Making sausage

[Plebe]

For y’all sausage experts:

What makes the casing wrinkle like this

It was doing great until the last couple minutes on the grill. Still tasted great. Just cosmetic.

Some hit on aspects of this (large grind = space in casing = understuffed wrinkling; someone also mentioned post cook cooling as well) but the following link covers some typical issues and might be useful for others having additional problems. I included the text on wrinkled casings below too.

Sausage Casings 101: Casings FAQ

The official blog of The Sausage Maker, an online resource for food makers of all kinds.

blog.sausagemaker.com

Why did my casing wrinkle during smoking or cooking?

1.) The casing was under-stuffed. If the sausages are loosely stuffed, there is more casing material than is needed for adhering. So when casings naturally shrink and adhere to meat, if there is excess, it may cause wrinkling to appear.

OR

2.) Sausage was not cooled fast enough after cooking. Typically, right after cooking, sausage should be rapidly cooled under cold water to a meat temperature of 110F (but less is even better). This rapid cooling, usually no longer than 5 minutes under cold water, prevents the casings from shriveling/wrinkling in the cold, dry air that it is exposed to when removed from heat source.

OR

3.) If you're smoking sausage (or cooking in low/slow smoker) for prolonged periods of time (over 8 hours), the moisture from the meat escaping through the casing and into the air will become evident by wrinkling casings. This can be prevented by either smoking sausage with a bowl/pan of water inside (but away from heat source) or by cutting down on time exposed to air/smoke in the smoker. Often smoking is done in the first 3-4 hrs. At this point sausage may be taken inside and finished in an oven, or temperatures should be increased in the smokehouse to 170F in order to reduce cooking time.

 

[hokiehunter373]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Patriot]

Mine is pretty lean I guess. Unless I make some with bacon. I use bacon ends and pieces.
My base deer sausage is 60% deer, 40% pork. If I use a bacon recipe I use 60% deer, 20% pork, and 20% bacon ends and pieces.
Using bacon and high temp cheese jacks the price up. That cheese is $10/#. I figured it up today that my bacon cheese burger sausage is costing me almost $2/# for just the pork, bacon, and cheese. Not counting spices, casing, and butcher paper. And everyone knows we never ever ever add up what deer meat cost per pound.

I tell my wife that all the venison is free because I butchered it myself. Free... BAH hahahahahahah. Free!

 

[slonstdy]

Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong with my summer sausage and salami I made last year.

With the salami the directions said that after they reach the specified internal temp I was to hang them until they lost a certain percentage of their weight, I don't remember offhand what it was. They hung for about a week at a room temp of 66*. After that they went right into the fridge. They looked great but when I cut them open parts of the inside were brown as if it dried out. Other than those areas the rest looked great, just like a store bought salami. So what did I do wrong? Was I supposed to cool them in water before hanging? Or should they not have been hung at room temp but rather in a fridge?

The summer sausage faired a little better but they also got those internal brown areas and they went right into the fridge after cooking.

I didn't try making either this year because I didn't want to waste the meat but I would like to try again if I can find out what went wrong.
Any ideas on how I messed them up?

 

[hokiehunter373]

Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong with my summer sausage and salami I made last year.

With the salami the directions said that after they reach the specified internal temp I was to hang them until they lost a certain percentage of their weight, I don't remember offhand what it was. They hung for about a week at a room temp of 66*. After that they went right into the fridge. They looked great but when I cut them open parts of the inside were brown as if it dried out. Other than those areas the rest looked great, just like a store bought salami. So what did I do wrong? Was I supposed to cool them in water before hanging? Or should they not have been hung at room temp but rather in a fridge?

The summer sausage faired a little better but they also got those internal brown areas and they went right into the fridge after cooking.

I didn't try making either this year because I didn't want to waste the meat but I would like to try again if I can find out what went wrong.
Any ideas on how I messed them up?

What temp did you cook at and for how long?

 

[Plebe]

Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong with my summer sausage and salami I made last year.

With the salami the directions said that after they reach the specified internal temp I was to hang them until they lost a certain percentage of their weight, I don't remember offhand what it was. They hung for about a week at a room temp of 66*. After that they went right into the fridge. They looked great but when I cut them open parts of the inside were brown as if it dried out. Other than those areas the rest looked great, just like a store bought salami. So what did I do wrong? Was I supposed to cool them in water before hanging? Or should they not have been hung at room temp but rather in a fridge?

The summer sausage faired a little better but they also got those internal brown areas and they went right into the fridge after cooking.

I didn't try making either this year because I didn't want to waste the meat but I would like to try again if I can find out what went wrong.
Any ideas on how I messed them up?

This is tuff.

Reduction (loss of oxygen) turns meat brown (oxymyoglobin transitioning to metmyoglobin) as does chemical reaction (say from a cure/sodium nitrate - which also causes the pink color after cooking).

It's weird you had browning on both, I can't even begin to guess, but there is an anti-oxident additive that may help:

Sodium Erythorbate, 1/2 lb.

A common ingredient used in sausage making and meat curing for accelerating the breakdown of sodium nitrite allowing you to smoke cured meats immediately after stuffing. It also acts as an anti-oxidant which prevents discoloration/pigmentation of meats treated with Cure. The latter is important...

www.sausagemaker.com

Air dried salami is temp and moisture sensitive, really an art. Best of luck.

