After a couple day marathon, the sausages are done, and I really like the final results.

Blooming in the laundry, storage,sausage room

3" Waltons cotto salami


3" cotto, 2.4" H summer with cheese, 1.5" Cotto with cheese.
Here’s what I did
3" cotto salami
9lbs.- 50/50 pork butt, elk burger 80/20 w/
beef fat
Pork ground once, 4.5mm plate
.9 cup soya protien concentrate
234 gr. Waltons Cotto salami seasoning
2 tbl. Peppercorns
2 tsp. Sure cure
16 oz. Water
In refer. Overnight

1.5" 5lbs. Cotto salami w/ cheese
50/50 pork butt, deer burger 80/20 w/ beef fat
Pork butt ground once, 4.5 plate
34 gr.sure gel
1 tsp. Sure cure
8oz. Frozen cheese
130 gr. Cotto seasoning
49 gr. Smooth acid
1 tbl. Peppercorns
9 oz. Water

8.5 lbs.-2.4" and 1.5" H Summer sausage w/ cheese
50/50 pork butt, deer burger 80/20 w/ beef fat
Pork ground once 4.5 plate
2 tsp. Sure cure
57 gr. Sure gel
227 gr. Waltons H summer seasoning
8oz. Frozen cheddar cheese
84 gr. Smooth acid
15 oz. Water

Smokehouse
1 hour 120° drying, vent open
2 hour 125° smoking, vent closed
1 hour 140° smoking, vent closed
2 hour 155° smoking, vent closed
Turned up to 160°, pulled 1.5" sausages when they hit 130°, left larger sausages in smoker. Put smaller sausages in sous vide set to 150° till sausages hit 140°, the turned sous vide to 155° till sausage hit 150°, pulled and cooled, bloomed for 2 hours back room. Took larger sausages out of smokehouse when they were about 130°. The 2.4" were at 131°, the 3" were at 128° same procedure in sous vide, pulled them at 153° for the 2.4", and 150° for the 3". Bloomed for an hour in back room.

The verdict
Both seasonings were good. No fat loss anywhere that I can see, firm juicy product. The two differences I wanted to see was the difference between sure gel, and soya protien concentrate, and with, and without smooth acid. I didn’t notice any difference between the two binders in the final product. I did notice a difference when mixing. You use twice as much SPC, as you do sure gel, so as soon as you add SPC , it’s starts thickening up, quite a bit. In the future I’ll adjust the amount of water by the binder I’m useing. The smooth acid, to me, and my wife, was the dramatic change. It just makes the product very good. Both in the cotto, and H summer sausage. They were all good sausages, the one’s with smooth acid were very good, but hands down, the cotto, with cheese, and smooth acid were fantastic! That’s how I’ll be making my summer sausages in the future. As Forrest Gump would say " that’s all I have to say about that "

Denny O Decided to use my sous vide for something other than sausage making. London Broil with bourbon, garlic, brown sugar marinade( store bought mix) yukon gold potatoes with butter, shredded cheese, and sour cream. No room for vegetables, just meat and potatoes! Cooked 8 hours at 132° still a little chewy, 10 to 12 hours would be perfect, but tasted great.

The smooth acid, like Jonathon said, is amazing! This was the exact taste I was looking for, wife love’s it too. Has a tang, but different kinda tang than straight citric acid, and not over powering. Added a lot of flavor to pepperoni. I’m going to be ordering a bunch more.

Pepperoni came out good this time, a lot better than my last attempt. Pretty much zero smeared fat, or fat out. Casings with a few small wrinkles, but turned out good. Keeped the meat VERY cold, and didn’t get lazy about it this time. Thanks to all, and your advice.
Meat block
6 pounds meat
50% deer burger- 80/20 beef fat 1/8 grind
50% pork butt, fat cap removed, ground separately thru 8mm. Plate once
8 tbls seasoning
1 1/2 tsp.sure cure
9 tbls soya protein
59.5 grams smooth acid
7oz. Beet juice
Mixed spice, cure, and beet juice for 4 min., then added ground pork, another 4 min., then added pork fat and soya protien, mixed another 1 minute, then added smooth acid, 1 more minute mixing. Into stuffer, from stuffer, into smoker. Added beet juice instead of water to try to get a little more red in pepperoni, I THINK it MIGHT have made it a little red-er, don’t have anything to compare it to. Should have done some with, and without juice just to see.
Smoker
120° 1 hour ,no smoke, drying, vent open
125° 2 hours, smoke, vent closed, added sponge
140° 1 hour, smoke, vent closed
155° 2 hours, smoke, vent closed
165° 1hour, pulled at 135°, put in sous vide at 150° for 15 min. Then up to 158 till meat hit 150°, then set sous vide for 154 for 1 hour to let smooth acid do it’s thing. Into cold water for half hour, pulled at 80° from water, hung- bloomed for 2 hours and into fridge. It’s nice and firm, can cut it very thin, has a good texture, over all I’m pleased. Seasoning was a little weak. Just one of those seasoning off the shelf at big box sporting goods store. Gotta look around on that. Here’s a side note.
I usually mix the meat by hand, this time I used this potatoe masher. It worked REAL good, for me anyway. This is just a small one handed one, ordered a big 2 handed one off the enterweb for 7 bucks. It didn’t smash the meat like my fingers do, it mixed it very well, a lot less effort, didn’t get the meat warm, it just worked. Did the final 2 minutes mixing by hand, but the rest with this thing.

shoprat53 thanks , you too. Try to stay warm, might get some snow here too. Might stuff Rudolph in some casing, and and hang him in the smoker with care.

