buying Bradley Bisquettes

[bologna man]

I have my smoker for 4 years now and what a suprise when I went to buy more Bradley Bisquettes. The price jumped from about $12.00 US when I got my smoker to 40.00 US now. The reason I didn't need them until now was that when I got my smoker I got 24 boxes of 120 bisquettes. Does anyone know if there is a cheeper place to get the bisquettes. The reason I am saying about the price is that I make bologna and it is smoked for 48 hours this is now a big cost that is going from $12.00 to $40.00 a box.[?]

Rod

[Chez Bubba]

Rod,

We've only been dealers for just over two years but in that time a 120-pack has always been in the $40 range. 36-packs have been closer to the $12-15 area, is that what you are recalling?

I'm not attempting to question your memory, just relaying my personal experience.[:)]

Also, since I have never made bologna and want to gain as much info as possible, and your handle is "bologna man", I will defer to your experience in asking: Do you really need to apply 48 hours of smoke? Cooking at low temp I can see, but does it really need the smoke for that long? Isn't there a point at which it no longer takes the smoke flavor? Or, if it does, isn't the end-product overly smoky? What flavor of wood do you use?

Thanks in advance for the info.

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com

[bologna man]

Kirk
This is an old time recipe where you start with a casing that is made out of muslin cloth cut in a rectangle 10" wide and 17" long. Next step is to sew the bottom and side together to make a tube about the size of a soda can 5" wide 17 " long with double sewn seams. Then mix very lean ground meat 90% or leaner with spices, to form a thick paste, which starts to turn brown, the mixture at this time looks like old ground meat due to the curing salt. I use a drywall spackling stirrer for this process a new one of course. Then the mixture gets stuffed into the cloth casing with as much pressure as you can apply with out tearing the cloth or seams. The next step is closing the top I use nylon wire ties with a small stainless S hook keeping the meat as tightly packed as possible. Next the bologna's get hung in the smoker with wet smoke for the 48 hours, temp no hotter then 140 degrees. The result is a nicely colored dark brown outer casing with the meat that was brown from the salt in the seasoning mix is now a deep red color. The bologna then gets hung in a cool dry place until the firmness that you like is reached. E-mail me if you want the recipe and pics of the end product. I don't know if you ever heard of the stuff before but it is call Lebanon Bologna and is only made around here. The nice thing about the end product is that it needs no refrigeration to keep it from spoiling.
And as for the briquettes the ones I got were the 120 pieces per box I think these came from Pacific Electric in Canada and it might have been longer than 4 or 5 years you now how time flies.




Rod