Homemade Sausage Making

10 # pork butts, ice cold and grind through the 1/4" die
10 ea garlic clove, smashed
1 TBSP granulated garlic
3 TBSP kosher salt
1 TBSP ground black pepper
2 level tsp cure #1
2 1/2 cup ice cold water


24mm sheep casings


You can add ground jalapeno and cheddar for a little kick, I like 6-7 ground jalapenos with seeds per 10#, I eye ball the high temp cheddar I buy from sausagemaker.com

I take the salts, black pepper, crushed garlic, and garlic powder and grind them in a food processor with just enough water to make a smooth paste. I then add that to the rest of the water and mix into my ground pork.

I have a bradley electric 6 rack smoker. I start at 140 degrees smoke on with vent completely open for the first 40 minutes or so to dry the casings. Then I have them about 1/4 open and every 20 minutes raise the temperature 10 degrees. I stop at 220 degrees and hot smoke until internal temp of the sausage reads 152 degrees. It takes about 5 hours in my bradley smoker. I like it slow and long and it gives a great flavor. These have a good garlic flavor. It can be adjusted to your liking.

Very nice Kaiser!

Looks great, would love some of those!

Kaiser I like the simplicity of the ingredients in your recipe. Some of the best sausages that I have tasted were seasoned with only one or two spices (other than salt). And yet we still want to find combinations with a dozen or more.

The only thing that I would like to comment on here is that cooking the sausages at 220F is too hot. At 180F or even lower the fat will start rendering out and that totally changes the texture of the sausage. I would not take the smoker temp above 170. The process of smoking Kabanosy, also a thin diameter sausage in sheep casings, calls for the final 20 minutes of "baking" at a temp of 180-190, but you have to be very careful.

I also used to smoke with a Bradley but had problems with getting the temp up in it especially when it was loaded. And like most home smokers you have to move the sausages around while smoking as the heat is not distributed evenly.

redzed wrote:Kaiser I like the simplicity of the ingredients in your recipe. Some of the best sausages that I have tasted were seasoned with only one or two spices (other than salt). And yet we still want to find combinations with a dozen or more.

The only thing that I would like to comment on here is that cooking the sausages at 220F is too hot. At 180F or even lower the fat will start rendering out and that totally changes the texture of the sausage. I would not take the smoker temp above 170. The process of smoking Kabanosy, also a thin diameter sausage in sheep casings, calls for the final 20 minutes of "baking" at a temp of 180-190, but you have to be very careful.

I also used to smoke with a Bradley but had problems with getting the temp up in it especially when it was loaded. And like most home smokers you have to move the sausages around while smoking as the heat is not distributed evenly.

I agree, my favorite sausages are about the smoke and pork. Slovenian sausages (or krainerwurst) are my favorite all time, I can eat them with about anything.

Thanks for the input on the final temperature. I was finishing in an oven but if I wasn't careful babysitting them they would dry out in an instant. I've been playing with temperatures and the vent and its been getting better each time. Next time I'll stop the smoker at a lower temperature for sure to try it out. These are nice and moist but I am always up for more ideas. I didn't put it in my description but I did rotate them after about 2 hours. These smokies were cooked all the way in the smoker, no oven or water bath. I look forward to branching out more and trying different sausages and cured meats.