the bottom of https://www.waltonsinc.com/win.

Jonathon Hey Jonathan thanks! That little plug is hard as a rock when it comes out lol, I’m sure the bread would work for your aplication as well, also the dog loves it.

Jonathon Thanks much Jonathan, well if that’s the case it’s a no brainer NOT to mix in the cure prematurely. I’d hate to waste a good batch Jerky cause the cure didn’t work. Thanks again for the great info.

Thanks for the help!

Forkinpork I see all of your message. I’m not sure what could be causing that, what browser are you using? I doubt that has anything to do with it but I’ve never had an issue using Chrome.

Forkinpork Message came through but not the question? If you can’t post the question feel free to send me a chat by clicking on the chat function in the upper right hand corner.

Austin Used the netting right out of the bag and it worked great. Secured the bottom with a hog ring
placed the roast in it and tied it off and hung min the smoker. Great smoke penetration all around and very nice color. Will be using it all the time now.

Jonathon ok thanks just making sure. I kind of thought the same but i was just following there recomendations. I will be ordering soon thx

stan
I usually twist link, and then cut the links. I have tried tying sausage before, but it is a little too time consuming for my liking.
If you just twist link and cut, the ends may open up a bit as you cook.

For length, I just try to make them about bun length, so they fit as good as possible, something about 6 inches.

gerygaub Anything we can do to help, if I ever come across a sequence that will reset factory settings to this I will let you know!

Good luck on the hot dogs, I look forward to seeing the pics!

Do yourself a favor and toss the pliers. Swing by harbor freight and grab some zip ties. Works perfect! It’s all we use now.

lol, just knew it wasn’t me…

enovotny I always use dehydrated flakes, it is just easier for me than cleaning the jalapenos. For those you would rehydrate them at a ratio of one part flakes to 5 parts water and then add between 3% and 6% of the weight of your product. It gives a good jalapeno flavor with a little kick of heat.

Of course plenty of people use fresh jalapenos as well. You can do the 3-6% but I would start with trying 3% and dial it in from there.

Let us know if you need anything else!

harpo79 I like to use the 10 Mil HD Orange Nitrile Gloves they have good grip, are comfortable and thick, I’ve never torn any of them while mixing or doing anything else.

Anyone else have a preference?

raider2119 Thats interesting that it is showing you that because under the email address you have for this meatgistics it is showing that you did get credit for watching that. Currently it is showing you have credit for at least this video, the daily bonus entry and the entry confirmation. I’ll send you a message with that email address so you can confirm it. Hope this helped!

raider2119 First of all, more cookies is always a good thing, especially if you don’t have to bake them! Second our eggs peeled incredibly easily when we smoked them and yes we were very worried about them bursting as that would be a pain to clean up, not sure if we got lucky or just had the smoker dialed in perfectly but we did not end up with any of them bursting.

Once I try this I will let you know how it turned out and thanks for the instructions!

angel4us Great question! You can use any seasoning like a Bratwurst Seasoning that is designed for a fresh product for a cured product like Jerky or Snack Stick Seasonings as long as you add the cure. The same is true vice versa as long as you do NOT add the cure. This is part of the reason that we do not have the cure mixed into the seasonings and instead have it in a separate package. Just go into it knowing that often if you use a Brat, Summer Sausage or Snack Stick seasoning as a jerky seasoning it is going to have a stronger taste, which isn’t necessarily an issue depending on your preferences!

angel4us
Smoked Meat Stabilizer is used in smoked and cured sausages (i.e. snack sticks, summer sausage, etc.) only. You do not want to use this in a fresh sausage, and not in a cured product that uses a brine (i.e. ham or turkey).
You could use it in other smoked and cured sausage like a german, polish, kielbasa, etc. Most commonly would be snack sticks and summer sausage though.

Usage is at 2 ounces per 25 lb of meat. (measuring per pound is 0.08 ounce, which is really hard to measure for individual pound increments, so hopefully you are making a decent size batch)

It does not add smoke flavor. “Smoked” is in the name just because it is used for smoked and cured sausages.

You can use smoked meat stabilizer in place of ECA for the cure accelerator properties. It would not end up with the same level of tangy flavor that ECA provides though. If you add both, it might make things a bit tangier though, since smoked meat stabilizer has some ascorbic acid and sodium citrate in it. I will try to find out exactly what to expect on the tangy flavor and pH level changes with smoked meat stabilizer and respond again though.

angel4us
50 grain vinegar is the same thing as 5% acidity vinegar. Typical distilled white vinegar from any grocery store is usually right at or around 5%. If you already have some white vinegar at home, it probably is 5% acidity (and it should list what % it is), and if not, it should be super easy to find at any grocery store!

