Summer Sausage

Fuzzybear · January 01, 2006, 05:23:04 PM

Hi gang,

My neighbor and I put together our first summer sausage yesterday.

11.5 pounds of venision (doe)
5.5 pounds of pork (butt/shoulder roast)
13 pounds of Angus (chuck roasts)

We spent the better part of 8 hours putting this together (trimming bone and fat) plus the 5 hours of the use of Mr. Bradley's toy. (Due to my cold temps between 35 and 40 and the wind, I couldn't get the smoker over 180 degrees, so that was a little frustrating but it all worked out in the end.)

We used High Mountain Summer Sausage seasoning and followed their directions - no other additives were used.

2 hours of smoke (Maple pucks) used and voila, 5 hours of cooking and we've got 30lbs of summer sausage - he took half and I got the other.

We cut the meat so lean, there is hardly any fat globules showing in the sausage - very tender and tasty!

I'll do it again when our supply runs out.

Our next challenge will be doing some pepporoni!

Have a great New Years everybody!

Fuzz

"A mans got to know his limitations"

SMOKEHOUSE ROB · January 01, 2006, 05:48:08 PM

fuzzybear did you take any pics?

JJC · January 02, 2006, 12:45:40 AM

Fuzzy, great to hear from you on the first day of 2006! Sausage sounds awesome!

John
Newton MA

Fuzzybear · January 03, 2006, 04:17:38 PM

No pics gang, sorry.

"A mans got to know his limitations"

Oldman · January 04, 2006, 11:42:22 AM

Hey Fuzzy how are the dogs doing? Good to see ya posting.

Olds

Fuzzybear · January 04, 2006, 04:42:23 PM

Hiya Olds!

The dogs iz fine! They are not fond of the snow on their bummies this time of year but the deer and turkeys get them excited!

How's Sky holding up?

"A mans got to know his limitations"

Fuzzybear · January 04, 2006, 04:44:31 PM

Hiya Olds!

The dogs iz fine! They are not fond of the snow on their bummies this time of year but the deer and turkeys get them excited!

How's Sky holding up?

"A mans got to know his limitations"

curbstop180 · January 08, 2006, 08:42:15 PM

hello
i just made summer sausage last night i used hi mountains kit as well i used 12#groung chuck 3#pork chops that i ground myself i followed the directions to the T i used 12 pucks hickory and maintained a temp of 185F for the first 4 hours and finished the last 30 min with a temp of 220F it was my first attempt at ss and i was very pleased better then the stuff i paid to have my deer turned into this year i know what ill be doing with the left over meat from my deer [:)]

JJC · January 10, 2006, 03:45:49 AM

Welcome, CS180! Glad your first effort was such a success! Keep us posted on your other ventures . . .

John
Newton MA

Hopeful · January 22, 2006, 03:05:08 PM

Fuzzybear,
Did you use the casings that come with the high mountain kit? If you did, how did you put them in the smoker, hanging or laying on racks? They are 3# casings and I am curious if you got all 30 pounds in at one time. I made up some up yesterday and now have them hanging to bring to room temp, then into Mr Bradley. Thanks.

Hopeful in Iowa

jaeger · January 23, 2006, 12:42:42 AM

Hopeful,
I would suggest laying the summer sausage on racks. This will give you the ability to rotate the racks at your estimated halfway point.
The last summer sausage I made I hung and they turned out great, but, I was using smaller casings. The casings I used only hold 1 1/2 pounds. Your casings will hang all the way to the bottom of the BS. I think you will have a big heat distribution problem. Below are two pictures. One is off the SS that I made the second is a pic of some smoked links that I hung in the BS. Notice how the bottom of the links is more cooked than the top.
Hopefully this helps[;)]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Summersaus.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/xcelsmoke/Brat1.jpg

Doug

whitetailfan · January 23, 2006, 10:05:59 PM

jaeger,
pics don't lie, but it's funny because I would have said the opposite. When I load up the smoker with sausage on racks, I get a heat problem front to back. Last time I did a batch (mind it was smaller) I hung the coils on sticks and I found it did a better job of cooking evenly.[?][?][?]go figure

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

whitetailfan · January 23, 2006, 10:09:03 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Fuzzybear
 Hi gang,

My neighbor and I put together our first summer sausage yesterday.

11.5 pounds of venision (doe)
5.5 pounds of pork (butt/shoulder roast)
13 pounds of Angus (chuck roasts)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Fuzzy, I see you used the whole thing. If you cut out the tongue, you can get up to 12lbs out of one of those things.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

jaeger · January 24, 2006, 04:17:26 AM

Whitetail,
There is a chance that I had the heat to hot during at least part of the smoke/cook. I will be making another batch soon and we'll see how it goes!!!
I've been busy making deer jerky lately and just tumbled some with a teriyaki marinade that I will be smoking tomorrow. My last batch I used High Mountain original with a little tweaking. I had great compliments, in fact one couple is thinking about buying a BS.[:D]

Doug

Hopeful · January 31, 2006, 12:43:00 AM

Jaeger, I had to lay the SS on the racks diagonally because it was to long to hang, then door almost would not go closed. Next time I am going to use 1 pound casings and hang them, easier to handle and easier to give to friends and relatives. I made 2 15 pound batches, 1 with beef and 1 with pork and followed their recipe, both were good but I think the pork batch had more flavor. Have had many compliments on both batches. Definately will do again but maybe add some additional coarse ground black pepper and garlic powder.

Hopeful in Iowa