How Long Is Your Sausage?

[IronNoggin]

Ran through another couple of batches of sausage yesterday eve. Bratwurst this time, a 25 pound batch which produced the longest single coil we have ever produced to date!

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Long_Brat_2.jpg

This recipe from the Old Country consistently produces the best brats I have encountered outside of Germany, and this run was no different. I made up "too many" of them for din-din after we were done, and not a single morsel remained once we got at them. Quaffed back with a good German beer, it doesn't get a whole lot better!

Recipe for this batch:

10 Pounds of FINE ground Black-tail Deer
15 Pounds of FINE ground Pork

6 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
5 Tablespoons ground Nutmeg
9 Teaspoons ground Mace
6 Teaspoons ground Ginger
5 Cups Milk
9 Eggs - beaten
3 Cups non-fat Dry Milk Powder

Mix finely ground meat in large tub.
Combine Spices in container and then mix with 5 cups COLD Milk and beaten Eggs.
Pour spice, milk and egg combination into ground meat and mix THOROUGHLY.
Add Milk Powder to the mixture and combine Thoroughly.

Stuff into 32-35mm hog casings and refrigerate or freeze Immediately.

Can't go wrong with this one Folks! Note that no cure has been added so you must refrigerate (up to 3 or 4 days Maximum) or freeze. These vacuum seal well, and will last up to six months in the freezer - for some reason mine never make it that far! LOL!

Another run from a day or two ago, this time Smoked Country and Smoked Garlic Sausage. YUMMY!

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Smoker_Load.jpg

Smoked Country:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Smoked_Country.jpg

Smoked Garlic:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Smoked_Garlic.jpg

If there are any sausage makers in the crowd who might be interested, let me know and I'll post the recipes for those two.

Next up: Maple Cured Breakfast Sausage!!

Cheers,
Nog

[Justfish]

I really really did not need to see that.......
But well done!

[The Fog Ducker]

Awesome Matt

our familly makes a pretty mean Sauceetch too!

look dalish

FK

[tyeegalore]

Nice lookin sausage Noggin. I've been playing with making my own for close to 15 yrs now, I do pepperoni, slim jims, bratwurst (going to try your recipe next time) and hot italian mostly, just did 55 lbs last week and tried weiners for the first time, tasted more like smokies then commercial weiners. I have done salami and other smoked recipes as well. Any recipes you care to share I would be grateful for, the family loves eatin home made and I like makin them. The Maple Cured Breakfast sounds very interesting as well. Oh and by the way to answer your thread, it ain't near as long as yours!!

[Islandgirl]

Great picks Nog and I am looking forward to trying your brat recipe... Where do you get your hog casings from?
Does anyone have a good pepperoni recipe they are willing to share?? I experimented last week with 3 different recipes..not really happy with any of them.
tia

[Gunsmith]

How Long Is Your Sausage? Nice lookin sausage Noggin. I've been playing with my own for close to 15 yrs now. Boy I thought for a minute I was in the wrong section. HaHaHa!

[tyeegalore]

Does anyone have a good pepperoni recipe they are willing to share?? I experimented last week with 3 different recipes..not really happy with any of them.
tia

I will gladly share mine with you but I'm not that happy with it. I,ve made changes to it over the last 3 batches but it just is missing something or not the taste that you go "wow is that good".

[IronNoggin]

... Where do you get your hog casings from?
Does anyone have a good pepperoni recipe they are willing to share??

Yup, those brats turned out DEADLY! Will be making even more of those I suspect.
On temporary hold for now, too many other things on the go. Once we do, I'll flash up a few more tried & tested Recipes for ya'll (really didn't understand there was that much interest).

We get our hog casings directly from Hertel's. One of the advantages of living in Port as they are right here. Usually they just pull the number of strips we need right off the production line - can't get any fresher, or easier to deal with! Good bunch of Folks out there, and they have offered sound advice on many occasions over the years.

Not too much into pepperoni myself. That said I did run off a batch that relied very heavily on the "Spicey Mesquite" spice instead of the usual last year, and it was damn fine. Gotta like it a tad warm to appreciate. That was my best effort to date. If you're interested I may be able to find the recipe I made up for that run...

