Deepwoodsbutcher - I like this method more than whole muscle jerky. I have crowns, and it is easier to eat.

Russell Rogers Very Nice

HerbcoFood - Only way to go!

armyguy Usually the first half to one hour is low heat with vents open for a drying period. Somewhere there is a smoke schedule, can someone point out the link?

Denny O No, that is way out of my league these days. My son & I just do simple building observations & some environmental observations too for commercial & residential. We travel for the commercial, done a few up that way, but no Red Robins yet. Most of the projects we have done up that way have been multi family, hotels, a few strip centers, a big mobile home park, & I think a bowling alley, from what I can remember. The residentials are all local.

You guys probably already know, but be sure to use cooked pineapple out of the can. Raw pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that will tenderize the protein & make the texture mushy.

no time , i have some tenant problems i’m dealing with ,sometimes even us old retired folks get busy

Woody1551 said in 25lb batch of Jalapeno Cheddar Snack Sticks:

Jamieson22 I actually did the exact same thing with a silicone spatula, just didn’t want to admit it online😁 . Agreed on some sort of quick release…I am actually considering buying regular hex heads and just using a cordless drill to speed up the process to remove them.

That sounds like a great idea 💡

Deepwoodsbutcher very well said.

Surg yes I did use cure#1

Cindy Bushar 0 Do a search on the internet, I found parts for the one I bought at a Flea market but can’t remember where it was that I found them.

Re: Thank you for the fast reply. I think I can now put them to use.

welcome G-Carroll keeping your sausage stuffed tight is always preferred the only time you want it a little looser is when you are linking it but even then keep it firm

Jonathon said in Nonstick Coatings For Jerky Racks - What Do You Use?:

processhead This is what we put on our screen when we make jerky https://waltons.com/poly-jerky-sheet-coarse/ It doesn’t come in smaller amount though so might not be a good option. I’ve tried coating of white oil and it seemed to cook into the jerky a little. I’ve never tried them but this might work https://waltons.com/grilling-mesh-sheet-non-stick/

I use the grilling mesh sheets similar to the one Jonathan has at the bottom but without the border and they work great!!! You have to watch as jerky can slide right off

Deepwoodsbutcher That is some fine looking burger.

uncowboy beef only. Added beef fat to make it about 75/25

Yes, I think salt is like heat from peppers you build up a level of tolerance and that can keep growing like a fungus

Jamieson22 A lot of work, for sure but definitely worth it. Everything looks great. You’ll be enjoying that for a while.

Dave in AZ very informative. Thanks again

mrobisr Thank you. I smoked the rest of what I had. So it all was smoked in less then 3 days

mac21st mine is the verticle 3 series I think. I like it better then my GMG Davey crockett. That grill has been nothing but hastle for me and I really wanted to like it. Overall, I’m just starting out with pellet grills so a lot of issues are just human error too.

Jamieson22 said in 17lb batch of smoked beef jerky:

Honestly the threads here often morph into other things by the time they are done!

For sure!

calldoctoday said in Jerky:

Denny O & a great chaw it is, but a chaw that needs swallering at some point.

:jerky: 👍

Try using miso paste as the binder

i use a "water stuffer " that has double o-rings

grecco I always spray cooking oil on my trays when I lay my Patties out to freeze before packing.

processhead yeah it’s a heavy duty wire. Plugs into the house, kinda like an RV hook up

Tex_77 said in Ghost Pepper Cheesy Brats Recommendation:

processhead i think Austin recommends about a .75 to 1 ratio!

I think that would be called queso!

JoeB is your 1st edition dust cover white or mustard color?

Dave in AZ I agree with you that it all depends on what you are making. For me, I’ve always been making product for the public and you have to give people what they are expecting. As you allude to in your second point “Johnsonville” style brats are what my past customers were expecting to get. Most of the fresh sausages I made we mixed to be of that consistency/ texture.

