Hi guys and gals just looking for some helpful hints and tidbits on the do's and don'ts of making and smoking of venison sausage. Now before i start i did do a lot of research on mostly this forum and others. Just getting ready to start my 1st quest into the sausage making realm this weekend and really was hoping to hear from the pros how to and what not to do! I have a bradley digital 4 rack with auber so as far as temps go i will be alright but what are some suggestions on how long and what diff temps? Im planning on using the Special blend as i really love that Smokey flavor unless others have reasons why to use any other smoke instead? Like i said before i really am excited to do this smokeout but am nervous about screwing up and wasting any venison as i respect what i shoot! so any hotlinks to recipes and procedures would be cool also and please not the sticky link as i already have that saved!
Thanks Dann
Just make sure your Bradley is working properly before you start. There is nothing more depressing than getting everything ground and stuffed only to find out you have no heat or your pucks won't advance.
LOL ya its definitely working ive done round 60lbs of Cooper White AMERICAN, 20lbs of revved up pistachio's and prob around 15lbs of deer jerky in the past week! Getting ready for the holidays! But thanks for the heads up lol
Get your sausage to room temp before putting in smoker. Usually 1 hour on counter will work just make sure you put cure in the mix.
Preheat smoker to 150 for about an hour then down to 130 for 1 hour and bump 10 degree every 1-2 hours. Make sure you don't go over 175 on your smoker. Pull sausage around 150-155 IT. I usually use oak for my smoke with venison. Have tried hickory but I like the oak better. Good Luck.
Thanks watchdog56 for the info now once the internal temp gets to the 155 mark do you use cold water or ice to stop the cooking?
And also if some people could chime in on alternative ways to fully cook the sausage instead of doing it in the smoker?
Finish it in a water bath. Preferably a Sous Vide style bath.
I usually put it in ice water to get temp around 100 then let it hang for a couple of hours. Also I was told (and do) put in brown bag and in frig overnight then cut up. I was told it was on old secret given to a member here by someone else. Seems to work well.
I just got my anova sous vide water heater looking forward to trying it out
Quote from: manfromplaid on December 10, 2014, 04:25:27 PM
I just got my anova sous vide water heater looking forward to trying it out
I've had mine since last summer and there it sits, still new, in the box. What's up with that?
have 15 lbs of snack sticks in the smoker all done in 21 mm collegen casing. has anyone tried to finish something like this in a water bath. could I put the casing in the water or does it need to be in a bag?
Quote from: manfromplaid on December 10, 2014, 05:40:21 PM
have 15 lbs of snack sticks in the smoker all done in 21 mm collegen casing. has anyone tried to finish something like this in a water bath. could I put the casing in the water or does it need to be in a bag?
I put my sausages directly in the water. Says NOT to do that but there is nothing on the circulator that can't be cleaned so I just put em in the water. Although I have not done it with snack sticks
The brown bag is for frog only. Do not put in water bath,I would imagine it will just get soaked.
Quote from: renoman on December 11, 2014, 06:28:27 AM
Quote from: manfromplaid on December 10, 2014, 05:40:21 PM
have 15 lbs of snack sticks in the smoker all done in 21 mm collegen casing. has anyone tried to finish something like this in a water bath. could I put the casing in the water or does it need to be in a bag?
I put my sausages directly in the water. Says NOT to do that but there is nothing on the circulator that can't be cleaned so I just put em in the water. Although I have not done it with snack sticks
You are fortunate. I have the Sansaire Circulator, and that model also recommends not to do that. Looking at both models the Anova looks like it is much easier to clean then the Sansaire, and the newer Anova models have a lot more bells & whistles.
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on December 11, 2014, 01:17:36 PM
Quote from: renoman on December 11, 2014, 06:28:27 AM
Quote from: manfromplaid on December 10, 2014, 05:40:21 PM
have 15 lbs of snack sticks in the smoker all done in 21 mm collegen casing. has anyone tried to finish something like this in a water bath. could I put the casing in the water or does it need to be in a bag?
I put my sausages directly in the water. Says NOT to do that but there is nothing on the circulator that can't be cleaned so I just put em in the water. Although I have not done it with snack sticks
You are fortunate. I have the Sansaire Circulator, and that model also recommends not to do that. Looking at both models the Anova looks like it is much easier to clean then the Sansaire, and the newer Anova models have a lot more bells & whistles.
So Habs I have a question for you. You know how cooking Sous Vide lets you bring the minimum temp of your finished meat down because it is held for a long period of time. For example poultry should be cooked to 165-170 but you can cook chicken breasts to 140 Sous Vide if you hold them there for 1-1/2 hrs. Would the same not hold true for finishing your sausage. Just put them in the Sous Vide and hold them at say 140 (or whatever the temp would be) for say 3 or more hrs before cooling. It would sure make it easy to not screw things up as far as over cooking them or standing guard over them.
Renoman
In theory your right. There was a link to a chart floating around the forum some time ago. The lower the temperature reached the longer the meat had to be held there. I'll see if I can come up with it.
