Water bath

[Parksider]

I know this topic is like grabbing the 3rd rail but I’m a beliver. Always done it, still doing it today, be doing it tomorrow… I still think it’s a great way to even out the sticks, brings back the wrinkled casings if the smoke gets off course at all. Just a very gentle way to cook in general. Always at 170F. I scored this pan from a closing grocery store instead of the vertical turkey fryer, worked ok, but the basket is great to fish them out of the hot water, not sure if this will be around long term.
Jonathon This pic is for you buddy!

[Jonathon]

Parksider Lol thanks! I think almost everyone on here who has tried this is a convernt. I don’t use it all that much just because I am either using our commercial smoker which can run at very high relative humidity, I am using the auto sponges trick or I am trying to test something out. But if I am just making something for me or someone here I will absolutely use water at 170 to finish the sausage! I haven’t tried it yet on a large cut but I am planning on trying it for a turkey this year!

[chippewa]

Parksider thanks for this post. I am making a couple batches of sticks and I wasn’t sure about the collagen casings in the water bath. I have done summer sausage and plain smoked loafs in the water with great success but I was Leary about sticks. I will post my results.

[Parksider]

chippewa Sounds good, l use the water bath for all sausage and casing types. Water is very gentle heat, just keep it close to 170F and you’ll be fine. Over 200F and they’ll explode. I find that even if my sticks dry out and get wrinkled the water bath will bring them back for a great finished product.

[PapaSop]

Parksider
Yep. Tried that method with summer sausage and came out excellent. Will try it with snack sticks soon if the venison gods permit…

[Parksider]

PapaSop I just gave the fellas the green light to start dropping some does this weekend. Should start restocking soon!

[Jonathon]

Parksider How long do you guys hang up there?

[PapaSop]

Parksider
Nice. Glad you have a crew to keep that process going.

[blackbetty61]

Parksider
I tried this with a couple summer sausage logs, seems like when I did it there was no flavoring in the sausage, is it possible that I simmered/boiled the seasonings out of it. I’m kinda leary of trying this again but it takes so d**n long in the smoker. The ones just in the smoker had good flavoring. I thought about doing it the way Jonathon did with vacuum packing first. What did I do wrong? Anyone else chime in or have this problem? I tried keeping the temp @ 170

[Parksider]

blackbetty61 no way you cooked the spice out. Once you mix the seasoning in throw some in a pan and make sure it’s spiced correctly. I’d guess there was an error in the measuring of the spices. You can always cook one at a time to make sure you have the process down.

[chippewa]

I did 2 7# batches of sticks and the water bath worked great to finish after a 4 hour smoke.

[blackbetty61]

Parksider
We always take some outta the mixer and fry it up… we usually do #25 batches to make things easy so I don’t think it’s the seasoning…guess I’ll have to try the water bath again…kinda curious has anyone ever tried using a roaster for a water bath?

[Parksider]

blackbetty61 No sure what happened then. I’ve never had an issue with finishing in the water bath then having a lack of spice.

[PapaSop]

blackbetty61
Never tried a roaster but sounds interesting. I’d try it again. After trying Parksider water bath method I’m sure that’s what I’ll do going forward. Came out great. Not sure it’s possible to cook out the seasoning. Check your cook schedule and try again.

[Jonathon]

blackbetty61 Yeah, I agree with Parksider parksider, I have never had that issue. Has this only happened once? My thought would be for some reason you experienced a fatting out and that changed the flavor of the sausage, water alone won’t leech out that taste.

Hmmm I wonder if fatting out is more likely to occur in a water bath? Does anyone have any good way they can think of testing this, I’d be more than happy to run an experiment on it!

[Parksider]

Jonathon I actually think it’s less likely to fat out. Fatting out typically happens, at least to me, when I’m not watching the smoker and temp gets away from me. I think it’s easier to run the smoker at a lower temp, like 140-150F, get the right amount of smoke then finish in the water bath. The water is very easy to control the temp especially with a turkey fryer burner, you can really dial that in.

[Jonathon]

Parksider Right, but what if you didn’t get enough protein extraction, would the water have a reaction to the loose fat that would be greater than air?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon I did pepperoni snack sticks for the shop yesterday and had planned on doing a water bath but I just wasn’t easily set up for it. Our cookshack doesn’t have the programming capability I wish it had so I ran at 160 for an hour and a half and approx another hour at 180 with smoke until I hit 160 followed by an ice bath. They were by far my best sticks to date.

[Jonathon]

Joe Hell Using any binder?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon Sure Gel!