I want to make the “tender jerky method “ of Excalibur sweet chipotle Jerky using an extra pork loin I have. I want to know if I should lower the suggested 18% brown sugar since the 2nd and 3rd ingredients are brown sugar and fructose. I don’t want it to be to overbearingly sweet. Any help would be appreciated as I have never tried the tender method.

wdaly I always leave mine in the smoker till it stalls. These stalled at 140. Sous vide to 160 then the ice bath. I’ve never used the celery juice powder. I’ve heard about it on here a few times. Be sure to let me know how yours turns out. Mine were a big hit here. It’s probably my favorite of all the sausages I’ve made. But there’s always a few more to try. Have a great day.

PapaSop good looking brats

DSB502 Make sure you factor in the amount of water that was injected into the chicken before it got to you. As shoprat53 says, using sure gel will probably give you more of a bind than carrot fiber, now, if you want them just as regular fresh brats it is not as important.

maurermeat said in Salt outside of snack sticks:

Jonathon Felt comfortable eating them because they were immediately vacuumed pack and were less than 3 weeks old. Plus I really like snack sticks so I would hate to see them go to waste!

Totally agree. You have a cosmetic issue, not a food safety issue.

pepperettes Thanks for the reply. I decided to use it and it appears that the cure worked as I cooked a small patty and it turned nice and red.

rugerbear There you go! Winner, Winner!

Departing Contestant I agree, I always add a little even to fresh sausage to help with the mixing process. I don’t add as much as I do when going to stuff it.

Jonathon There is the simplistic answer I was looking for!

Denny O No need to be sorry, the hot pepper cheese is basically a Monterey jack, which never had enough flavor for me. I use High Temp Cheddar Cheese for a few snack sticks like Willie's Snack Stick Seasoning and Habanero BBQ Snack Stick or Summer Sausage and then I use High Temp Ghost Pepper Cheese for anything I want to add heat too and High Temp Mozzarella Cheese for most everything else. High Temp Swiss Cheese Only comes into play with a few seasonings, usually the ones that I want the creaminess of some extra cheese but no strong cheese flavor.

Dave in AZ sounds like you recovered well. Thanks for sharing 👍.

Update, the dried beef has been sitting in the fridge in the same bag since the OP and I just tried a piece and the flavor, color, or texture has not changed at all. My worry was rancidity, but so far there is not even a hint of off taste, so time permitting hopefully I will do some sos this week and go from there.

Jonathon I’m specifically looking at the imitation or restructured bacon. That package only is 1# but it looks like you have blocked off shipping to AK for everything. Strange since we have USPS, UPS, and Fedex all deliver. USPS is typically the most economical. But maybe someone has a good homemade recipe!

Welcome, for really shelf stable meat products jerky is not the answer. Dried beef and canned meats are more shelf stable than traditional jerky, but for the real deal pemmican would be a better solution. MRE’s do not hold up really well unless kept in perfect conditions thus when you see the inspection date on the MRE package that is under ideal conditions. Yes I have tested them under real world conditions and while still sorta eatable the color, taste, and texture was severely degraded outside of those perfect storage conditions. As processhead stated mold can also be a problem so look into potassium sorbate to inhibit that growth for long term storage and oxygen absorbers.

Mix’s do seem to vary a lot, some are loaded with salt and others no salt so your idea of small test batches is your best bet for sure. Actually the variable of salt is what made me start making my own, I wanted a consistent product that would produce a good product every time.

Tex_77 Thanks Tex, I know that the farmers markets here in TX are doing well selling locally raised meats, thanks for the article.

super, super, super,
Thanks!
Willy from Dakota

I’ll let you know if I ever decide to offload, but now that I’ve mated it with the PID controller, it’s doing everything I want.

Cindy Bushar said in Smoked Boudin Recipe?:

Grimpuppy Your recipe is Absolutely the best. Several people have tasted it and said it is some of the best They have ever eaten you can’t go wrong using this recipe.

Glad you liked it!

Onestopjerkyshop carries them. It fits on your grinder to stuff snack sticks. They are about $20.

