Turnin' out sausage

HistoricFoodie wrote: The 10 mm I have, however, doesn't have round holes. Instead they are sort of elongated teardrops. This produces a rather unique, chunky kind of grind. I imagine it would be exactly what Dan needs for the anduille; more or less solid pieces.   So, now that I know what I need, I can go back to the Weston site and order it.   Yay, team!

   Glad ya figured it out Brook!  Let us know what you end up ordering and where you plan to use it.  That teardrop 10mm plate sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that a little more, thanks!

Dan

Well, Brook - I guess the natural question would be:

I'm thinking that the Mesopotamian barley bread would go great with some sort of beef or lamb sausage...yum yum ~

it's easy - you'll be fine when you get around to it ~

Agreed!

TasunkaWitko wrote: I'm thinking that the Mesopotamian barley bread would go great with some sort of beef or lamb sausage...yum yum ~   Whaddaya think, Dan?

   a lamb sausage does sound good! 


  Brook, what plates do you have now?  You aren't going to need anything too large for a regular lamb sausage. 

    Okay, we are getting set to make another batch of "craft" andouille, Texas hot links...and a slim jim version of each as well.  Oh, about 30+ lbs of bacon too 


   Does anyone have some good research links for slim jims?  I've got ideas in my head, but would like to gather some thoughts and then proceed.  While my brother and I don't use any nitrates in any of our fresh or smoked sausages...I am going to use it in the slim jims.  The slim jims are a different animal all together. 

  As I just came back from the fridge and got a nice beef stick, I'm looking for something of a longer smoke and drier than regular beef sticks/venison sticks that we've made before.  These are very good...but were looking to do something drier/smokier...closer to a slim jim rather than beef stick.


   thanks guys and gals!

  

MarkR wrote: Dan I use beef middles (natural) for my thick Andouille, works nicely. Another source for grinder parts, they have most everything. http://www.nbsparts.com/meat-grinders/

   Hi Mark!

  For fresh sausages we use natural hog casing (Italian, brat, texas Hot links, Polish, etc), for the andouille we like the larger casings.  The last time we got natural middles (2 1/3- 2 3/8) they varied much more than the specified variance...they were all over the place!   I have heard that some products vary more than others.  So, the next time we got the thin (edible/strand collagen casings) 2+" collagen casings and they worked fine. 

   If the natural middles are a little over 2 1/3", do you still make them about 18" long?  I know I've had the casing rip while smoking when they're this large, where the strand collagen hold up.  I'd love to hear your experiences (or others...)

  Thanks,
 Dan
 

Dan the beef middles I got from Butcher and Packer were all over the place. I now get them from Sausagemaker and the are pretty consistent. I make mine about 15" in small batches cause that's all the height inside my watt burner. If I'm making larger batches I'll make them 18" and use the bigger smoker. Usually use tangerine or grapefruit wood.
For fresh andouille I use 32-35mm selects (hog) from Butcher and Packer. Strange they are real consistent with hog but not with beef.  ???

I've made peperoni but not snack stick size, have to get on that I love them.
I use an IQue on my big offset and my Weber, I'm real happy with it. It's simple.

I sometimes use Fermento but I prefer Bactofirm F-LC in my summer sausage, much more pronounced "tang". But it might be too much for snack sticks, fermento or powdered buttermilk might be betta. Butter milk gives about the same result but it's a lot less expensive.

If you try it with F-LC you'll have to add another step to allow them time to ferment. 24 hours at 95° and 90% humidity. I adapted my watt burner for this.

Dan, Fermento is made from cultured skim milk, dried. It will retain moisture also. I think it has a little more tang than the buttermilk.