Mealy texture on Kielbasa

[awysocki]

I am really new to sausage & smoking, though I have tried about 5 times now and not happy with the end result on texture. Taste is fine.

I'm trying basic Kielbasa, I've tried the premix and grinding my own spices and I either end up with very dry or a mealy texture to the end product.   The recipe I've been using is from Rytek Kutas book "Smoked Polish Sausage (Kielbasa)" or from the premix of SausageMaker Polish Low Salt.  I make 5 pounds at a time so its easy to 1/2 the recipe from either.  I have used Boston Butt pork (Pork Shoulder) as the meat, I add in the spices, the 1 cup of Soy Protein (no packed) and the 1 tsp of Insta Cure #1 along with the ice water. I've tried the freeze for 1 hour before grinding to just keeping it in the fridge at 38degrees between grinding and mixing.

This last time I added in 1/2 pound of pork belly thinking the dry texture was because the pork was too lean so I tried to up the fat content a bit but it came out with a mealy texture.

I'm really at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks in advance for any pointers anybody can give.

[Kevin A]

too much heat in the sausage-making or cooking process may be the cause. Sausage that gets too warm will "break," meaning the fat and protein will separate from each other when cooked, and you'll get a mealy or crumbly texture to your cooked sausage.

It sound likes you're careful about keeping it chilled before grinding and the whole stuffing process. So I would look at the temps & times you're using to smoke or cook the sausages. Below 170° is ideal for good juicy sausages. "Fatting out" is a terrible thing.... :)

-Kevin

[viper125]

X2 Ive done it quite a few times. (dumby me) then it's dry and crumbly.

[awysocki]

Thanks guys. I will add more monitoring to the smoking/cooking side of things. As the DBS was never set above 160.

One other thing I was wondering after I posted. I quickly mixed the ingredients, is it possible or a cause if  I undermix?

[Sailor]

awysocki, Do you have a PID to control the cabinet temps?  I have heard others on the forum say that even with the DBS there are still wild temp swings without using a PID.  Smoking sausage is a low and slow process.  Dry at 130 for an hour.  Bump to 140, then 150 then to 160 and try to never get the cabinet temp over 175.  Using the OBS with a PID I still had 20 degree swings from top to bottom before I installed a fan kit.  So trying to maintain an even temp in a DBS without a PID could be a challenge anyway.  As for the recipe I have never tried those that you posted.  I found that Mike's ....Mr. Walleye's ......recipe to be to my liking and never found the need to make anything else.  His recipe is pretty darn good and can be found here http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?784-Mike-s-Kielbasa  I add 1 oz of non fat dry milk per 5 pounds of meat to suit my liking.  Can't go wrong with his recipe.

[pikeman_95]

I agree with Kevin A but a couple of good pictures of the sausage can also help diagnose some of your problems. The cut shots can tell quite a bit.
Kirby

[awysocki]

My attempt  Sorry for the LARGE photo, it took me a while to figured out how to post images here.  For others I guess you only post a link to the image, you don't upload the images to Bradley Forums

[viper125]

I like the large pics my eyes are bad anyway. But that's definitely not what I expected to see. Those look good. Is the white hunks fat? Usually it loks like a fried dry hamburger. Maybe some one else has an idea but that looks good enough to eat from here.

[Tater]

I have made the Rytek Kutas recipe several times now.  Since I started poaching my sausage to finish it off I have never had a dry or crumbly sausage.  I attribute that to the fact that I have to pay strict attention to the internal temperatures while they are in the hot water bath.  Also it is much quicker to hot water bath and it does not tax my patience quite like doing the whole process in the smoker.

[Tater]

I like the large pics my eyes are bad anyway. But that's definitely not what I expected to see. Those look good. Is the white hunks fat? Usually it loks like a fried dry hamburger. Maybe some one else has an idea but that looks good enough to eat from here.