 

[Will Harris]

all the jala/cheddar summer sausage i've made so far was from a kit. i can get everything locally except high temp cheese. is high temp really necessary? the internet is the internet and the opinions are split. i'm sure i'm safest using high temp, but ....

has anyone used "regular" cheese and been successful?

 

[DanielB89]

all the jala/cheddar summer sausage i've made so far was from a kit. i can get everything locally except high temp cheese. is high temp really necessary? the internet is the internet and the opinions are split. i'm sure i'm safest using high temp, but ....

has anyone used "regular" cheese and been successful?

MY OPINION:

High temp cheese is absolutely necessary. Even high temp cheese will melt out if you aren't careful.

 

[Horn]

What about cheese curds as a substitute for high temp? They blob melt not spread out melt like normal cheese. They'll be little blobs of gooey goodness in a burger, akin to fresh mozzarella pearls.

No idea how they'd do in summer sausage or snack sticks, just putting an idea on the internet. Don't call the SHPD on me

 

[DanielB89]

What are y'alls favorite sausage seasonings?

do any of you mix your own?

 

[Will Harris]

following.

i saved 50+# of venison and 10# of fatback for just this. been watching Chuds like its going out of style.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I don’t do measurements, but this is usually a “looks good enough” kinda measurement system anyway for me. This is a very basic breakfast sausage seasoning I like, that you can tweak as you see fit. I use less of the sugar and chili pepper compared to other ingredients, and sage is the flavor I want to pronounce the most in the finished product:

Salt
Black & White Pepper
Ground Sage
Ground Garlic & Onion
Ground Chili Pepper (I like cayenne the best but jalapeño or chipotle are also nice)
Brown Sugar (could use honey or maple and I actually prefer these to brown sugar but dry seasonings are easier to work with IMO so if you can find honey powder or maple powder go with that)
Optional, any of the following: rosemary or thyme, ginger, bell pepper, nutmeg, allspice (these last two are sparingly at most)

Patties on the grill, flat top, or high-heat smoker are my favorite way to do these.

 

[Will Harris]

I finally jumped into the fresh sausage world. Why didnt i before? And why didnt i kill more deer?

It is a little intimidating using natural casings but it turns out to be no big deal. These posts and binging on Chuds and 2 guys and a cooler helped a ton.

One question is how do you store your unused casings? Brine or dry? Fridge or freezer?

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I finally jumped into the fresh sausage world. Why didnt i before? And why didnt i kill more deer?

It is a little intimidating using natural casings but it turns out to be no big deal. These posts and binging on Chuds and 2 guys and a cooler helped a ton.

One question is how do you store your unused casings? Brine or dry? Fridge or freezer?

My dad stored them dry. I don’t use casings a lot but I trust his judgement.
Btw those links look incredible.

 

[Will Harris]

Made 8# of jalapeno and cheddar. Omg

 

[Horn]

@Will Harris , do you get emails from PS seasonings? You should probably make those smoked vebison Philly cheese steak venison sausage and review them for us

 

[Will Harris]

@Will Harris , do you get emails from PS seasonings? You should probably make those smoked vebison Philly cheese steak venison sausage and review them for us

View attachment 98336

i get milk powder and encapsulated citric acid from PS.

those look amazing. i have several recipes in the queue to make soon! i'm going to S AL in a few months to shoot hogs and cant wait to try all pork recipes. going thru my deer scraps like crazy already.

i made this from the Chuds recipe. he also has a vid making these. easy and turned out amazing.

bought the smoke box for pellets to cold smoke and that also works great if anyone wants a link. my traeger only goes down to 165.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I know this has probably been answered a bunch on here, but I’m planning to make some venison sausage and I have some pork butt to cut into the mix. I have made pork sausage and turkey sausage but never venison sausage. I was thinking maybe 50/50 venison to pork butt…curious about what kinda ratio y’all prefer?

I’m leaning towards a Portuguese linguiça recipe, maybe a breakfast sausage recipe if I find I have more meat than I need.

 

[Horn]

I know this has probably been answered a bunch on here, but I’m planning to make some venison sausage and I have some pork butt to cut into the mix. I have made pork sausage and turkey sausage but never venison sausage. I was thinking maybe 50/50 venison to pork butt…curious about what kinda ratio y’all prefer?

I’m leaning towards a Portuguese linguiça recipe, maybe a breakfast sausage recipe if I find I have more meat than I need.

I've only done venison brats once, I'll ask my buddy and see if he remembers what ratio we used. Not likely as I work for beer usually....

curious why you aren't starting at closer to 30%. 50 might be sweet for breakfast sausage if you're making gravy though

Edit: what kinda sausage are you thinking? I'm gonna head over to the former butchers in a minute, I'll ask him

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I've only done venison brats once, I'll ask my buddy and see if he remembers what ratio we used. Not likely as I work for beer usually....

curious why you aren't starting at closer to 30%. 50 might be sweet for breakfast sausage if you're making gravy though

Edit: what kinda sausage are you thinking? I'm gonna head over to the former butchers in a minute, I'll ask him

I am trynna make linguiça sausage. It’s made with pork butt and thus very fatty, so that’s the main reason. I also trim like ALL the fat off my venison grind. Plus I like to smoke pork so I always have plenty of butt on hand otherwise 30% honestly sounds more reasonable. I don’t want to just use pork fat, I want to marry the pork fat to the venison via protein