Smoking Pepperoni

[thostorey]

I think I have a good recipe for the pepperoni; I intend to use up a bunch of venison stew cubes as I have a 'new' moose to take its place in the freezer[8D]. I'll mix in some pork sholder, I'm not sure of the ratio yet, but enought to add a little moisture and fat to the venison.

I have the  'original' BS and my question is how does one hang the sausage on the existing racks. I know 's' hooks are available at the hw store and I was thinking they may be the solution. Comments or suggestions?

Thanks


Tom in Qualicum Beach

[whitetailfan]

Tom,
I assume you are making coils, and not straight sticks.
You can use S hooks if you wish to hang, but I saw a picture from Bassman on his sausage thread, and he laid it all on the racks.  Since I saw that pic, I tried it and have had excellent results, I have never hung sausage, just used the racks.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[thostorey]

I was thinking of using 'sticks' John, because I thought if I were to hang them, links would hang down too far and the lower would likely cook faster than the top. It would sure simplify the whole process just to link them and lay them on the racks. Hmmm..I think I just talked myself into laying them on the racks[:D]

Tom in Qualicum Beach

[whitetailfan]

Tom,
Perhaps I should have first asked if you are building pepperoni sticks being 1/2" diameter, or larger pepperoni like for pizza or meat trays that will be sliced.  My advice was based on the assumption it was the snack sticks.

However, even more so with the large casing, you would find it easy on the racks.  If your casing was too large around, you may find it difficult to make a full coil, and perhaps would be better off to make it in lengths that will fit in the racks.

You will have to move it around no matter what shape or size and regardless of rack vs hang.  I have nothing against hanging, in fact my brother make up some sausage sticks for me last Christmas, it just looked like it utilized the space less efficiently than the racks, so I have not used them yet.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[Oldman]

This is what I have... got it from Chez.

Olds

[thostorey]

The reason I was thinking 'hang' is because I will have about 20lbs of sausage and I was unsure if there would be enough room to lay them on racks; however, I've just ordered another set of 4 racks so that should take care of most of it. I'll try the racks first, and if I'm not satisfied with the results I'll hang a batch. To this end, I bought some 3/16 stainless steel rod to make 's' hooks to attach to the bottom of the racks. I think I'll crimp them on as permanent fixtures and space them so that I can hang two linked sausages over each hook. If it works I'll take a picture and post it here.

I'm thinking 15lbs of venison and 5lbs regular pork sholder. Does this sound like a reasonable ratio? I wouldn't want the pepperoni to be too fatty, but then again, not too dry  [:D] Oh well, time will tell[;)]

Tom in Qualicum Beach

[SMOKEHOUSE ROB]

tom see the rack that olds has, it slides in on the top shelf of your bradley, and give you about 3 more inches of interior length. so picture hanging your peporoni from the very top of your smoker.