Summer Sausage, Snack Stick Extravaganza - Live Weekend Thread

4:49 took all sausages out of the smoker.. the Jalapeno and cheese stuffed ones which were on the left furthest from the element was sitting at 150.. so I turned the oven to 180 and cracked the door to finish...

As I'm typing this.. the missus is chowing down.. I cut a few slices from the ones I pulled earlier. Looks like summer sausage to me!!

Also I wanna add.. Everything else was above 155.... The directions on the summer sausage package says 152... So I went with 155 or above I was putting in an ice bath.

The outside of the Sausage right under the casing has a nice "Skin" like layer looks like they set pretty nicely.

0ORrXGa.jpg


rndHJRN.jpg
 
Last edited:
Very interesting (and great lookin') thread here. Have never made sausages but have eaten a whole buncha them.
 
Joshw said:
Looks like they turned out pretty good. What are your opinions on finish temp?
Click to expand...

We sliced the one that was pulled at 156.... and the sausage its self seemed great. I have no clue how any other sausage turned out. I'm not sure if I Should just brave it and open another one just to check for fat out before I start serving people? From that point on though I pulled everything that was above 155...

Well it took a total of 16 hours to do the 20lbs of summer sausage. Getting ready to start my day with the snack sticks.. I had to take a nap.. I'm running behind.. Doesn't matter tho if it takes all night.
 
That looks really interesting. My son and I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE summer sausage, but somehow most store-bought ones seem to be lacking. I'll bet the homemade version is far superior. I never thought about tryin to make my own.

The meat you diced up and ground -- were those briskets? Any other cuts of meat? Do you actually try to measure the fat %, or do you just trim the meat like you like it and grind as is?

Sorry for the questions, but I might have to give it a try.
 
OklaDustDevil said:
That looks really interesting. My son and I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE summer sausage, but somehow most store-bought ones seem to be lacking. I'll bet the homemade version is far superior. I never thought about tryin to make my own.

The meat you diced up and ground -- were those briskets? Any other cuts of meat? Do you actually try to measure the fat %, or do you just trim the meat like you like it and grind as is?

Sorry for the questions, but I might have to give it a try.
Click to expand...

If you love summer sausage this is soooo much better.. I just passed around a few pieces of the one I cut open.. and its a smash hit. I make the process seem a little harder because I like to have every little detail figured out and know what I'm doing but its really a simple process.... Very time consuming.

The meat I cut up for this project is what my store calls an English Roast... I think it comes from around the same area the chuck roast does. Very similar cuts of meat.. I just bought a whole slab instead of individual roasts.

As far as measuring the fat content.. I just winged it.. I probably could of trimmed off a little more fat for the summer sausages (doesn't matter they turned out great).. Personally I just looked for well marbled ground meat. Wasn't going for exact 80/20 mix or anything.. The local store did give me 6lbs of pork fat for free just never needed it.
 
Well, from lookin at the cut end of the summer sausage in those pics you posted it looks friggin awesome.

For summer sausage, do you grind for a particular consistency? In other words, to make it "summer sausage," do you try to achieve a certain fineness or smoothness, versus chunkiness? I'm contrasting it against good Central Texas beef sausage, which usually has a degree of chunkiness.
 
OklaDustDevil said:
Well, from lookin at the cut end of the summer sausage in those pics you posted it looks friggin awesome.

For summer sausage, do you grind for a particular consistency? In other words, to make it "summer sausage," do you try to achieve a certain fineness or smoothness, versus chunkiness? I'm contrasting it against good Central Texas beef sausage, which usually has a degree of chunkiness.
Click to expand...

Um I think in most cases...during my research and those who I've talked to about the process... (This is the first time making summer sausages for me). It varies depending on the person.. I've seen some only grind once with a course grinding plate... Some people will grind twice.. Grind the first time with the course grinding plate. Then they will season the meat and grind again on medium size grinding plate.

