Summer Sausage

[JZ]

It's been a very long time since I've made any sausage and a few weeks ago I discovered I was completely out of homemade sausage. I bought some from the store but soon decided I had to make some more. I made a 15 lb batch of Summer Sausage using the Hi Mountain kit. I really love the flavour of this stuff and wish I could duplicate it without buying their kit. I had a few issues and got some fat out. I though the whole batch was going to be garbage but in the end it was excellent and I'm a happy camper (wife too). I ended up with 5 large chubs and one small one.

Just to prove this isn't Unicorn sausage here are some pics. First one is of 3 of the chubs with wrinkled casings.  :-[



Second pic is of the peeled sausage showing the fat out. At this point I still thought it was a disaster.


But here is a money shot and this stuff is really good.


All vac sealed and now in the freezer.

[Gafala]

Looking good.

[Tenpoint5]

Yeah you had a fat out. That is a great picture of what one looks like!

[JZ]

I let the chubs rest for 2 hrs to get up to room temp then into the smoker preheated to 130 and left at 130 for 2 hours then bumped to 145 for 2 hrs and then 160 for 2 hrs before going into the hot water bath. I have 2 fans in the smoker and they were running for the whole time. But about 5 hrs into the smoke I noticed some smoke coming from what appeared to be the top front of the door. When I checked closer I discovered there was a small button resting on top of the magnet strip around the front of the cabinet and that prevented the door from closing all the way. So the whole time the door was slightly ajar and the heat was pouring into the cabinet in order to get the temps up.

I guess I got lucky this time. Only real issue is that there isn't much smokey flavor since the casings were dripping with fat and the smoke didn't stick well.

[Tenpoint5]

THat sucks! But you said it still tastes good and the picture of the cut piece looks like it still have some fats in it. So it shouldn't taste like a sawdust log.

[CoreyMac]

Fat outs are not always death for a sausage. I've had a bunch before I got the PID and they are still good, just don't LOOK very nice. ;D

Corey

[JZ]

THat sucks! But you said it still tastes good and the picture of the cut piece looks like it still have some fats in it. So it shouldn't taste like a sawdust log.

No sawdust, but that is what I was expecting. It actually turned out very good. It's not dry at all and the taste is great, except for the lack of smokey flavor. My daughter who is a healthy eater and doesn't usually eat sausage, loved it and took home 1/2 a chub.

Sometimes you just get lucky. :)

[tailfeathers]

THat sucks! But you said it still tastes good and the picture of the cut piece looks like it still have some fats in it. So it shouldn't taste like a sawdust log.

No sawdust, but that is what I was expecting. It actually turned out very good. It's not dry at all and the taste is great, except for the lack of smokey flavor. My daughter who is a healthy eater and doesn't usually eat sausage, loved it and took home 1/2 a chub.

Sometimes you just get lucky. :)

Nothing wrong with luck! I'd sure like to try good luck once and see what it's like, mine is generally of the bad variety!

[SiFumar]

Stills looks good! I'd have a sandwich with that any day!  One thing about mistakes...most still taste pretty good,

[cobra6223]

That sausage smell is a very strong attractant as it seems to draw kids in for miles !!! When he comes to visit doesn't say hi but just heads to the fridge to see what I made lately. Glad it turned out ok for you.

[JZ]

My grandsons asked for more after the first 2 pieces. Therefore it must be good .......... because anyone with grandsons knows that if it was bad they would tell you without hesitation. ;D