Hot Water Bath

[pikeman_95]

by the way Rick they look great. Is the first picture just out of the smoker and the second one after the bath and bloom?

[NePaSmoKer]

by the way Rick they look great. Is the first picture just out of the smoker and the second one after the bath and bloom?

They are 2 different batches right from the bath

[pikeman_95]

OK just guessing. I remember looking at the post when you showed pics of the second sticks at the time you did them and wandering how you kept them so plump..I thought you might have bathed them but again I thought you might have had another secret.

Thanks for the information of the collagen casings. Thinking that they could not take a bath is one reason I have gone with natural casings.

[marauder11]

Have talked with my coworker who is also a butcher just closed his shop of ten years down. Said it was to much work having a day job and a night business of meat processing lol. He told me that poaching is fine but, the casing natural and collagen can split from to fast a rise in temp. He recommended to put the sausage in warm water and bring it up to temp. Not to just dump it into 165 degree water. Just his experience.

[NePaSmoKer]

I never had a problem going from smoker to the bath.

[RAF128]

I tried the hot water bath with collegen casings years ago and it didn't work for me.   Must have done something wrong.    As soon as I put them in the water the casings shrunk and ended up with 6 or 7 inches of bare meat at each end.    Maybe the water was too hot.    I don't know what the problem was and at that time figured it was the casings and the process would work better with natural casing.

[grnhs]

OK, I can see the benefit of finishing this way after I did snack sticks last weekend, I have some very dry  and some just right, but I had a tough time taking them to temp, seemed like everytime I opened the smoker to rotate, i lost the heat in the meat and the smoker.
So you just get water going on the stove at 165-180* and drop the sausage in after a good smoke?
And how do you monitor the IT while they are in the water?
Thanks for clearing this process up a little for me.
Dave

[devo]

OK, I can see the benefit of finishing this way after I did snack sticks last weekend, I have some very dry  and some just right, but I had a tough time taking them to temp, seemed like everytime I opened the smoker to rotate, i lost the heat in the meat and the smoker.
So you just get water going on the stove at 165-180* and drop the sausage in after a good smoke?
And how do you monitor the IT while they are in the water?
Thanks for clearing this process up a little for me.
Dave

The end of your temp prob needs to be water prof or it will short out. Use some sort of sealant on the end where the cable goes into the prob to seal it up and you should be good to go

[grnhs]

Thanks Devo, Yes I have a brand new probe after my summer sausage ice water bath a couple of weeks ago!
I assume the sausage comes up to temp much quicker in the hot water. Do you keep a probe in one all the time it is in there?

[pikeman_95]

OK, I can see the benefit of finishing this way after I did snack sticks last weekend, I have some very dry  and some just right, but I had a tough time taking them to temp, seemed like everytime I opened the smoker to rotate, i lost the heat in the meat and the smoker.
So you just get water going on the stove at 165-180* and drop the sausage in after a good smoke?
And how do you monitor the IT while they are in the water?
Thanks for clearing this process up a little for me.
Dave

Make the water 160 and no more. If you make it to hot it will melt the fat in the sausage.

[OU812]

Just seen this post and I have doin the water bath, we call it poaching, for yeeeeeeeeeears.

I use one of these thingys.



If you look closely you can see my temp marks the red one is 180 F the middle one is 160 and the bottom is 140. It holds steady with no problems and can do 15 lb of sticks.

The trick to colagin casings is you need to smoke cook like normal, slowly raise the cabnet temp and after an hr at 160 drop them in the roaster that has warmed for at least an hr.

I dont tie the ends and never got water in side. You will loose all the color from smoking them but after they cool they look like this.



I do hot dogs with out smoking just straight off the stuffer straight to the roaster also. Now this way the casings will come loose mid way through the cook, which I want cause I dont want the casings on my hot dogs. I do twist these, just for the looks, and tie with thread.



When they float there done, but I check every one with my Thermopen to make sure.

[grnhs]

Thanks PM and OU, I had an 18 lb pork butt follow me home from Sams last weekend so I am going to give this a try this weekend,
The Mrs got a nice cuisenart food processor for Christmas and she will be away this weekend visiting the kids. I think I will try it out on some hotdogs.
I've got 3 recipes of different sausages  out of the Kutas book that I will smoke and poach.
I think I need to go shopping for a roaster after work tonight!
I need to build a garage just for the meat processing equipment I'm accumulating! ;)

Thanks again,
Dave

[OU812]

Dave;

Every roaster is different, you will need to fill your roaster to the rim with water, pick a set point on the dial and leave it there for an hr with the lid on. Then take the temp of the water and adjust from there each time starting with fresh water till you get the set point were you need it and mark the roaster with a permanent marker.

Hope this made sense.

Good luck.

[squirtthecat]

Those roasters are darn handy...  I have the same model as OU812.  I think it was maybe $30 at Sears after Thanksgiving.
It will draw some amps while it is heating up, so don't put it on an overloaded circuit.

I drop my Maverick probe through one of the vent holes in the top, and it is just long enough to dip into any liquid you might have inside for a temp reading.  (the bend in the probe keeps it from falling in)

[grnhs]

yes it makes perfect sense.
I am on hold on the phone with Walmart to see if they have one.
Been looking for a good reason to have an electric roaster oven ;D