We use the cotto salami mix also and found the best meat mix is 50% venison, 25% pork shoulder, 25% ground beef (85/15) when making venison sausage. We do not use ECA or suregel. We hang overnight at 40-50 degrees to cure and allow some of the excess moisture to escape. You’ll want your final finish temp to be at least 145 degrees and to end with an ice bath. Smoker times are all variable, the size of your sausage stick makes the biggest difference. We typically go to the smoker in three stages. First is about 120 to remove the chill and do additional drying. Then raise temp to about 150 and apply smoke. Finally raise temp to 175 to finish. Adding a high-temp cheese is a nice touch. Cheddar or pepper jack are our favorites.

As long as the packing house bag is vac sealed I have been taking whole beef ribeye to at least 60 days after I bring it home, if I see a packaged date I may go longer. Just recently I tried a Umai rib roast . Wet aged for 35 gays and dry aged for 30, last Christmas days dinner for the 2 of us.

Jesser said in Tough hog casings:

mrobisr to get to 200f before consumption what method do you like best to use water boil, oven, grill etc for Walton’s hot links. Thanks

I have never used any pre-packaged seasoning I make my own and as far as method it depends on what I’m doing. For kraut it will be fried, if in beans water boiled, and my actual favorite is on the grill.

Definitely the smaller diameter stuffer if geared the same. I broke my small stuffer last spring and finished using my 26lb stuffer and that was miserable. I may have to invest in an electric stuffer next fall!

Similar to ham flavor, smoked Buckboard bacon is good. Is it the front leg or rear leg? There is a little more fat in the meat off the front leg vs the ham off the back. If you use bacon cure just don’t get the meat block too thick.

bocephus If it gets to that point no one is going to be able to stop us from doing what we need to do to feed ourselves and our family.

Either will work, just be sure to remove the skin.

Jonathon Yes it is beef! I was kind of disappointed it didn’t have more of a horseradish bite and taste however when I slapped it on a bun and dressed it up using habanero pepper jack cheese it made it snap. With that being said I think it could use more horseradish flavor. All in all another great brat!

Yes I will definitely save 12oz of drippings to amp it up! The wife and I loved the flavors with the kraut and swizzle cheese added in but the carrot fibber didn’t put a dent on all the liquid that came from the kraut and added water! But they are amazing!

PapaSop Those sausages looks terrific and I use the canning and pickling salt for everything in the house except for finishing.

glen thank you!

If they are consistently splitting while cooking, you might want to try pricking them right before putting them on the grill. Pricking will let a little of the juice out while they are cooking so the internal pressure doesn’t get too high.
This shouldn’t be routine fix, but more of a way to salvage the batch in the mean time.

BRYARRR_80 I’d echo what processhead says and I’d also say between 3-6% once rehydrated is pretty standard. However, jalapeno flakes were one of those odd things that got REAL hard to get for a while there and the price went crazy, I don’t know that sourcing them is going to be a lot cheaper…now, it could be, but it might now be. Since you work in large amount, we can special order in bags that do 100 lb each from Excalibur of the patty mix. Probably have to buy a case, which would be 5 of those bags but if you are interested reach out to cs at either [email protected] or 800-835-2832 and give them SKU 4550521182 and see what they can do for ordering.

More fantastic info. Thank you so much!

Grimpuppy looks great 👍

Dave in AZ very useful information. Thanks for sharing.

Try a spray bottle with water. Spray the paper a little bit before pressing.

PapaSop twice through a 3/8 plate. I like a little courser texture on brats.

mhighland69
I am on board as well. Pre-sliced, pre-ground processed meat is convenient, but at the cost of quality and poorer shelf life.

Whole cuts stay fresher and maintain their color much better than sliced product.

Dave in AZ
Sounds good. Will be looking forward to hear how it turns out.

So many recipes…so little time.

One might go to the meat store and take a quick photo of some 80/20 and 70/30 (or whatever ratios your meat market carry) for comparison. This should give you a quick idea on where to start concerning fat content for sausage making.

