Weekend sausage

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Wed Dec 13, 2017 18:24

Concidering Ima newbie, just wanted to share a weekend, before the snowfall, a blend of swojska - moose, pepperoni and jalapeno/cheddar smokies. 300 lbs worth. All smoked on whiskey soaked oak from my friends at Last Mountain Distillery. Long day but fun.

fatboyz · Post by **fatboyz** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 01:29

looks great!!

Post by **redzed** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 07:45

Sausage looks execellent Joe, and a pro job in linking. I appreciate that you made the effort and time to do it properly. I see so many pictures on different sausage making sites with twisted and convoluted sausages dangling in smoke houses. Where are the rest of the pics? That's not 300lbs there!

I'm curious about the whisky flavoured oak for smoking. How strong is it? Oak, to begin with, can be overpowering, and it's not a wood that you can smoke something for umpteen hours, and with the whisky to boot, I think you you have to be very careful. Oak is commonly used in Poland, but they don't smoke their sausages for as long as many North Americans like to. Usually just enough to take on the colour, within 2-3 hours.

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 14:50

Thx for the compliments guys! The smoker holds around 80-100lbs depending on the type I'm making. Granted, the oak has a very distinct and strong flavour if dense smoke is applied for a long period of time. The whiskey in it though ..... I'm still on the fence on that one. Haven't really noticed that much of a taste difference, with or without. Thinking a good marketing feature though.
I've PM'ed you Chris on some bacon q's, if you're not too busy. Thx !!!

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Jan 08, 2018 14:24

Another experimental weekend. Krakowska and summer sausage (the non-fermented kind).

Post by **redzed** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 16:58

Looks like your set with cold cuts for sandwiches for a while. Nicely done! Will you be drying the sausages? Summer sausage is normally a semi-dry product and with Krakowska it' optional. The only comment I would have here is that Krakowska should contain a greater proprtion of large chunks of meat. Only 10% is usually made up of the finely ground portion that serves as the glue. Take a look at Marianski's recipes here:
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes

And on the Polish site here:
https://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/kielbasy/t ... ub-parzone

PM me with your email and I'll send you a PDF of the 1959 Polish Govrnment sausage meat processing instructions and recipes. This publication is considered as the bible of sausage in Poland.

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 19:35

Thx for your comments. I frequently visit those sites for recipies and that is in fact where I got the Krakowska, plus majoram. I typically don't pay too much attention to the meat quantity but once you pointed that out, I am a little out to lunch on the meat ratios. Will keep that in mind next time.
One summer sausage chub is drying but the others will be eaten by my voracious boys before it even has a chance to dry.

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Jan 22, 2018 14:37

Well this weekend I made, "tried to make" European style wieners and I was rather disapointed in the outcome. Visually not what I anticiapted and it seemed to be missing something flavourwise. They were smoked on the whiskey soaked oak for an hr or so and finished in hot water. No wow factor in there for sure. But to my surprise, the family and friends seemed to like it. Now whether or not they are being nice to me, who knows. Plus I came to the conclusion that I hate sheep casings and I think they hate me too. I'm, pretty sure I'll never use them again, gonna try finding smaller size hog casings instead. Not going to give up, going to try a different recipe next time. Giving this one a 5.5 / 10 kielbaski for presentation and flavour.

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Jan 22, 2018 14:45

The brats on the other had turned out great. Even though I tried to make as authentic as possible, I ommited the lemon zest, so therefore not authentic. Good taste and visually appealing. 9/10 kielbaski for this one.

Laftpig · Post by **Laftpig** » Mon Jan 22, 2018 14:54

Jjnurk

Just great looking brats. Curious why you don`t like sheep casings. Recently purchased some for hotdogs because it supposed to the best casings for such things and expensive to boot.

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Jan 22, 2018 15:00

Laftpig wrote:Jjnurk

Just great looking brats. Curious why you don`t like sheep casings. Recently purchased some for hotdogs because it supposed to the best casings for such things and expensive to boot.

Hey Laftpig, the sheep casings where certainly expensive as well extremely difficult to work with. Super thin, constantly breaking. Not sure if i got a bad batch or not but it certainly is going to make me think twice to get them again.

Post by **redzed** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 05:59

Hi Joe, looks like you had a lot of fun last weekend, especially with the sheep casings. Those look like the are 20-22 and better suited for snack sticks like kabanosy. Working with sheep casings can be frustrating. I know that the first time I used them I just wnted to sit down and cry.

First I got the whole hank tangled up, and then there was no way that I could get them on my stuffing horn. And they are not as strong as hog casings, but with a bit of practice you will stuff without ant blooeys. And the best size for franks is 24-26.

Brats look great, and it's best to play around with the pieces until you find one that you like. As to lemon zest, if you don't have any on hand, use a few drops of lemon extract, works like a charm!

Looking forward to seeing your next project!

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 15:11

This weekend wasn't a sausage weekend, but rather a "lets smoke some fish"weekend. Freshly caught lake trout in northern Manitoba, along with some grocery store caught salmon and mackrel from buddy.
Brined the trout in soya sauce, salt, sugar, onions, garlic, pepper and cayenne for overnight. Smoked on cherry for about 3 hrs and a light coat of maple syrup for the last 1/3 hr. Of course they fell off, but no damage. Delicious!

Post by **Bob K** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 16:47

Nice looking Fish!! You were in a fish/house ?

jjnurk · Post by **jjnurk** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 18:20

THX!
not sure what you mean with a "fish/house" but if you are referring to an ice fishing shack .... then yes. Temperatures during those few days were averaging -26C and with the wind chill of about -35C. No wonder red moved from this part of the country

. A little bit of spiritus infused black currant kept us warm, OK a lot of it, kept us warm

.