Mmm...Sausage, sausage and more sausage.

[billythekidrock]

Spent yesterday grinding, stuffing and packaging 30# of elk, 20# of bear and 30# of pork butt into 3 different types of sausage. We made Country Maple Blend links, two different sizes of Polish dogs and some pep/snack sticks.

We used a Cabela’s 1hp grinder for stuffing and it worked out well. I was a little worried before hand as I was told that it might not work and or burn out the motor, but we had no problems.

We used natural hog casings for the larger Polish sausage and 21mm collagen casings for the smaller diameter sausages. I prefer the natural sheep casings, but for ease of use you can’t beat the collagen casings.

For the snack sticks we mixed 20# of elk with 5# of pork and used a Cabela’s brand Pepperoni Snack Stick kit. This kit came with everything needed including collagen casings, seasoning and cure.

We then mixed the rest of the elk with the bear and pork.

For the breakfast sausage we used the Country Maple Blend by Hi Mountain. This is seasoning only. Casings are not included.

For the Polish we used Hi Mountains Polish Sausage kit. It has everything needed including natural hog casings, seasoning and cure (if needed) for slow cooking/smoking.



Collagen casings are a little harder to twist into links so I just cut them into equal lengths. These are just over 7 inches long. This makes it easy to package inside quart-sized bags for vacuum packing and they also stack in the freezer really nice.

We didn’t have enough of the hog casings to finish the Polish sausage so we used some of the collagen casings. These will fit nicely in a hotdog bun.

[billythekidrock]

The pepperoni in the smoker and in a few hours it should be ready to sample.






Getting close to done.



And here was dinner.

[billythekidrock]

Just wanted to post a few thoughts on the spices / kits.

The Country Maple Blend (Hi Mountain) breakfast sausage is pretty good. Smells like maple syrup when cooking, but it is too sweet tasting. Though we will enjoy eating it, I probably won't do this one again.

The Polish Sausage kit is great as always, but this kit seemed a bit short on the hog casings. I will do this one again.

The Cabela's Pepperoni Snack Stick kit is pretty good as well. I will use it again but may add an additional 5# of meat to help smooth out the spices. It is by no means "hot" but I am not much of a pepper eater. Even though it comes with it's own collagen casings (21mm) I will probably purchase 18 or 19mm casings to have a thinner finished product.

I took the pepperoni to work and laid a big stick on two coworkers’ desks first thing in the morning. When I went by a few minutes later one was almost done eating and the other had just finished. I guess it turned out ok.

[billythekidrock]

The other night I cooked up some of the Polish sausage stuffed into the 21mm casings. The only issue I had was the collagen casing is a little tougher to bite through but other then that, they turned out great and I will be making more in this smaller size.






This morning I wanted sausage for breakfast but I didn't take any of the links out of the freezer last night so I grabbed a package of of patty style.

I made a couple packages like this for just this type of situation. I place a 1/2 lb or so in a vacuum bag and smash it flat and uniform, being sure to push out any air pockets.

These stack real nice in the freezer and they thaw out amazingly fast. This one I threw in a pan of luke warm water and within a few minutes it was completely thawed out.



Another thing I like about packaging this way is that I can cut it in the bag and not have to make a mess forming the patties.

[gitano]

Outstanding! My mouth is watering! No joke!
 
Paul

[bowhunter 51]

Excellent documentary, Billy'T-kid....you definately got it going on....
I make a little venison sausage each year but still not quite where I want
to be with the taste....I like it HOT....and sage'y....have to use pork fat and
I think within that, the taste is comprimised...................................BH51....

[22hornet]

Great post!  Its 0630 in the morning and I'm ready for a taste!