I ground twice..... With the summer sausage batch though. Not sure if I had to much fat, but my medium plate kept getting clogged.. It annoyed me so I ground the summer sausage meat twice with the course grinder
 
Day 3..... (I think its day 3 anyways)...... Snack stick smoking time. So I left the snack sticks in a long rope tied into different links... Took them out to the smoker and realized it just wasn't gonna work that way.... I had to go back inside.. cut the rope into small sections to make it all fit. You can tell the difference from the bottom rack to the top rack..

Decided not to use the bottom rack purely for the fact it's really close to the element. I don't have a problem smoking both snack stick batches separately.

I'll say this having a meat probe in the snack sticks is probably not very useful. I'm not sure if its reading correctly but after 1 hour at 130 degree's it is sitting at 110 degree's.. I rushed out there started adding smoke and bumped the temp to 150. I'll use the meat probe as a "guide" instead of a tool

Update: Forgot to add picture LOL

FTwklaF.jpg
 
Last edited:
Blazin,

I don't think I've ever seen a thread from you that wasn't all into the deep end. :-D

Keep the pRon rolling, brother, I'm loving it. :-D
 
Smoking Piney said:
Blazin,

I don't think I've ever seen a thread from you that wasn't all into the deep end. :-D

Keep the pRon rolling, brother, I'm loving it. :-D
Click to expand...

For sure man!! Finally getting some use out of the MES40...... That thing is just kicking along just great.. I've got my money worth out of it just in this cook alone.
 
Man I just couldn't resist.. I had to at least cut open 1 more log the check for quality.... Decided to choose the smallest Jalapeno and cheese stuffed log.. This was a "left over" Log and it was half the size of the rest.. Figured if there was failure it would be this one.

Hi-Temp cheese would of helped. Cheese is a little bit soft. I let the sausages sit out in the open while I took a nap to bloom roughly 4 hours at room temp. I just put them in the fridge a hour or so ago.. So I'm sure after a fulll night in the fridge everything will solidify and be great. Oh yeah.... its farking goood!!!!

yeJyE8l.jpg
 
mchar69 said:
I was going to mention the high temp cheese, but I don' think it has much flavor.
Nice going.
Click to expand...

Well my plans were.. and I made a thread a few days ago asking about high temp cheese or I could be fine without it.. as I would have to travel or order it online..

Exactly as you said I've read other people saying they didn't enjoy the flavor from the high temp cheese as much... Chose to go with sharp cheddar cheese... for that reason.

I say it'll be nice. I'm gonna vac/seal and leave them in the fridge over night tonight. I say after cooling over night they will be just right... Then I plan on freezing a couple of them that'll help everything meld back together
 
at what point should I vac seal the summer sausages.. they are sitting in the fridge right now... been there since noon. Was thinking about going ahead and doing it tonight while I wait for snack sticks...

Next post will be interesting.. had some unexpected turn of events in the whole process.. Waiting to dodge in and out of the house as its farkin cold outside
 
Well once again I found out how absent minded I am about things.. First batch of snack sticks have been going with no smoke for a couple hours.... I'm sitting here watching the temp rise sitting at 135IT...... Thinking damn its gonna be another few hours until the next batch goes on....... then the light bulb lit up......

Put the first batch in the oven....... Put the 2nd batch in the smoker DUH!!!!!!! Wish I thought of that once I took off the smoke...... So I've been inside this entire time since the sun went down.... walked outside to a nice dusting of snow!!! This has turned into a "Snot" cook (those who know will know)...... Good thing is the electric smoker is under a roof and isn't effected by the snow.

Here's a picture.. snack sticks even the crispy/wrinkled ones are sitting at 130 something.
kWFr3q5.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MossyMO
701 Summer Sausage
Replies
10
Views
660
snadamo
snadamo
MossyMO
RoughRider Meat Sticks
2
Replies
21
Views
1K
MossyMO
MossyMO
TheHojo
Jalapeño Sausage
Replies
17
Views
931
cowgirl
cowgirl
S
Oktoberfest vegetarian option, Beyond spicy sausages?
Replies
13
Views
1K
cayenne
cayenne
S
can I smoke with logs that had mushrooms?
Replies
9
Views
773
seattlepitboss
S
Back
Top