Christmas Smoke

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Butterbean
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Christmas Smoke

Post by Butterbean » Mon Dec 14, 2020 21:10

Seeing Stefan's sausages inspired me ...... maybe to much so as I have a fair amount of game meat in the freezer and I recently made some modifications to the smokehouse and have been wanting to see how she runs. So with these things prodding me I may have gotten a bit overzealous and bit off more than I bargained for.

Its funny how one goes in circles with meat curing and other things only to come back to the basics as these are time proven ways. I say this because its become obvious to me that I make a better product when I give the meat time to cure and let nature take its course. On one side of the circle I have used cure accelerators to shorten the curing time and was able to make a good product but it wasn't what I'd call high quality. Sure it tasted as good if not better than what you can buy in the store but it just wasn't top shelf if you know what I mean.

With this in mind, I've made the decision I will try and be patient and not rush things and use these older processes because they have never let me down as they have always produced superior products. The only problem I've noticed with this is my impatience and my feeling that I am not doing anything. So when I spend 30 minutes splitting and separating the meat and adding salt and cure to the meat I find myself twiddling my thumbs and thinking I need to do something which in turn leads me to start another batch of meat to cure and then another and then another and I've learned it doesn't take but about four hours to have 150 lbs of meat curing AND I've expended little to know effort.

The down side to this is the further processing, stuffing and toasting and grinding fresh spices rather than relying on the pre-worked spices. My plan was ingenious I thought and shouldn't have been much of a problem as my daughter would have helped but unbeknownst to me - she had other plans so I had to go at it solo and this was quite and undertaking as was keeping up with the different smoke schedules and such as that. It was a lot of work and probably should have given myself another day I did pull it off and am right pleased with the results. Of late, I have been interested in "gluing" whole meats and shelf stability so this project has some of that worked in to it. Also, I have been trying to find ways to make better use of various game meats I am blessed with. That aside, here are a few photos of my recent smoke.

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Slim Jims, Kielbasa Szynkowa, Romanian Sausage, Kielbasa Krakowska, Kielbasa myśliwska, Summer Sausage
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Slim Jim's have finished and the Kielbasa Szynkowa is beginning to get a rosey color to it which I took as a sign it was time to poach.
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Summer Sausage and Kielbasa Szynkowa been showed and left to rest and bloom.
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Kielbasa Szynkowa just hanging to bloom longer and I just liked looking at it so it hung longer.
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Venison Summer Sausage with sharp cheddar
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Kielbasa krakowska with added venison. I like the coloration of this sausage with the venison. The venison gives it a deep red hue and the pork a more rosey hue and the pork loin a whiter hue. I really like this combo.
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Kielbasa myśliwska - I really liked the color of this. Much darker red than I expected but I monkeyed with the sugar content a bit and am wondering if this didn't have something to do with the deep red color. Never made this one before so I'm just wondering if sugar plays a part.
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Romanian sausage, Kielbasa mysliwska, Kielbasa krakowska
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Kielbasa krakowska
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Kielbasa Szynkowa
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Beaver Slim Jim's with pepper jack cheese
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Kielbasa Szynkowa sandwich with homemade mustard. Very good.

As mentioned I've been toying with meat emulsions and "gluing" meats together as I find this interesting. On that note, I'd like to offer a tip I learned from watching the polish YouTube ...... not I cannot speak it yet but I am picking up a few words here and there. The tip is to use an emulsion blender when making a small amount of emulsion like you need in the ham sausage or krakowska. What you do is pre-grind your emulsion meat twice with the fine plate then add a portion of your cold water to this and set the emulsion blender in the bowl and this makes as fine of an emulsion as you ever want to see and with very little clean up.

Also noticed there is a difference in recipes between the Polish Sausage Cookbook and Marianski's Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. On page 239 of latter under Mysliwaska it calls for 1 gram sugar and the other calls for 2 grams. No big deal but I went with the latter and also - on a whim - added about 3 grams of dextrose which I wonder didn't aid in formation of the dark red color of the sausages. Not sure if this is common or not as I never made it before.

Next I plan on drying the Hunter Sausage down more and smoking it one or two more times. I have a hoop of cheese I will smoke along with this and we will see where this goes.

Most of this food will be given away to some folks in the community and to one of my favorite charities however I will be keeping a little for myself because I just don't think I can part with all of it just yet.
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Scogar
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Re: Christmas Smoke

Post by Scogar » Mon Dec 14, 2020 21:37

I would be proud to have just made one of those Butterbean. I'm stunned is all I can say
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Bob K
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Re: Christmas Smoke

Post by Bob K » Tue Dec 15, 2020 17:25

WoW!! The quality and volume is incredible and your generosity is awesome.
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rgreenberg2000
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Re: Christmas Smoke

Post by rgreenberg2000 » Tue Dec 15, 2020 18:17

That is some impressive work! Trying to accomplish that would either kill me, or incite my wife to do great bodily harm! ;)

I will aspire to be able to recreate some of these (one at a time.) :)

Rich
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Re: Christmas Smoke

Post by seeker » Sun Jan 24, 2021 20:06

Hello,
I live in Alaska and have access to caribou and moose. I am looking to make Krakowska sausage with the venison. I see where you made some. What type of casing do you use? Fibrous or natural? Pretty hard to get smoke thru the synthetic type right?
muxmun
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Re: Christmas Smoke

Post by muxmun » Mon Jan 25, 2021 20:28

ButterBean

Not sure how I missed this post but this is just amazing. AWSOME
If I spent a few weeks with you I would learn more than a few years of reading books.
I'm trying my hand at snack sticks as you know and if you would share your recipe it would be greatly appreciated.
Good job on all. Truly looks like you have mastered the craft.

Thanks....Mux
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