heres what I like to purchase w questions

[ratrod36]

Hi everyone
I’m new at this. I don’t have a smoker i do have a dehydrator
what i’m planning on making is jerky snack sticks and some summer sausage
i know i can make the snack stick and jerky in my dehydrator
I’m at a lost on how to cook my summer sausage oven temperature how long to cook and food temp

heres a list of seasoning and casings I’m to purchase

colorado jerky seasoning
willies snack stick
summer sausage
2.9x20 Mahogany fibrous summer sausage casing

let me know what you all think for someone starting out

how do you store your leftover seasonings if you dont use them all

thanks again for your time

rookie

[blackbetty61]

ratrod36 do you by chance have a pellet grill? If not you can use your oven on the lowest it’ll go you might have to leave the door cracked a bit so it doesn’t get too hot. You won’t have any smoke flavor unless you use liquid smoke or some sort of smoke additive(I’ve never used any of them before) do you have a meat thermometer to check temps? I’ve only finished in the oven once just cause I was tired of waiting for my summer sausage in the smoker…haven’t done it from start to finish. i usually vacuum pack my leftover seasonings…if you’re a newbie I’d search this f***m page and see what posts you can find and deffently watch some of the how to videos on this site they are great and very informative. This site is great for people helping people with sausage making!

[Jonathon]

ratrod36 In general I would say a smoker is far more valuable than a dehydrator, smoked jerky (in my opinion) almost always comes out better in a smoker. But, if you don’t have a smoker I would start in your oven at its lowest temp, then up it to 180 until internal temp of your meat gets to 160, shouldn’t be long at all since the meat is sliced so thin. Then you can move it to a dehydrator. The reason for us recommending this is that to destroy bacteria heat NEEDS moisture, so if you get your jerky to a certain temp after it has dried out to a low enough water activity it doesn’t matter, that bacteria is still alive in there. Just my $.02.

Colorado is the best selling jerky seasoning, it is very good but basic. It is what a lot of people use as a base when they want to try adding something else. Now, tons of people use just that and love their jerky too. It is a good one to try first, but if you are interested in other jerky seasonings both Walton’s Bold and Garlic and Pepper are two great ones that almost anyone would like.

Willies is the best snack stick seasoning, at this point, I’m not even sure I say that is debatable! Just kidding, of course, some people like others best but in my opinion, it is the perfect combination of pepper and salt, toss some high-temp cheddar cheese in and it’s awesome!

For your summer sausage you can prop the lid of your oven, we were able to stabilize the top shelf of our oven at 120° with this trick, https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1463/meat-processing-equipment-208-low-temp-oven and it worked well, then just step it up gradually using this smoke schedule https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/762/cured-sausage-107-basics-for-making-summer-sausage

Seasonings can be resealed in the bag they came in and then stored in a cool dry dark place and as long as they didn’t get too much moisture in them you should get the full life of the seasoning. Each bag should have a best by date on it, if not plan on getting about another year out of it.

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon I tried a new oven method over the weekend that turned out great. I once again used the stew meat sized chunks and cooked at 350 for 10 minutes then turned the oven to my lowest setting of 170 for a few hours. They turned out perfect!