Hi Mountain Summer Sausage

[pfowl01]

Hello All,

  I recently purchesed Hi Mountain's summer sausage kit and I had a few questions. The instructions say to mix the beef or venision with pork. What cuts of meat are you suppose to use? Could you do all beef if you wanted to? I remember reading in the forum somewhere that the 3lb casings are a little large for the BS...could a person just cut some of the length off of the supplied casings to make them smaller (3lbs to 2lbs)?

[winemakers]

I suspect the pork is for additional fat.  I use butt's when blending typically, up to say 30% without losing the beef/venison character.  Regarding the casing size, the answer is....... it depends.  If you plan on hanging the casing during the smoke, watch the temperature differential top to bottom of the box/sausage, it can be problematic.  If you plan on laying the casing on the racks, there is less differential temp, but you have sausage with grid marks not the perfect product.

Personally, I have paid homage to olds and nxs bill and added a fan to my box with great results.  No rack rotation, swapping top to bottom if I feel like it only.  And, now I hang keilbasa, breakfast, summer sausages, etc. with no top to bottom cooking/smoke differential.  A cheap $30 buck addition.

good luck.

mld

[headgames]

to answer your questions  HELL YES !   mix it the way you like it . I personally use 9# of venison to 1 # of beef fat .  but I have access to alot of venison and free beef fat and a limited budget .  also had very good luck with 8# of venison and 2# the fattiest burger you can buy at the grocier .

And YES  cut them casing down ! . not a problem . just try and have them consistant in length so they are all the same temp while smoking . Also what I have found that I really like is peperoni casing from Butherandpacker.com  I cut them in half for my  smoker  .. They end up about 1# each which is a nice slicing size for snack trays . and small enough to share a stick with friends .  and dont take as long to finish cause they are smaller in diameter   also it takes extra effort .  but  Hang them in the smoker .
turn the top rack upside down and tie them on !

have fun

[pfowl01]

Headgames,

Thanks for the reply! Does a person have to have some sort of fat in the summer sausage for it to turn out? Example...If I where to use 93/7 hamburger meat vs. 80/20 hamburger meat, is the 80/20 gonna turn out better? Or should I use some kind of beef steak or roast and grind it up, then mix it with whatever I like? I was thinking of adding the circulation fan soon....do you have one and is it a necessity?

[jaeger]

pfowlo1,
I think you will have better finished product using something more lean than 80% lean ground beef. I like to grind my own meat, this way I know what is being used. I would recommend talking to your butcher and see if he can't save you some lean roasts next time they are cutting them, also this cut is often on sale in our market. By grinding your own you can trim out some of the extra fat before you grind. Just order an extra pound as insurance.  I would try to achieve about 90% lean meat.
A circulation fan would be nice but I wouldn't let that stop you from making ANYTHING that you want. You may want to do one rotation about 3 hours into your smoke/cook. Don't sweat the fan! Don't worry about it.
One more thing, as with any sausage, take notes. Keep track of amounts of everything that you include for future reference. When I make summer sausage I like to add garlic powder and whole mustard seed, just a personal preference.
I think you will be happy with the high mountain seasoning.  Here is a picture summer sausage that I made. I used the shorter type casings and they turned out great!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Summersaus.jpg

[acords]

You should try this, it's really good!

http://susan.rminor.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120

[pfowl01]

Jager,

Thanks for the advice. I already installed the circulation fan..for forty bucks I figured what the hell. I already spent 100.00 on the PID I installed, so what's 40.00 more. Actually I just got done stuffing the summer sausage into the casings that I'm going to be smoking tomorrow...1 all beef ( 85/15 hamburger ) and 1 venison/pork. Gonna hang them from the bubba rack and follow the directions from Hi Mountain for smoking them.Hope they turn out ok :)
  Acords,
Yes I've seen that snack stick recipe and it's on my list of things to try ;D Have a good weekend everyone ;)

[jaeger]

Let us know how the summer sausage turns out.

If you want to make beef sticks the easy way, skip using the casings and use your stuffer instead of the jerky cannon. I made a custom form to fit over my medium horn. I included a couple of pictures. I like to place the beef sticks on the racks, parallel with the heating element.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Horn.jpg

[pfowl01]

Hey guys,

I got the summer sausage done and it turned out pretty good. Everything was fine, but I wasn't blown away with the seasoning from Hi mountain. I was expecting a little better seasoning considering their jerky cures are great. Oh well I think I'll just add stuff to it until I use up the package....maybe some mustard seed or some pepper or garlic....hhmmmm what else could I add?

[acords]

I tried the Hi Mtn summer sausage this weekend.  It's in the smoker as I type.  I'm using the devil wood for a stronger flavor.  I made a 6lb batch-Three 2lb chubs.  I added mustard seed to all three, whole pepper corns to 1 and ground pepper to another.  I do have to question the instructions though.  Calls for 6 1/2 teaspoons of seasoning per LB.  With that proportion, I used over half of the seasoning bag, and it supposed to make another 9 lbs  ???.  I'm taking the temp up in increments of 20 degrees starting at 120.  I figure they'll be done about the time Chicago and NY kick-off tonight. 

[jaeger]

How did the summer sausage turn out acords?

[acords]

It turned out OK.  Don't get me wrong, it's not bad it just seems to to be lacking any depth as far as flavor.  To be honest I'm not really sure thats the way to describe it.  I'll eat it up, but save the casings and use the beef stick recipe you posted in the future

[coyote]

Opening day (gun ) for deer is this Monday, for Wild , Wonderful , West Virginia ;D :)..........
I should be making my first 2006 batch of venison summer sausage by Wed. evening. Last year we used
both the Cabela's kits and the HiMountain kits. Myself , I prefer cabela's. #3 of beef fat to #12 of venison
However this year I think I'll cut it down to #2 1/2 to #12 1/2 of venison. ..........Learned a lot since, from
the forum. Last year we followed instructions that came with the kits to the letter. Their cooking temps
are to high.... Plus If your gonna add heat , like hot sauce ect.,Count it as part of the water to go in the mix. Better to use dried spice heat or dried peppers. This year we're gonna try adding jalapeno cheese.
I got my high temp. cheese from L.E.M. Products. It holds its form to 400 degrees.

     Look for a report soon...............In the meantime I'll be looking for a deer or six, ;)
                                                                                  Coyote