Meat Vaca Day 1

[PapaSop]

Was thinking about using the bragging topic but was just a little shy. Casings got a bit tight. Hard to do solo but not terrible. Excalibur Blue Ribbon Brat and Holly PSS seasonings.
12.5lbs brats
5lbs breakfast sausage.

The first bite of the Blue Ribbon was very different than what I was used to. But as I continued on this was very good. The Holly stands in a class by itself. This was incredible.

I’d give 5* to both, but an extra star to the Hollys’.

[Jonathon]

PapaSop Looks awesome, no reason to be shy with that! Best tip I can give you on stuffing solo is to get a wood clamp and clamp your stuffer to the table, removes the rocking and makes everything MUCH much easier. You have a nice clean processing area set up, I like the liners in the lugs keeps clean and makes cleanup easier.

[PapaSop]

Jonathon
Thanks. I did have a clamp on the stuffer but not in that photo. That table works very well and looks dirty in a few spots but it’s pretty old. I always clean and sanitize everything. The lug liners work very well, wish I had them years ago.

[PapaSop]

More meat vaca. One success and a huge failure.

Using the last of my venison trim for sausage and snack sticks. 60/40 mix on both(first time using this, usually 70/30).

Sausage first… Used Excalibers pepper and garlic jerky seasoning. The ratio was a little in question for summer sausage. The other brand I’d been using used a 10oz package to 15# of meat. Figured that was a good starting point. Added hi temp cheddar to the last six pounds to try that. Results were perfect. Definite taste difference between the two mixes. The 60/40 had a lot more of pork fat feel to it. Similar to a store bought commercial brand. Now I’m torn between the two. Cheese was a very good addition but the rest of the family is so so on this. More for me!

My youngest son stop by to help and actually did most of the work(good kid)IMG_20190508_154335-1209x1612.jpg

When it hit the stall I decided to try the water bath to finish according to Parksider . This worked very well and brought to temp in 40 min.

This happened just before the end of the mixing process. We heard metal hitting metal and then a snap. .

First time using the 44# mixer. 15# batch should not of done this. Figured this was metal fatigued and a bad weld. E-mailed Walton’s customer service who sent me straight to Weston. One call and an e-mail and new one is on the way. Great service from both.

Now the fail… A few pics to show the good part.

Walton’s commercial?

The sticks on the left were my third try with these smoked collagen casings. Came out very wrinkled and tough again. Guess just a bad batch(not from Walton’s)rest on the way to landfill. Can’t even chew these. Peel casing off and meat is fine. The other are 21 mm fresh casings(Walton’s) came out much better and easily chewable.

Final test is the taste…There was very little. Used Willie’s many times and this was not it.

Here’s the recipe–

10#s meat
.94oz Willies
1.6oz carrot fiber
20oz H2O
3c pepper cheese
.4oz cure

Did ya catch it? Actually needed 9.4oz Willies. After I weighed it out I even looked at it thinking this doesn’t look right and it still didn’t click. I’m chalking this up to a senior moment. D**n…really considered not mentioning this but…Lesson learned, double check ingredients.
I’ll still eat it

[Jonathon]

PapaSop I think it is important to point out when we make mistakes during processing, trust me it happens to everyone! There is not a single honest person who would tell you they have never done anything like this! I once left the sure cure out of a 15 lb batch and had already stuffed them so I had to cut and squeeze them out of the casings and put them back in the stuffer for another go around. Those were not the best textured sticks I have ever made, I can tell you that!

Breaking a mixer in the middle of processing doesnt sound like fun but Weston does a very good job standing behind there products in my opinion. Glad the new one is on its way and Im glad you are passing along the knowledge/enjoyment to the next generation. I think 10 years ago there was a worry that this would be a lost art form but the younger generation now cares more and more about making their own food and seems to really enjoy making specialty sausages.

[Jonathon]

PapaSop Oh, one more thing, with the over wrinkled casings, did you ice bath them? It could be that or it could be that with less seasoning the salt content wasn’t enough to make the proteins soluble in the meat.

[PapaSop]

Jonathon I did ice bath them but those casings were already shriveling two hours into the smoke.

These pics from last Dec. using the same casing. Ended up peeling them all off. Never had an issue with this type of casing until these. Still think they were old or bad the day I bought it. BTW…I had the recipe right on this one.LOL.