Cheers,
Nog

[Islandgirl]

Hi Matt

Could you post your smoked country and garlic sausage recipe? Next time I am over port way I will pick up some casings there. I have not had good luck buying hog casings on this side of the island. If you have a pepperoni recipe please post also!
tia

[likwit]

I've bought directly and ordered from Stuffers in Langley: www.stuffers.com

They are good folks, delivery is cheap and fast to the island, and they have all the curing salts if you're into that sort of thing.

Nog, are those smoked sausages cooked all the way through in the smoker? They look real tasty...

[IronNoggin]

Nog, are those smoked sausages cooked all the way through in the smoker? They look real tasty...

Both cured and "cooked".

Gonna take a few minutes away from the Halibut thing (need to relax a little!!) and reply to this thread.

Stuffers is good, several of my Buddies use their products and are happy. Hertel's is easier for me, as they are right here. And their products are of course First Rate & they have been more than helpful.

Here's a few of the recipes we've found to be good:

Country Style Deer Sausage
10 lbs well trimmed venison
10 lbs fatty (25-30%) pork
2 cups non-fat dry milk powder
1/3 to 1/2cup pickling salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup onion powder or granulated onion
3 tablespoons fine ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh ground nutmeg
6 (or more) tablespoons whole mustard seed
4 teaspoons #1 cure (prague powder)
3 cups ice water

1. Grind venison and pork through the medium plate on your grinder.
2. Mix all the cure and spices except the milk powder with the 3 cups of ice water.
3. Pour the water/spice/cure mixture into the ground meat and mix well to distribute. Then add the milk powder and continue mixing for another minute or so until it is all incorporated into the sausage.
4. Stuff the sausage immediately into 35-38mm natural hog casings and prepare the links for the smoker.
5. Air dry (I use fans to speed this up) the links until dry to the touch - cool room obviously.
6. Hang on racks in smoker and smoke.

I like to smoke my country sausage fairly heavily with a 50/50 hickory/apple chip mix for about 3 hours or so.
Keep the temperature inside the sausage smoker between 160 and 165 degrees F. Max
Make sure to bring the sausage to 152 Degrees F before you remove it for showering and blooming. Do NOT guess on this one, use a good meat thermometer!

Once your sausage has reached the correct internal temperature (152 degrees F.), you must cool it quickly and thoroughly or the casings will shrink and shrivel. You need to have things ready in place for the cooling process. The target is to cool the product down to 120 degrees F as quickly as you can. I use one of my saltwater "coffins" full of ice water. Then take the racks directly from the smoker and drop them in. Let then sit in the bath for sufficient time that they become cool to the touch (~ 10 to 15 minutes). Suggest only doing a few racks at a time, and adding ice if necessary between batches. Keep the door on the smoker closed between batches to maintain their heat.

The smoked sausage will now be nice and plump, and will have taken on a brown color from the wood smoke. To assure an even deeper and more uniform color though, you now need to "bloom" your sausage links. Blooming is nothing more than letting your sausage dry and "age" at room temperature before you package it for storage. I simply place them on the racks used for air-drying and let them sit for about 4 hours.

You have to use these up within about 3 or 4 days if refrigerated, but if vacuum-sealed will last up to 6 or 7 months in the freezer. Never had any around quite that long myself... LOL!

Will fire up another one shortly...

[IronNoggin]

Italian Sausage

5 lbs trimmed venison
5 lbs fatty pork
4 tablespoons granulated garlic
3 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoon fine ground black pepper
4 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
4 tablespoons oregano leaves
4 tablepoons (can go more) whole mustard seed
8 - 9 tablespoons Italian Spice (Costco)
2 tablepoons crushed red chillies
2 cups ice water

1. Grind the venison and pork through the medium blade on your grinder.
2. Mix all the cure and spices with the 2 cups of ice water.
3. Pour the water/spice/cure combination into the ground sausage meat and mix it very well by hand to be sure of even distribution.
4. Stuff the sausage immediately into 35-38mm natural hog casings.

You can spice this one up by adding more Italian spice and chillies. This is a "fresh" sausage, so must be refrigerated and used very quickly or vacuum-sealed and frozen.