Mike
I found this chart for salmonella. I had a better one but just can't find it now
GUIDELINES FOR COOKED MEAT PRODUCTS
1. Cooked beef, pork, lamb and other meat products can be prepared using one of the following time and temperature combinations to meet either a 6.5-log10 or 7-log10 reduction of Salmonella. The stated temperature is the minimum that must be achieved and maintained in all parts of each piece of meat for a least the stated time:
Minimum Internal Minimum processing time in
Temperature minutes or seconds after
minimum temperature is reached
Degrees Degrees 6.5-log10 7-log10
Fahrenheit Centigrade Lethality Lethality
130 54.4 112 min. 121 min.
131 55.0 89 min. 97 min.
132 55.6 71 min. 77 min.
133 56.1 56 min. 62 min.
134 56.7 45 min. 47 min.
135 57.2 36 min. 37 min.
136 57.8 28 min. 32 min.
137 58.4 23 min. 24 min.
138 58.9 18 min. 19 min.
139 59.5 15 min. 15 min.
140 60.0 12 min. 12 min.
141 60.6 9 min. 10 min.
142 61.1 8 min. 8 min.
143 61.7 6 min. 6 min.
144 62.2 5 min. 5 min.
145 62.8 4 min.* 4 min.*
146 63.3 169 sec. 182 sec.
147 63.9 134 sec. 144 sec.
148 64.4 107 sec. 115 sec.
149 65.0 85 sec. 91 sec.
150 65.6 67 sec. 72 sec.
151 66.1 54 sec. 58 sec.
152 66.7 43 sec. 46 sec.
153 67.2 34 sec. 37 sec.
154 67.8 27 sec. 29 sec.
155 68.3 22 sec. 23 sec.
156 68.9 17 sec. 19 sec.
157 69.4 14 sec. 15 sec.
158 70.0 0 sec.** 0 sec.**
159 70.6 0 sec.** 0 sec.**
160 71.1 0 sec ** 0 sec.**
ok thanks guys for all the info so far:} keep it coming.. so whats up with the brown paper bag in the frig overnight?? and also im going to add high temp cheese that i have already bought, how do you add the cheese? do you mix it in with the already gound up meat or do you grind it with meat?
thanks
Quote from: renoman on December 11, 2014, 04:56:32 PM
So Habs I have a question for you. You know how cooking Sous Vide lets you bring the minimum temp of your finished meat down because it is held for a long period of time. For example poultry should be cooked to 165-170 but you can cook chicken breasts to 140 Sous Vide if you hold them there for 1-1/2 hrs. Would the same not hold true for finishing your sausage. Just put them in the Sous Vide and hold them at say 140 (or whatever the temp would be) for say 3 or more hrs before cooling. It would sure make it easy to not screw things up as far as over cooking them or standing guard over them.
I've never sous vide sausage, and always used my Stoker when I poach batches of sausage, but as Mr Walleye pointed out, you should be safe. Below is an article that states you can sous vide beef sausage at 131°F.
Sous Vide Sausage (http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/tags/sous-vide-sausage-recipes)
Renoman
I know when I was looking at it before you always have to be careful to ensure you are looking at recommended temperatures and times for ground meat. There are a lot of charts around for whole muscle meat and to my understanding they are not the same. I haven't had a chance to try and find the information I had read on it yet but when and if I can find it again I'll post it here.
Smokindw
The paper bag in the fridge trick is used to continue to dry out the sausage and is usually only done with snack sticks. I have built a dry cure chamber and I will sometimes hang my sausage and especially snack sticks in there for about a week just to give them the texture and casing snap I'm looking for.
Mike
As far as adding the cheese, first mix in all your ingredients then loosely mix in the cheese. Try not to over mix because then it will get mushy.
ok guys i think I've got enough info to start my 1st batch of sausage but want to go over the process 1st to make sure im going to have a good turn out!
so im gona use eastmans outdoor sausage kit and it says to add 3tsp of seasonings per pound of meat so im making a 8lb batch for the 1st time which will be 4lbs of venison and 4lbs of pork mix. now how about the cure for Italian sausage it doesn't call for any cure but summer sausage it calls for 1tsp per pound? not really sure which one i need with or without cure? now once i figure out that how much water should i use for a 8lb batch? i did try and do some research on it but wasnt able to find a direct ratio. and once i got all that fig out im goin hand mix all the ingredients then fun them through the grinder again to make sure all is mixed good, them i was goin to put the mix into the frig overnight before adding the 3/4 lb of high temp cheese then stuffing? it sounds about right from what ive read but then again ive never did this before. is there some other ingredients like powered milk or others that will make this sausage better?
ok i figured out since im smoking them i will be adding the 1tsp of cure per pound so i think im ready to mix unless anyone want to chime in with an error in my ways?
For your venison sausage use about 1 tablespoon of water per pound
For your Italian sausage you don't need cure because you are making fresh sausage so eat it in a few days or freeze it
For the amount of cure to use it should be 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds if you are using cure #1.
Thanks im alil worried now since the directions that came with the sausage mix said to use 1tsp per pound of meat so thats what i did i used 8tsp of cure for the 8lb batch! Is that going to hurt eatin the sausage now since ive added so much more cure as per the directions?
The cure mixture came with your mix is probably not cure #1; which is used at a rate of 1 tsp. per 5lbs. You are using Eastman's cure mixture, which has a lower ratio of sodium nitrite, so use their instructions. If you are smoking the Italian sausage you need to add the cure mixture; using their instructions of 1 tsp. per pound.