Summer sausage and German Franks

[Caribou]

Beautiful!!!

Carolyn

[grnhs]

In our more productive days we have done over 500 pounds a couple of times. A 30 pound batch is about as small as we go. If I were retired I would have time to play with smaller batches. For now I have to get as much done as I can in one process.
What town are you located in??

Kirby

I'm in Havre, about 300 mi from you I believe.

[Bigbirdoffroad]

I'd almost be willing to fly out to see that operation in person!!! What is that hot water bath your using? The Kirby Cooker???

[pikeman_95]

I'd almost be willing to fly out to see that operation in person!!! What is that hot water bath your using? The Kirby Cooker???

That's funny.

That is one thing I won't be producing. It was too much work to build but I am sure glad I have it now. It makes short work of the process. I like the idea of the old turkey roasters. They are kind of long and easy to work and some times available at yard sales and thrift stores.

[Bigbirdoffroad]

Kirby, you can still buy those "old" turkey roasters. I still need to buy one. I borrowed one the last time I used the Kirby Cannon to make summer sausage. Unfortunately the lowest temp setting was 190 so I just turned it on high and hooked up my Auber dual probe PID to control it and it worked great!!!

[pikeman_95]

Great idea.
With the vacuum seal idea and the temp control keeping the temperature where you want it. I think you could water finish any sausage. They still sell those roasters I think I saw an ad in Sears for them. I am going to keep tyring to find one in the thrift stores. Last year I was at a rummage sale that had 2 of them but the water bath idea had not come up yet so I passed on them. I have been kicking my butt since them.

kirby

[Tenpoint5]

Looks like you can get the Electric roaster ovens at Wally World for $50-60 for 18 - 22 quart

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=roaster+oven&ic=48_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0

[squirtthecat]

Post-Thanksgiving is about the best time to look for them..    They are seasonal around here.  I found mine at Sears for around 25-30 bucks..

[cobra6223]

Well Kirby that was just the neatest thing for a newbie to watch !! Retired? after watching that I thought you were in the making business, if you had the time you would play with smaller batches all I do now is 5-10 lbs and I did one 24 lb batch and I thought I was going big time, now I can't wait till some day I can play around with 30 lb batches, wife would kill me though if I suggested a 500 lb load. You've been a great help to me, along with some other folks who know who they are, since I joined the site, so thanks for sharing and showing what the real masters can do, I can safely say from all us newbies a HUGE thanks not only to you but all the MASTERS that make this so much fun !!!

Tim

[Tenpoint5]

Well Kirby that was just the neatest thing for a newbie to watch !! Retired? after watching that I thought you were in the making business, if you had the time you would play with smaller batches all I do now is 5-10 lbs and I did one 24 lb batch and I thought I was going big time, now I can't wait till some day I can play around with 30 lb batches, wife would kill me though if I suggested a 500 lb load. You've been a great help to me, along with some other folks who know who they are, since I joined the site, so thanks for sharing and showing what the real masters can do, I can safely say from all us newbies a HUGE thanks not only to you but all the MASTERS that make this so much fun !!!

Tim

Tim all the "MASTERS" started out just like you and I. Newbies learning something new everyday!! Want to know why they aren't EXPERTS? Look in my tag line.

[pikeman_95]

Looks like you can get the Electric roaster ovens at Wally World for $50-60 for 18 - 22 quart

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=roaster+oven&ic=48_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0

I just found out that my friend that wants to make some sausage with me has one. I have yet to find out the situation with this one but I would like to add it to my tools.
Kirby

[jbullard1]

A rookie question
What casings do you use   The only ones I've seen summer sausage in are the maroon fibrous kind
I really like the look of the clear casings
Thanks
Jerry

[pikeman_95]

A rookie question
What casings do you use   The only ones I've seen summer sausage in are the maroon fibrous kind
I really like the look of the clear casings
Thanks
Jerry

Here is a link to the casings that I used. They are supposed to be 1.5 inches in diameter but they came out closer to 2 inches when stuffed tight.

http://www.spokanespice.com/products_detail.php?id=194&secid=39

and


http://www.spokanespice.com/products_detail.php?id=191&secid=39

Kirby

[carnie1]

Looks good Kirby, makes me wanna start doing sausage but I gotta wait, I'm definitely gonna try hot water bath method

[fong0041]

A rookie question
What casings do you use   The only ones I've seen summer sausage in are the maroon fibrous kind
I really like the look of the clear casings
Thanks
Jerry

Here is a link to the casings that I used. They are supposed to be 1.5 inches in diameter but they came out closer to 2 inches when stuffed tight.

http://www.spokanespice.com/products_detail.php?id=194&secid=39

and


http://www.spokanespice.com/products_detail.php?id=191&secid=39

Kirby

Hey Kirby, hoping for a little help from you.
Over the weekend I attempted to make 10 lbs of snack sticks and 10 lbs of summer sausage (each 50/50 venison/pork butt) using a hot water bath method.  I used a chafing dish, starting with hot water and ensuring the sausages got up to 165 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Before the hot water bath, I hung the sausages in my bradley for 2 hrs of smoking
A)  The summer sausage and the snack sticks came out very pale looking, causing them to be very unappealing in appearance.  Did I not smoke them long enough?  Or maybe I didn't get the temp high enough in the smoker before water-bathing them?  What suggestions can you offer?  I ended up putting the snack sticks into the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes just to give them some color, but I'm afraid there isn't much I can do for the summer sausage.
B)  Do you get the snack stick casings from the spokane spice company as well?
C)  Would you be willing to share your recipe for summer sausage?  the one I used was found online and was quite bland.  so bland taste with pale/pink looking meat = a mostly ruined batch. 
This was my first attempt with the water batch, second attempt making sausages ever.  Any suggestions you have would be appreciated!
Thanks!  Nathan