Worked as a truck driver, wholesale foods, delivering food to restaurants, schools, etc. You see all the sysco trucks running around, like that, only their competition. 40 years, retired. Started when I was 17, retired at 57. Also part time fishing guide for 15 years. Retired from that too.

ND Mike ya, I think everything I own is camo, except my truck, and dog, but her name is cammi. Another thing we do is years ago alot of the family always wanted some of that great venison burger ,brats, sticks, sausages that we made every year after hunting season. They really liked the product, but didn’t want anything to do with the process. So we made a deal with them. You want the tasty stuff, you come help. They had to either bone meat, cut pork, or fat ,run the stuffer, grinder, package it or something to get the goodies. It showed them at least a little bit were their food was coming from, and now they actually enjoy it. A couple of the grandkids starting hunting with us, so maybe there’s still hope.

Spmaher3 here’s another thing, not to overload you with too much info all at once By the way, I like the alien thing pretty funny. Keeping your meat cold is very important. Not so it just feels cold by hand, but by thermometer cold. Meat bonds best from the upper 30’s F to mid. 40 F. And grinds real good almost completely frozen especially pork fat. Alot of times by the time you get your grinding done, get all situated, into mixer, and mix for 20 minutes, your meat could be getting pretty warm, and you’ll get fat smear. That happened to me a couple weeks ago. Thought I did everything right, but got a lot of fat out, even with the sous vide, but I did let the meat get to warm and got a lot of fat smear.Like somebody told me, the freezer is your friend. If the meat is starting to get a little warm, throw it back in freezer for awhile. Like after grinding, back in freezer till it starts to crust up a little, then into mixer. Sometimes the simplest and smallest things make a big difference.

New to the board, got a question. We make a lot of brats from venison and pork every year. Same seasonings every year, very boring. Was looking for something different, seen pizza supreme brat mix on waltons sight, looks and sounds REAL good. On one off the reviews, somebody made a summer sausage, and snack sticks with the seasoning. My question would be, is there any reason I couldn’t use the seasoning for a summer sausage, for lack of a better term, with cure#1 and a binder. I see the last ingredient on site list citric acid in spices. Thanks!

ND Mike I remember when I was 49, them were the good old days I remember when we use to sit around hunting camp and listen to the older guy’s talking about there aches and pains, doctor visits, medicines they were taking etc. And we would laugh and say " is that all you guy’s talk about" and they would say, " don’t worry, your day’s coming" this year we were sitting around the campfire talking about our aches and pains, doctor visits, medicines etc. And laughing at our self because we sounded just like they sounded years ago. Adapt, know your limits, and keep on trucking. It’s all still good, just a lot sloooower, and sometimes a little painful.

cdavis Done, and blooming.

hunters stick I think I have one of those 3/8 tubes, but I’ve never use it. I use the one that’s a little bigger than half inch. I think it’s like 5/8. I use 19mm. Casing too. They won’t just slide over tube unraveled, but its not much effort to get the casing on the stuffing tube. Some of the hi temp. Cheese would be tough to get threw the 3/8 tube I would think.

OleSmokey I’m right behind you on the soup! Heading to store tommoro for some ingredients

twilliams thanks! Just about what I’m using now.

mdseaside agree with everything you said. Needs to be cooked for awhile in somekind of dry heat environment to get rid of some moister, and use of a binder, sure gel.

Dave in AZ great job on posting time- temperature table! People can see that it’s not just an opinion on temperature, it’s a fact.

NelsonMV that’s the spirit! Just keep on trying a few things to remember

1. Keep your meat cold! Meat binds best between 40° and 45 °. Use your thermometer to tell how cold it is. It can feel cold to your hands, but it can be 50° to 60° in reality.
2. Make sure you get your bind. There’s sticky, then there’s STICKY. Make sure it sticks to your hand up side down, and stretches apart. Just like in waltons video. Binders work great! Binders keep your product moist, helps keep fat from " fatting out" and really binds the meat together good. Waltons sure gel works great as a binder.
3. Try not to go over 160° during cooking process. Higher than that and the fat has a hard time holding on.
   I had all the same issues as you did not to long ago, and just a few small changes, made a big difference. Good luck!

NelsonMV and it like bocephus says, we’ve all made mistakes, I’ve made a lot this is the place to learn how to correct them. Lot of knowledgeable people here to help.

NelsonMV I was just wondering because it takes about 6 hours for my smokehouse to get my sausages to 130°, using the walton schedule, then it kinda stalls out. So at smokehouse temp. Of 155°, my sausage is 130° after 6 hrs. Then I turn up smokehouse to 160° to 165° for another hour to hit 132° to 135° internal temperature For sausage. I don’t know how long it would take the sausages to get to 140°. Just thought maybe you had some higher heat in your smokehouse towards the end of your smoking cycle, say 170° or more that might have caused fat out.

NelsonMV what was the temp. In smokehouse when you pulled the meat? How long did it take from the time you put it in smokehouse, till the time you pulled it.

NelsonMV what was your smoke schedule, and are you sure your thermometer is reading correctly.