What Did I do Wrong

[JZ]

I did a 13 lb batch of sausages, shown in my other sausage thread from yesterday and the taste is not very good. I tasted the bologna before it was smoked and it was very good. But after the smoke the taste is kind of bland and off (or something - hard to describe). Even the Kielbasa which I have done before was not that good. So I am convinced it is something I did after the stuffing.

I hung the sausage for an hr at room temp then into the smoker at 130 for 2 hrs, then 2hrs at 145* with smoke then bump to 155 for 1 hr with smoke then 165 for 1 hr no smoke, then into the bath at 160* until It of 155*.

I had one link fall onto the vpan at the early part of the drying stage and just rehung it. There was a fair bit of grease in the v tray and I left it there.

Here are  my thoughts as to possible causes;

1) I used 5 hickory pucks and 4 birch. Maybe the birch imparted a weird taste to it.

2) The sausage might have been overcooked in the water bath. The therm I had in the sausage was reading too low. When I pulled them and checked with my instant read the meat temps were just over 160*

I am at a loss here and really need help from the experts so I don't repeat whatever I did wrong.

[mikecorn.1]

I've never seen birch bisquettes. Maybe that's the culprit.


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[JZ]

Mike the Birch are ones that I make on my lathe at home. I have used them for other smokes. I did a 3 hr smoke with them on ribs and the ribs were awesome. I've also done several chicken smokes with them for 2 hrs and the results varied from OK to good, but I preferred Hickory.  Maybe it is the birch - just not sure now. For sure the next sausage batch will be with Hickory just so I can eliminate that variable.

[rajzer]

Well, from the pics of your meat I see that you used some discounted ground beef.  That may be the culprit.  I never trust any type of ground meat from the supermarket and always select my own cuts and grind them.  I don't want any head meat, cow meat or hearts in my ground beef.   You also have to understand that beef from different parts of the animal will have distinctly different flavours.  Ground chuck will taste a  lot different than ground round and so on.  So those factors just might have made a difference in your result.  Yesterday when I was smoking sausage for Easter, (being Polish, it's obligatory), my neighbour remarked, "Oh, you can put anything into sausage!"  And nothing can be further from the truth!  The primary reason that I make my own sausage is that I want to have control over the quality and not have to eat supermarket products from a shrink-wrapped package swimming in phosphates and 30 different additives. 

[JZ]

Thanks Rajzer but the ground beef was actually from one of the local butcher shops located on a farm and was more expensive than the store bought stuff. It was about 2 months old. But I don't think that was the culprit since the sausage I fried up was  delicious. Something I did after stuffing has to be the culprit, since it tasted great before smoking.

I agree with your comments about choosing quality meat. I know if I use any freezer burnt salmon when I smoke fish the results are not good. Like the old saying goes GARBAGE in GARBAGE out.

[Sailor]

JZ, If you used the same recipe for both sausage as you used the last time they should be real close to what you produced last time.  I have never used birch for smoke as I am a straight hickory kinda guy.  I am thinking that it could be your birch that gave you the change in flavor.  If you fried some up prior the smoke and they were good then the smoke should just make it better.  The hot water bath should not change the flavors.  I looked at your pics and they look good to me.  I can still see the fat close to the edge so you did not fat out.  Please keep us posted as to what you find out the next time just using hickory. 

[NePaSmoKer]

Yeah nix the birch and the 155 IT. Take to between 149-152

And yes you can put just about anything in the sausage.

One reason i dont water is because of holes into the casing, Holes=hot water between the casing and meat. Some like it some dont.

[JZ]

Thanks Nepa.

No more birch for sausages and maybe not for anything. It will be a while before I do another batch of sausages since I now have 13 lbs to go through. The first batches went pretty quick because my kids took a bunch of it. But I don't want to give them this stuff. So either I eat it or it gets wasted. Hopefully I can find a way to make it taste better.   

[devo]

Thanks Nepa.

No more birch for sausages and maybe not for anything. It will be a while before I do another batch of sausages since I now have 13 lbs to go through. The first batches went pretty quick because my kids took a bunch of it. But I don't want to give them this stuff. So either I eat it or it gets wasted. Hopefully I can find a way to make it taste better.

GARLIC....fry in GARLIC   all good  ;)

[Quarlow]

Drown it with maple syrup.

[JZ]

The answer has arrived FRY IN GARLIC AND DROWN IN MAPLE SYRUP.   8) ;D

[pikeman_95]

Just a thought on the smoke. Try trimming the edges off of a thick slice and just taste just the core of the sausage. The smoke flavor is primarily in the outer surfaces. If you taste the core and do not detect the taste you don't like then you can conclude it was the smoke. If the taste is still there then you have another problem. I see you used hog casings so there should not be holes in the casings. Hog casings should be fine for finishing in the water bath.

[JZ]

Thanks Kirby. Tried that and the taste is the same throughout. I really don't understand what happened. This is the same pack of hog casings that I used the last 2 times and the same recipe (for the Kielbasa). I smoked and cooked them the same as the last time. So I have to think it was the Birch pucks or that I overcooked them in the water bath and the flavor ended up in the water.

If I figure this out I will let you know.

[pikeman_95]

From what I see of your pictures those are hog casings and they do not have holes so you should not have lost the flavor in the water. Is there any chance that you miss weighed the meat and had more then you thought. That might result in a diluted taste.

[rajzer]

I'm beginning to think that it may have been the birch.  On the Polish site wędliny domowe there was a lengthy discussion about birch.  A number or respondents agreed that it is to be avoided for smoking, especially if the bark is left on.  One respondent wrote that in his experimentation with it,  a rancid or sour flavour resulted in the product.  It also apparently gives off a large amount of soot and burns quite rapidly.