English - Need sausage help

[Siara]

Is it too difficult to use this setup for stuffing? Should I buy a vertical stuffer?

Well, it depends, but if you plan to make sausages regularly it is always good idea to buy stuffer. For the beginning you can also use meat grinder, you may just need some help do switch it on/off and refill hopper to avoid air pockets, as you will have 2 hands busy stuffing sausage. Search you tube for sausage stuffing, there's plenty.

[atcNick]

Well I just built the cardboard smoker according to the plans on this site. (two boxes connected). I used a 1000w hot plate, put a cast iron skillet on it, a large handful of cherry chips and a metal colander on top of that to difuse the smoke. This was just a test run to see what the temperatures would do.

 

After about 30 minutes or so I managed to get the temperature about 6 inches from the top to 144*F and then it fell a few degrees. I couldnt get it up to 160-170 for hot smoking. The dimensions of the smoker were 18" square by 48" tall. The outside air temperature is 45*F and wind is calm.

 

Any suggestions?

 

On another note, the cherry wood smoke smells great!!

[Siara]

atcNick, A picture is worth a thousand words. Even your description is quite detailed, it will help, to give you advises.

[atcNick]

Here are a couple pics. You can see the opening I cut in the cardboard to put in the hotplate/skillet/colander. I measured the temperature about 6-10 inches from the top using a digital thermometer probe.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7515/picture1197.th.jpg http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9813/picture1199.th.jpg

 

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7515/picture1197.jpg http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/picture1197.jpg/1/w1000.png

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9813/picture1199.jpg http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/picture1199.jpg/1/w668.png

[Siara]

Hi Nick,

OK, so to my opinion you can do following:

1. Do not use colander.

2. Cast iron skillet is quite heavy, so it absorbs lot of heat, you can use old can for wood chips, or buy stainless bowl. Very cheap one, like this one.

http://www.gear-zone.co.uk/eshop/products/Metal_Bowl_250.jpg

3. Do the test with 1 box only, this should be high enough.

4. Be aware, that when chips will start to burn, temp will go up rapidly.

[atcNick]

Dziendobry Siara,

 

Well I tried it with just one box and no colander. I didnt have another pan to try the wood chips in. The temperature did go up a little bit but only to about 153*F. I tried it in my garage this time because it's about 22*F outside. Tonight after work I'm thinking of buying another hot plate. Maybe if I have 2 hot plates I can get it hot enough, what do you think?

[Gość vtec]

Announcement to all users:

I'm working on setting up an english section on our Forum. Work should be done within a month. It demands some modifications, so please be patient

Informacja dla wszystkich użytkowników:

Pracuję nad tym, żeby na naszym forum powstał dział dla użytkowników "angielskojęzycznych". Potrwa to jakiś miesiąc. Ponieważ wymaga to wprowadzenia pewnych modyfikacji, więc proszę o cierpliwość

 

vtec

[Siara]

atcNick, consider buying this instead:

http://artgd.pl/zdjecia/848,1,duzy,grill-elektryczny-romix-gr-20.jpg

you can use it later for your main smokehouse.

[atcNick]

vtec, Thanks You!!!

 

Siara, I may end up getting one of those. But first Im going to try to line the inside of the box with aluminum foil. I hope that insulates the box enough to bring up the temperature.

[Maxell]

Jak już wspominał Vtec, wkrótce uruchomimy forum w wersji angielskojęzycznej. Jest już obsada moderatorów i mam nadzieję, że na nim, nasi zagraniczni goście otrzymają bezpośrednie informacje odnośnie produkcji tradycyjnych, polskich wędlin.

Oczywiście odpowiednie informacje na największe portale USA i Kanady już "jadą".

My zaś, skorzystamy z uprzejmości gości i wzbogacimy swoją kolekcję o nowe, sprawdzone przepisy tamtejszych wędlin.

[atcNick]

Ok I figured out why my cardboard smoker wouldnt get hot enough. The hotplate I was using has some sort of heat sensor or thermostat in it and it shuts off after it gets to a certain temperature and then comes back on. So I opened it up and rewired it to bypass the thermostat control knob. Now when I plug in my hot plate it stays on constantly - full 1000w!!! The temperatures when up up up!!!

[golaszm]

So now you need to watch out for flames

[Siara]

constantly - full 1000w!!!

atcNick, Now you may have opposite problem with temperature :grin:

[atcNick]

This is my first try at sausage making. I made kielbasa biala surowa.

 

It turned out great. The first hank (I think that's what its called) came out a little uneven as you can see in the pictures. The second one came out just right I think. I bought two pork butts, but I only made about 4 lbs of sausage. Im curing the rest of the meat right now for polska kielbasa wedzona.

 

I used salt/pepper/garlic. Didnt have any marjoram. I'm not sure if I should use it for the smoked version? What is your opinion? Is it better with marjoram or without? Should I use fresh or dried marjoram?

 

You can click on the photos to enlarge.

 

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture022.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture021.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture019.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture017.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture016.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture015.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture014.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture012.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture011.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture008.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture007.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Sausage%20first%20try/th_Picture002.jpg

[Maxell]

Very nicely. :grin:

[andrzej k]

atcNick

 

 

[Siara]

Well done!

