My First Sausage

[Mr Walleye]

I finally jumped in and made 15 lbs of Smoked Polish Sausage (Kielbasa) from "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing". I added a little Cayenne to it other than that I pretty much just followed the recipe. All I can say is "Holy Crap"... What the he11 took me so long to try making sausage!

I bought a 1 HP Cabelas grinder and man does this puppy eat meat! I ground this 15 lbs in well under 2 minutes!

Anyway here's a few pictures.....

Mike

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

All I can say is "Holy Crap"... What the he11 took me so long to try making sausage!

Probably too much time on the forum helping novices instead of stuffing sausages...    :D

I have a soft spot for kielbasa; these look great!

Sparkler

[Gizmo]

Those look Great.

I did some beef sticks for the first time today.  Still in the smoker getting to temp.  I am still in the low budget mode as I had to use my Kitchen Aid for grinding then for stuffing.  The grinding wasn't bad but the stuffing was tiring and slow.  Some day will have to upgrade to real stuffer if I get the hang of it.  

[Mr Walleye]

Gizmo

I have an 11 lb Cabelas stuffer on back order right now. Hopefully it shows up soon. My grinder worked ok for stuffing but definitely a 2 person job.

Beef sticks are definitely on my list. You'll have to let me know how they turn out.

Mike

[acords]

Probably too much time on the forum helping novices instead of stuffing sausages...   

???

[Gizmo]

The sample on the grill was good but could have used more seasoning.  Since this was the first time, I didn't want to make adjustments until after the 1st time as the taste will change.  I had a lot of questions that I wasn't sure of going in but I just went a head and forged on.  I thought I had a great stuffing going on, especially for the first time.  Got about 2.5 feet stuffed and then heard a pop.  I stopped, cut off the tear, then continued on with a little less in the casing.  I looked back at the part that I cut off, only to discover that enventally a 1.5 foot section had split after pinch the original split end off.  I kept the rest of if fairly loose as I was on my own trying.  

I am not too sure how these will turn out taste wise but will brave the embaresment and let you know.

[coyote]

Looks great Mike !!! You'll like your new stuffer when it comes in. Sausage looks great  8)


Coyote

[Gizmo]

Don't laugh.

Laid out on the rack.  Slid when I pulled out of the BS as the sides were not touching with plenty of spacing.


After shocking in ice water, piled high.  This was 5 lbs of chuck ground.

[Habanero Smoker]

Mike;

The Kielbasa looks good. That will be my next sausage. I thought for the first time I would use the Kielbasa spice blend sold by Penzy's. I had a gift certificate so I bought something I would have never had bought with my own money.

PS
Oh well! I have to retract the above statement. I purchased the Bratwurst seasoning, so I guess that is what I will be making next.

[Mr Walleye]

Mike;

The Kielbasa looks good. That will be my next sausage. I thought for the first time I would use the Kielbasa spice blend sold by Penzy's. I had a gift certificate so I bought something I would have never had bought with my own money.

PS
Oh well! I have to retract the above statement. I purchased the Bratwurst seasoning, so I guess that is what I will be making next.

Habs

If you are like me when I get into those stores I'm... reading this and grabing that and... next thing you know I have about 4 times what I was looking for and usually a couple of the wrong things!  ::)


Gizmo

What do you mean "don't laugh"! It looks great to me!  8)
I see you have one of those "Thermoapens". I definitely need something different for making sausage.

Mike

[Gizmo]

The folks at work didn't shy away from the sausage and thought the taste and texture were great.  I even told them that I accidently chopped off my finger (I had them cut into 3 inch pieces) but they saw right through that.  Guess I should have put a finger nail on one end. :D
I got the best compliment from my wife.  She said it was good and better than store bought as it was not greasy.  The grease (fat) is why she doesn't like most sausages.

The Thermopen is an awesome device for the quickest and most accurate temp measure.  Knowing the actual temperature sensor is in the very tip and not located somewhere above the tip, allows for more accurate probe placement and therefore better readings.  The tip is very small so it doesn't leave as large of a hole (not that the small hole doesn't prevent the juices leaking out).  For me it doesn't replace the remote probes as I resist any reason to open the door but for the small sausages, it is tough to place a lot of confidence in a probe that is almost as big as the sausage and wondering if it ripped out of the casing and is now monitoring the cabinet. ;D

I recently bought a non contact laser thermometer as well.  it allows me to measure the surface temerature of areas.  I used it the other day to see how hot the puck burner gets for smoldering the pucks and also as a quick cabinet temperature comaparision.  I have had a few needs in the past to be able to measure suface temperatures such as in breaker pannels to detect circuit breakers that are failing which can be seen in a higher temperature.  When we first moved into our current house, I had a problem with some lights flickering and it turned out to be the main breaker had developed some carbon deposits due to age and loading.  The electrician was able to verify his suspicion by the thermal scan and when he pulled the breaker, you could see the defects and why the lights were flickering.  The Cen-Tech was on sale for half price so for 30 bucks, I just had to have another toy. 

[bigredsmoker]

The sausage looks great Gizmo. Someday I will venture into the sausage relm, but for now I have to get thisa smoking thing down, then I can think about sausage. I guess I now know why you are called Gizmo....Gotta love those new toys! ;D

[drano]

Mr Walleye,
Great looking Kielbasa!  What internal temp did you cook it to?  Is it and fully cooked, or only partially cooked?  I've been making fresh brautworst for a few years, but haven't smoked any yet.  Maybe on my next batch I'll add cure and cold smoke it for a few ours before I freeze it. 

You'll like the Cabelas 11 lb stuffer.  I've had mine for several years.  Mine has teeth all the way to the top of the ram shaft and will push the plunger all the way to the bottom of the container.  Now they machine off the teeth at the top, so I don't know if they still bottom out the plunger.  Only thing I don't like is the bottom is not flat so I can't stand it up on the counter to fill it.  So I hold it in one hand, and spoon meat in with the other.  I have a long handled solid stainless spoon from a restaurant supply store that I bent the spoon/handle juction about 90 deg so I can spoon in, then press the meat down to get most of the air out as I fill the container.  If you'd like a stuffer motor, Weston sells a reconditioned one for $138. 
http://www.westonsupply.com/Items.aspx?CAT=stuffpart

Gizmo
Yours looks great too!  Man, we need to start a Sausage/jerky section on this forum! :)
Go ahead and treat yourself to a dedicated stuffer.  I used the Kitchen Aid grinder to stuff casings once, then made a donation to Cabelas.  If you make small size snack sticks, you might look into the Sausage Maker brand
http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=26 or L.E.M..  I think they have more leverage with their 90 degree gear.  Hopefully they use high quality nylon for their gears.  Cabelas has in-line gears, and I had to crank like a mad dog to get sausage through the 10mm stuffing tube. 

Where can I find a Thermopen?  I tried a batch of snack sticks a few years back, and like you said, getting a meat thermometer into to a small casing is impossible. 

Get smokin
Drano

[Mr Walleye]

Drano

I took the IT to 152 degrees. I hope my stuffer arrives soon.

Here is a link to the Thermapen. I have thought about getting one but haven't loosened up the $100 yet.

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/tpen_home.html?gclid=CLyXupari5ECFQcmgwodLR0-GA

Mike

[Gizmo]

Mike has the post for the Pen.

Hey Drano, some of them gots Gizmos on top called motors.   Arhh Arhh Arrhh.  But they gots something I don't, 2k pricetag.  :'(