Kielbasa

[BigJohnT]

We just say "oh bother" and go on with what ever we are doing... keeps the blood pressure in check you know.

John

[smokeitall]

So did you decide if you are making a batch this weekend after your ride?
SIA

[BigJohnT]

I think I'll give it a shot Sunday after the benefit ride on the bike. It's all cleaned and polished up and we have the long johns out LOL. I'm glad we have seat and grip heaters...

John

[BigJohnT]

Well here goes guys and girls my first Kielbasa.

Well I got past the hog casings and that was an experience. After opening up the bag and getting them out and scratching my head a while I finally found a string and a ring that the casings were tied around. I cut the string and followed the the casings from the ring and finally found the end of one real long one. Not having a clue as to how much I needed for my 5 lb batch I weighed the casings and cut off 1/20 of the weight of the batch from the long one. The next experience was finding the inside so I could flush it... I finally got past that.

Now I mixed up all the dry ingredients in a bowl and proceeded to fold them into the ice cold ground pork and mix them well. So far everything is OK.

Now I start to clean my 11 lb stuffer and WTF is that sticky stuff on the inside. I tried soap and water, naphtha, acetone and kerosene. Nothing but the acetone touches it and the acetone just barely does. Any ideas on how to clean this sticky stuff out?

Ok, add citrus degreaser to the list and it got a lot of it out...

Thanks
John

[smokeitall]

Yep mine had that too, I used a lot of soapy water and soaking after I wiped it with paper towels.  I was not sure it was food grade grease or not so I got it cleaned up real good and then greased the o-ring with some crisco.
SIA

[BigJohnT]

My guess is it is some kind of food grade wax. HOT soapy water took it off in the end. It's my first encounter with the stuff... meat is in the fridge waiting for me to get this clean and cold... then the stuffing will commence.

John

[Tenpoint5]

You dont sound real impressed with the "Big Ball of Snot" attached to a red ring there John!!! I remember the first time I encountered one of them beasts. I said the same things you did. Keep us posted on your adventure. If Momma isnt looking go in the drawer where she keeps the Tater chip clips. Pampered Chef has several sizes so I grab the smallest one. Clip that on the end of the twisted casing after the air is all gone. Then you can hold the main casing on the tube with one hand and crank with the other.

[BigJohnT]

Salty Snot to boot. Then it gets to be slippery snot  ;D

Hog casings in the bowl waiting for me to stuff.



When you take them out of the bowl and load them on your tube do you kinda squeeze the excess water out of the inside of the casings? Do you just pull them out of the bowl onto the tube?

Thanks
John

[Tenpoint5]

I usually hold the end under the faucet and run about 6 inches of water through the casing sqeegeeing it out with my fingers before putting it on the tube. Careful with that because the casing will seem to come alive and run all over the place on you. If you need right now answers I will PM my number John.

[BigJohnT]

The only thing I forgot was the cup of water... Caught that and mixed it all up.



John

[BigJohnT]

I usually hold the end under the faucet and run about 6 inches of water through the casing sqeegeeing it out with my fingers before putting it on the tube. Careful with that because the casing will seem to come alive and run all over the place on you. If you need right now answers I will PM my number John.

Thanks for the offer 10.5 but I'm past that now.  ;D

5 lbs of experience here...


The left over is good fried up slow in a pan.

Engine Room Prepare to make SMOKE!  ;D

Thanks
John

[Tenpoint5]

Looks good Big John!! Make sue you poke holes in the air pockets or you will get fat pockets.

So what did you learn with your 5 lbs of experience?

[BigJohnT]

I learned that if the stuffer is not bolted down you need an assistant or an electric drive LOL. Also how to load the casing, how much back pressure to hold on the casings as you stuff, which way the seal goes on the ram  :o

Thanks for the tip on poking holes in the air pockets.

Off to rig up my Kielbasa hanger thingy whatever that might be  ;D

Thanks
John

[Tenpoint5]

C-clamps or them black plastic squeese clamps work wonders for holding the stuffer down. As for loading the casings remember back to high school  ;D ;D
I wish I could be there when you get done and have that "I made that" Smile on your face. I'm having just as much fun watching as you are doing in case you haven't figured it out.

[BigJohnT]

Here is a couple more pix.





John