[chrisndee2]

PapaSop Those all look great. I just bought my 44lb mixer a couple of weeks ago. I plan on using it this Friday for the first time to make a 25lb batch of Jalapeño Cheddar summer sausage and snack sticks. I’ll let you know if I have the same issue with the mixer. I hope not, but I’ve seen a couple of other people post pictures of snapped blades.

[PapaSop]

Brats grill test.
The initial test of the brats was a patty, pan fried, but needed the real thing. Grilling is the only way to go on these. The diameter difference on these was intentional. Wanted to see if there was a difference. I did indirect these for about 15 minutes to warm them before putting directly over the coals. The larger ones were a bit juicier which is not surprising. The Blue Ribbon seasoning is outstanding. I would challenge anyone from “brat land” to try this. If you’ve never had a bratwurst, then this is your chance.

No side condiments as you can see. Just a taste test. I do love a little kraut on my brat.

I used a pork butt on this that had a nice fat cap. Not sure of fat ratio but maybe the scientists will chime in.

[Joe Hell]

PapaSop I’ll have to give the Blue Ribbon a try!

[Jonathon]

PapaSop and Joe Hell I tend to gloss over the blue ribbon because we have had it so many times but it is an excellent seasoning and our best selling bratwurst seasoning. Maybe it would be helpful if we started a post on each type of seasoning and everyone could leave their opinions on it…have to flesh that idea out more but I think I like it.

So it would be its own topic under the Waltons community and in there we would break it down further by type of seasoning like Snack Stick, Bratwurst, Jerky, etc., and then when you click on that you would get a list of every seasoning and then anyone could add their opinions. We could even have a link to link your review to waltonsinc.com…I like it! I will leave it to Austin to figure out how to do this, it is very nice to just come up with Ideas and have Austin have to figure out how to implement them as I am almost illiterate with technology!

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon That’s a good idea! Anything we can do to make Austin work harder will be a benefit to everyone! Win, win!

[PapaSop]

Jonathon Great idea!

[PapaSop]

New mixing shaft just arrived. Again, great service from Weston and Walton’s.

[Joe Hell]

PapaSop It might be a good idea to have the old one repaired for a back up just in case!

[PapaSop]

Joe Hell Yep. Was thinking about that. I’ll have to find someone who welds. Haven’t done that in years and never on stainless. Thanks.

[Joe Hell]

PapaSop In my area we have a lot of qualified stainless guys due to the 150+ wineries, breweries and distilleries. Many will barter for goods/services too!

[PapaSop]

Pulled pork

Injected the butt last evening using Pa’s and auto injector. This went very well. Injector worked perfectly. Wrapped in the lug liner and into the fridge overnight. I was able to inject a quart of the Pa’s. Problem is that left a quart. Can this be saved? Or halve the mix next time? Really don’t like wasting anything.

Today. Woke up to rain and strong gusty winds blowing right at my garage. Having already postponed this cook twice before for same reason I didn’t care. Going to push through this. Fired up the smoker and lit the pellet tube. Applied a barbeque rub and into the smoker.

The wind is a definite factor today. Ended up moving into the doorway of garage and put two coolers around the smoker to block some of it out. This helped a lot. The pellet tube ran out after 2 1/2 hours because of the increased wind flow. Refilled and used a piece of foil to act as a shroud around it. This really helped slow the pellets down. OK. I think it’s finally time to let the smoker do its job.

I won’t be denied today!

Back later with the finale.

[Joe Hell]

PapaSop today is our local window of outdoor opportunity so I’m doing ribs, wings and bacon burnt ends! Up first is the ribs!

[PapaSop]

The results…
When I sat down to do this I realized I’d only taken one pic of the final product. That’s ok, hungry people waiting. The meal was the pork, fresh burger style buns from local bakery, corn muffins, baked beans(also went in smoker) and cole slaw. I was the only one to use bbq sauce, onion and slaw on a bun. They didn’t want to spoil the taste of the meat(thank you very much).

The Pa’s seasoning was outstanding. Very nice moist finish. The rub provide a great crust. The overall taste was wonderful and will be doing this more going forward. Total cook was 11.5 hrs. I did flip the butt once about eight hours in and sprinkled on more rub.

At least I got a pic of the muffins…Like candy to me!
Got a better pic of the finished product after getting it all pulled.