X2
That doesn't look like any of my miserable failures.  It looks just fine to me.  Hmmm...

[awysocki]

Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions. I'm going to have to give this batch to friends and try another batch soon :-), and yes I think adding the pork belly helped up the fat content

My take away from all the suggestions.

1 - Monitor Temp in the smoker - Add a PID (Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller) for doing sausage. A PID allows the temps to ramp up slowly without having to monitor it yourself and it adds a better control thermometer

2 - Add a FAN as the Bradley smokers can have hot spots and a fan will help in keeping the same temps all around, but won't fix all the hotspots.

3 - Consider finishing in a poaching bath to bring sausage up to 152 degrees, and not have to do suggestions #1 and #2

Thanks, what a great community, I really do appreciate all the answers.

Andy

[pikeman_95]

My attempt  Sorry for the LARGE photo, it took me a while to figured out how to post images here.  For others I guess you only post a link to the image, you don't upload the images to Bradley Forums

Andy
First I will tell you what I see in the pictures. You are not getting it to hot in the smoke as the outside fat is not melted away. If you were too hot in the smoker the outside edge fat would be melted and the casing would have some yellow melted fat under the casings. I would say if you were going for a more congealed sausage I would use a little finer grind. It looks like you grind is just a little coarse. I would also think you might cut the fat back a little. I also see areas that look like they just did not gel. I think you under mixed this sausage like you mentioned on your post. I have seen this before in other sausages. Are you also sure that you have the proper amount of cure in the sausage it is important as it helps break down the protein in the meat so that it can gel again when it gets hot in the smoker or the bath. Other then texture it still looks good enough to eat. So how did it taste?

Kirby

[cobra6223]

suasage looks good and I like the bigger pics, in photo bucket I resize to 800x600, that's what I was told to do once, so if your's are wrong so are mine.

[awysocki]

Andy
First I will tell you what I see in the pictures. You are not getting it to hot in the smoke as the outside fat is not melted away. If you were too hot in the smoker the outside edge fat would be melted and the casing would have some yellow melted fat under the casings. I would say if you were going for a more congealed sausage I would use a little finer grind. It looks like you grind is just too coarse. I would also think you might cut the fat back a little. I also see areas that look like they just did not gel. I think you under mixed this sausage like you mentioned on your post. I have seen this before in other sausages. Are you also sure that you have the proper amount of cure in the sausage it is important as it helps break down the protein in the meat so that it can gel again when it gets hot in the smoker or the bath. Other then texture it still looks good enough to eat. So how did it taste?

Kirby

Kirby,
A photo really is worth a 1000 words.  I agree there is too much fat, but that was because the last time it was too dry. I over compensated.  That is good info on the cure.  I'm also a hobby baker, so I have a scale in the kitchen at all times. so I measured the meat so I knew how much cure to use. This time with the pork butt and pork belly It was 7.5 lbs, so I used 1.5 level tsp of cure.  I mixed it into the 1.5 cups of water, then pour it in and mixed.  Also after I stuffed it I put it in the fridge overnight uncovered to dry and cure.  It was a good 12 hours after making it, before it went into the smoker. 

It tastes great,  very much what I remember growing up in Connecticut.  We always bought our kielbasa from a polish butcher in Meriden CT. One place I'm trying to mimic is Blue Seal Kielbasa from Chicopee MA (http://prostores1.carrierzone.com/servlet/bluesealkielbasa_com/-strse-1/smoke-sausage%2C-polish-sausage%2C/Detail)  I figure what I use pay to have it 2 day shipped, I can spend on my smoker and hobby and in the long run save a bunch of money.

The kielbasa I made is editable and tasty, its just that it has this powder/mealy texture where I was looking for more gel, like you said.  I think the biggest problem right now is not mixing enough to really make sure the cure is spread evenly, and I can back off on the fat.

Thanks
Andy

[viper125]

I was speeding if this was mikes or ipoli recipe.?