YooperDog Thanks for the info. The butts that I found had skin attached and it seemed to work pretty good with adding the collagen, but I will look for jowls next time I make jaternice.

Just throwing out a thought for what ever it is worth, oxidation maybe.

Dave in AZ great information thanks for passing this along 👍

nmac54
It can be frustrating. I have had some really good commercial sausages before, various styles, and find myself wishing I could duplicate that flavor/texture.

Even for a very experienced sausage maker, it can be next to impossible to duplicate a flavor when he/she has tasted it before.

Now think about your question and having someone make a recommendation when they have never tasted that wonderful sausage before.

Like I say, it can be frustrating.

processhead If the motor is over-torqued or stressed it can trip a breaker on the motor. Simply hit the reset button and keep going. If it trips, just back off the speed a small touch and it will run through fine. We spent a lot of time tweaking how it worked to get the best performance we could. If it trips, it is probably from a small diameter snack stick. With the smallest stuffing tube, it has a higher likelihood of tripping if you try to run it at absolute max speed. Jon will have some better guidelines on what speed to run different things at for the best results. When it hits bottom, it should sense that situation and back off. It will not just keep going and burn out the motor at the bottom.

I got raving reviews on the brats! Jalapeno popper brats were loved by everyone who liked spicy at all, and the cheeseburger cheddarwurst were great for anyone adverse to spicy. A couple people that normally don’t like a lot in the flavored brat area were in love with the cheddarwursts! I think the 50/50 split of beef and pork was a good addition as well.

It continues to amaze me the depth of knowledge members have in this community and their willingness to share.

Take out the chips from that, then when I wrap a piece of bread around it Ill crush up chips as a topper, now we be talkin!!!

stephenmterry good luck on your bacon :bacon:

I think some of these machines with the cast aluminum housings probably were factory polished with a fine wire wheel buffer and then clear coated to seal the surface. I know on mine, there are areas where it looks like the coating has worn through from repeated cleaning and general wear and tear.

1766d446-c2c7-4846-94f4-bd15fce92eb5-20220416_093155.jpg

processhead Very nice thank you for the memories and pics.

IVERYAN they look great and the review is very professional thank you

geraldr622 Enjoy!

Doublecabin those look great. I bet the flavol profilies are very complimentary. They also look nice and tight so great job.

kyle I believe your right. I’m glad I dont have those problems. Probably all the dirt we ate as a child.

Dave in AZ great research. Thanks for sharing 👍

Dave in AZ 😆 🤣

Ridley Acres said in Easter Ham Brine:

Koops Arizona heat mustard

I absolutely love that stuff!

I guess my bottom line on this is the 1/2 in auto feed does not completely clamp the casing. The 3/8 does.

In my opinion, simmer the skin in just enough liquid, standard mirepoix, aromatics until very tender. Cool the protein and save the broth - reduce if necessary checking to see the binding of the gelatin.
Cooled skin / protein can be ground or chopped and folded into anything and broth used to bring it all together. ie: souse, head cheese,
Consider simmering with white wine and appropriate aromatics. Some vinegar will help.
After the loaf comes together and chilled, some pickle and / or capers and favorite good mustard when we serve it forth - sliced.

bleathery said in Home made bacon vs Commercial bacon and cooking:

Dave in AZ I definitely notice you don’t get as much splatter when pan frying the home cure compared to store bought. I can’t remember if it was a YouTube video or I read it, but they chalked it up to the injecting of the cure/flavoring.

I think the commercial-pumped bacon has a higher percentage of water in it just like most other commodity type cured meats. If it has more water, it is going to splatter more.

You can actually just microwave frozen meat to make it sliceable, yet still frozen. I do it all the time with pork loin, meat is still 32f with frozen crystals , but soft enough you can slice it with knife… I always cut partially frozen stuff for Chinese food, for thin slices. Fine to refreeze remainder.

kyle said in Kabanosy:

next time it will be 25#

Me too!

Thank you. I will just have to go for it.

Jamieson22 Aww come on a little snuggle if ya please!