 

Should I use fresh or dried marjoram?

I recommend to use dry, it's more intensive.

Split your meat in 2 after mixing before stuffing, and add marjoram to one half.

Remember to add just half portion :smile:

This way in one go you'll have both versions to taste and choose better one.

I prefer with :wink:

[atcNick]

Thanks Siara. Do you know if the recipes listed on this site assume dried spices are used?

[golaszm]

Do you know if the recipes listed on this site assume dried spices are used?

Most of them should be dried dried.

We tend to use fresh garlic and - well - freshly ground dried pepper

 

There are some recipes that use fresh herbs, like BonAir's 'Four Herbs' sausage

 

BTW - nice work!

[atcNick]

Thanks for the help guys. Im going to be making the smoked sausage tommorow. I have hickory, apple, and cherry chips. I also have oak chips made from oak barrels that were used to make jack daniel's whiskey. I cant seem to find any plain oak chips.

 

What is the best wood or combination to use for smoking this sausage?

[golaszm]

Every single one will be good; considering this is your first attempt, I would use hickory leaving apple and cherry for your future attempts.

That's because - in my sole opinion - they will give you better results (better smell and taste) and as such I would keep them ie. for a ham.

And the best one is whiskey flavoured oak. Keep it as a treasure for a special occasion

 

Just to make things clear - hickory or regular oak are good.

Wood of any fruit tree should be even better.

Chips made of oak whiskey barrels are the best ones.

And all of the above is my own opinion. I'm almost sure that each and every one of us has his own taste and could argue about the mentioned ranking.

 

(translated from this article):

* Apple wood - a very mild smoke with a subtle fruity, slightly sweet taste. Can be used for smoking poultry, giving dark brown colour.

 

* Cherry wood - very similar to apple, slightly bitter

 

* Red Oak - one of the fastest burning wood, honey taste and earthy flavor, a little bitter. Gives a brown colour.

 

* White oak - is a bit milder, recommended for smoking beef, fish and poultry. Gives dark-yellow colour.

[atcNick]

golaszm, Thanks for the tip. Greatly appreciated. If you think oak chips from whiskey barrels is the best I will use it. I was leaning towards using that anyways. It's easy to get that here and cheap.

 

This is the stuff: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_104696?cm_mmc=froogle-_-325-9-1-_--1-_-38-612-518-44&hvarAID=froogle&mr:trackingCode=485135A9-E881-DE11-B712-001422107090&mr:referralID=NA

 

I will take pictures tommorow when I smoke the sausage and will post.

[golaszm]

Good luck then

 

By the way - any chance you could tell us the weight of JDs oak chips? I can see in the product description that a 5$ bag contains 210 cubic inches (which would be 3,4l/3441cm3 volume), but there's no information about the actual weight.

[atcNick]

golaszm, it was 2 pounds.

 

Ok, finally!!! Here are the pics. Smoked these bad boys yesterday. I'm a little dissapointed, they didnt come out the way I wanted. The smoker only got up to about 130*F(my hotplate got fried so I had to replace it) and I smoked them with 3 parts oak, 1 part hickory for two hours, heavy smoke like the recipe suggested. Then I finished them in the oven at 170 and then 180 to bring them up to 156* The smoke flavor seems way too strong, and the texture is not what I had expected. Please share your opinions and advice. Thanks.

 

 

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic1-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic10.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic11.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic12.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic2-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic3-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic4-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic5-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic6-1.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic7.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic8.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll100/atcnick/Kielbasa%20Polska%20Wedzona%20-%20first%20try/pic9.jpg

[Siara]

First, congratulations on you fist smoked sausage. :wink:

I have to be honest and tell you, that the recipe you have selected for your first attempt is not easy.

You need to gain some experience, so to my opinion you should go with small steps.

There are may factors which may impact both taste and texture of you product, so let me mention just a few , which are absolute basic.

1. Meat quality

2. Curing

3. Preparation

4. Smoking

5. Hot processing

6. Cooling :lol:

 

So as you see, there is a possibility to do an error on each step :grin: :devil:

Don’t worry, just for your next try select something easier. OK enough "smart ass" talking, moving on:

I think that you did not dry the sausage before you started treat it with smoke, this is very important step.

What I mean by dry is that the sausage ( and all other meats ) need to be dry to the touch.

Any moisture on the surface works “glue like” for the unwanted smoke particles. When this happens, the meat or sausage can be a bit bitter, or very strong tasting.

Another reason temperature. I see on the photo, that the inside of the sausage is less colored then outside.

You may need to hang a little computer fan inside your smoker to force smoke and temperature circulation.

Keep it running for all smoking process, from very beginning when you load the smoker, just switch the hot plate on and let it run for 40 min, then check if sausage is dry.

If yes, start smoking with smoke, if not keep on drying. Finally, why you dont use your Weber 18" WSM for soking?

Well, later on I’ll translate for you recipe for “Farmers sausage” which I hope will compensate you disappointment.