Sausage making on the first day of the new year!

[acorgihouse]

Um, am I misunderstanding, or misreading, something? You had kielbasa that you cured 24 hours (ok), then cold smoked, no heat, for ~36 hours? Meat, no heat? What am I missing? Smoke by itself isn't cooking?

[realdocBBQ]

Um, am I misunderstanding, or misreading, something? You had kielbasa that you cured 24 hours (ok), then cold smoked, no heat, for ~36 hours? Meat, no heat? What am I missing? Smoke by itself isn't cooking?

Yes and no. Sort of.

The kielbasa cured for about 24 hours which is normal. Then I placed them in the Camp Chef and began applying smoke - they probably got something like 6 hours' worth overnight. Relit again in the morning, smoked throughout the day, maybe another 10 hours or so. It was cold out, so they never got warm, as in, above 90ºF, so, not cooking. Safe enough in this range because of the curing salt in the mix.

Then this morning I began applying heat, cooked up to about 150ºF with more smoke applied.

These have now been pulled, cooled and one nuked to slice and taste.

The verdict:

These are not as good as my last batch of kielbasa. There are several possible reasons for this.

They're a little... not really tougher, but more like dense, around the ends and the outside. They also are quite heavy on the smoke. It's not bad, though probably a bit much for The Wife, she did admit. Easy enough to cut this down on future batches, these literally got probably 14-18 hours of cold smoking and 4-6 hours of heated smoking. Additionally, they were cooked in the Camp Chef with no water in the water pan, I'm wondering if I should have left that in. I had a little in there at first, but when I opened the door to look in on them, they had moisture collected on the skins from condensation in the cooker and I kind of panicked, thinking this was going to kill the snappiness of my casings, so I dumped the water.

Now, they're done, and I'm not ecstatic with them, but they're good. I wonder if the dry cook might have cause them to lose a bit more moisture than I wanted. I also wonder if the very slow cook was a problem 4 hours for some, about 6 hours for some. Last consideration is I wonder if the extended time curing them caused some of this. They were cased up on the afternoon of the 1st. Either in the fridge or the cold smoke until 4AM on the 4th, so something like 60 hours. Usually I will throw them on to cook after about 24 hours, so I'm wondering if that extra time for the cure to continue to work caused a difference in the texture.

Or possibly a combination of all of those things?

I'll definitely cut down on the smoke sessions a little bit. While I like smoke, I do think these are a bit heavier than they need to be, and I do feel it probably obscured some of the more subtle flavors added to this batch, like the mustard seeds and the marjoram.

I've now put the Texas hot links in to cook. I added water to the pan, and I'm trying to do them a little bit hotter and faster, hoping maybe they won't shrink or dehydrate as much. Also did not add any smoke tubes or wood chips in the Camp Chef this time, so the only smoke they'll have is what was applied in their case from 6AM Friday, probably 8-9 hours worth or so. They did 'cure' for the same period of time, since the afternoon of the 1st. So if they have that 'denser' texture I'm not so hot about, I'll know that likely contributed. Also, if they're also a bit too heavy on the smoke, I'll know cutting out the smoke from the last step, the cooking phase, wasn't enough reduction.

It's all an experiment, it's a learning process, a big part of why I like to document my findings like this - to get input from other amateurs and experts on this board, as well as being able to go back and read my own experiences from my own words, as it's inevitable I'm going to forget some of these details.

So the Texas hot links will be done this afternoon, in a few hours, really.

Ended up with just under 10.5lbs from the ~13lbs I started with on the kielbasa. I'm not sure what the 'normal' weight loss is, so I don't know if I overdried/overcured them.

[realdocBBQ]

Ok, I've now smoked some of my hot links. They cured for the same length of time and didn't have the same problems.

A little less smoke. Adding water to the cook chamber, at least in the Camp Chef. This seems to have made a difference. And the hot links are really good!

I'm pleased, overall.

Have the second batch of hot links in the Camp Chef cooking now, and the jalapeno sausages and 4 slabs of bacon (each 3-3.5lbs) cold smoking in The Duk. The sausages will cook tonight, the bacon probably tomorrow.

[58limited]

You've motivated me. I pulled 15 lbs of ground brisket out of the freezer that was left from the deer I processed - I blend 50-50 prime brisket and venison - and I pulled out 17 lbs of frozen venison from last year. I'll blend all of this then add some ground pork and make the Hatch Cheddar sausage I made back in September - it was amazing and I'm out.

[Oakgrovebacon]

Try this on 1 slab of your bacon, after a long cold smoke-wrap in plastic wrap and freeze, slice frozen or slightly thawed and package. You cook it in the pan or oven or griddle or pellet grill.
No need to cook it twice.

[HouseHomey]

Love this!!! I buy my casings and my stuffer from “the sausage maker” not the cheapest but great quality. I have a 5lbs manual stuffer. Love it!! Love the vendor too.