Papa Gale
The Deer & Wild Game Rinse does not need to be rinsed off, so it should be applied after you have done any other rinsing or cleaning of the carcass.

angel4us
Yes, it will work… I’ve done the same with the old enterprise stuffer since it comes with a strainer basket. but I’ve also used my 7# vertical manual stuffer, here’s the process:

I tried cheesecloth but it’s not strong enough. Go to fabric store and ask for wedding dress material(2 yards)… i know…but it’s very strong and let’s the juice through. i cut 18"x18" or so squares of the material, ran the quartered apples through my grinder on the largest plate i had into a “China cap strainer”( used in restaurants to filter fryer oil) sitting on top of a large pot. Let some of the juice come out there then fill up the squares with the pulp. It works best when i pressed them one at a time in my vertical stuffer worked well, just be patient and take your time. Not as good as the Enterprise but didn’t take long to press a gallon of fresh cider with my own apples(not sure the ratio of apples to gallons). If you let it sit in a large pot or jug overnight then skim off the top and filter it will be less hazy but i didn’t mind/couldn’t taste the fine pulp.
One of my holiday favorites is putting a gallon of cider in a crock pot with some cinnamon sticks or mulling spice and serving it with salted caramel vodka, warms the soul…Good luck!

edsbbq hi ed. What is this BBQ sausage you speak of. ?! Sounds interesting

angel4us When you buy ground beef from the store it has normally already been ground twice so it should be ready to use to make Summer Sausage. We recommend once through a 3/16th plate and then the second grind on a 1/8th plate. It might be difficult to tell if Kroger did a second grind at 1/8th but even if they did it twice at 3/16th that shouldn’t cause you too much difficulty, you just want to make sure you are getting good protein extraction when you are mixing it. Remember, if you are adding Encapsulated Citric Acid go right to the smokehouse after stuffing as it acts as a cure accelerator. Let us know if you have any other questions.

angel4us I love making Chicken Sausage, it’s a great way to have a healthier option. We actually did a post and a video on this check out the post https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/264/how-to-make-homemade-chicken-brats and the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYu5S8qtvEY .

I listed out some favorites in the post but here is a quick list of some of the seasonings that I think work well with Chicken, Habanero Mango (if you like heat try this one, not all that hot but does have some kick to it) Supreme Pizza Bratwurst, Rueben Bratwurst, Feta Cheese and Spinach, Hot Buffalo Wing and the Sun Dried Italian.

One thing to keep in mind is that since chicken is lower fat than pork or beef the taste will be toned down a little bit as the fat acts as a delivery system for the seasoning. You can combat this by using the full bag of seasoning but only using 20 lb of meat or you can add some fat but that sort of defeats the purpose of making a healthier brat!

You should still check out the post and the video for some more tips like using a binder!

I hope it works out well for you, post some pictures if it comes out well!

Hey angel4us!

The August Giveaway started today. Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube to always be the first to know exactly when the monthly giveaways start, plus other sales and specials.

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Jonathon No complaints . Its hard to complain when their mouths are full of Apple brat dogs.

Jonathon Thanks, I have been adding cheese to my stuff for quit a while. high temp cheddar to kielbasa. Really adds to it. And yes to the pizza brats, moz. Looking forward to your video. Thanks again, Geo.

Hi there! I am embarking on a good sized jerky job and hoping to use Walton’s seasoning, but would like to purchase and try product before ordering. Is anyone currently working with Teriyaki, Sweet Chipotle, or Colorado seasonings? Would be more than happy to purchase if you are able to mail - esp w/ chopped and ground jerky,

Thanks!
Hannah

Austin thanks, kinda what I was thinking, just needed pro advice!!!

@western_smoke Thanks for sharing the recipe, sounds awesome! The yogurt sauce sounds really good and I’m going to have to try that!

kats095 Do you have any favorites or anything at the top of your list to try next?

Catalogs started mailing yesterday and will finish today!

Be on the lookout for the new 2017 catalog in your mailbox by early next week!

We are a group of smokers & grillers that get together the 3rd Wednesday of every month, 6:00pm at Pig In Pig Out on 13th street in Wichita to eat and talk about competitions and smoking in general. Everyone is welcome to stop by and introduce yourself.