These make a Deadly addition to any spaghetti sauce!! ;)

[IronNoggin]

We came up with this one as kind of a variant on the Italian sausage noted above. It is a very good "smokie" type of product, far surpasses anything you can buy in the store!!

Smoked Garlic Sausage

5 lbs trimmed venison
5 lbs fatty pork
4 tablespoons granulated garlic
4 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons granulated onion
3 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoon fine ground black pepper
4 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
4 tablespoons (can go more) whole mustard seed
2 teaspoons # 1 prague powder cure
2 cups ice water

1. Grind the venison and pork through the medium blade on your grinder.
2. Mix all the cure and spices with the 2 cups of ice water.
3. Pour the water/spice/cure combination into the ground sausage meat and mix it very well by hand to be sure of even distribution.
4. Stuff the sausage immediately into 35-38mm natural hog casings.

Follow the air-drying, smoking, cooling, blooming and packaging/storage directions as provided in the Country Sausage recipe above.

[IronNoggin]

And finally for now, one of my absolute Favorites!

Maple Deer Sausage Recipe

5 lbs venison
5 lbs fatty pork
4 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
3 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons rubbed sage
2 tablespoon fine ground black pepper
1 cup real maple syrup (can use a little more, and also can boost the maple flavor by adding in one or even two small bottles of maple flavoring liquid)
1 cup ice water

1. Grind the venison and pork through the fine (3/16") plate of your grinder.
2. Combine the spices and mix with the ice water and the maple syrup.
3. Pour the spice, water, and syrup combination into the ground meat and mix thoroughly.
4. Once the sausage is fully mixed, stuff it immediately into 22 - 24 mm casings.

Another "fresh" sausage, you must either use it quickly, or vacuum-seal and freeze.

Incredible "Breakfast Experience"! :D

Cheers,
Nog

[firelight]

now I need yet another set up of gear so I can make these, they look so good

nog awesome

[Gunsmith]

Awesome Nog, looks delicious! Have to try those recipes.

[IronNoggin]

now I need yet another set up of gear so I can make these, they look so good

LOL! Thanks Buddy!

If you (or anyone else for that matter) wants to get into this, let me know. We went through a series of trials and errors when first getting set up, some good, some not-so-much. Therefore I can recommend a few things to gather up, and a few things to avoid...

Cheers,
Nog

[Islandgirl]

Hey Matt
thanks for the recipies..
I will give you a call. I have just started out and had some success and some failure...LOL

[tyeegalore]

Thanks for sharing all these recipes, I am really interested in the Maple Deer Sausage Recipe.

[firelight]

[QUOTE=IronNoggin;166710]LOL! Thanks Buddy!

If you (or anyone else for that matter) wants to get into this, let me know. We went through a series of trials and errors when first getting set up, some good, some not-so-much. Therefore I can recommend a few things to gather up, and a few things to avoid...





Matt soon as I can get my Newfie buddy Doc to snare one of these
pesky deers in my backyard, it's sausage for sure. Other than that there
are still a few good ole boys on Saltspring that could help me out with that.

[Karma-Kazi]

a few years back we got 4 moose between 2 familys so we decided to do a big batch of sausages. We had the industrial meat grinder and all the fancy tools including real pig intestines for casings. We made had 400 pounds of moose and 300 pounds of pork in one batch we worked from 6 am untill 1 am the next day from cutting the meat and grinding it to vaccume packing them. We ended up using a mixing drill and a paddle like you would for mixing cement in a bucket. It worked really well for working in the spices and mixing the pork and moose really well.

By the end of the day the 4 of us had consumed atleast a 24 pack and 15 pounds of sausages each. It was horrible. My buddy even work up in the middle of the night because of a dream we was drowning in sausages!

Great times together though!

-Steve

[naknekm]

When I read the title, I thought that I would see a bunch of off color comments......but you have got me going on making sausage. I have a bunch of ducks that we haven't been able to get through. I bet they will make great sausage.

[markfarley]

I made a batch of these brats today and WOW! One of the best recipies I have done. I would not change a thing.
Cheers Nog thanks for all the great posts.