Bull Sausage and the smokebox

[rgreenberg2000]

This may be useful to others, I know I looked for this kind of cook when I was deciding if I should get the smokebox with my 700. So, Friday and Saturday were sausage making days (made up the wurst on Friday, smoked them up on Saturday.) I got a batch of summer sausage made up in large casings, kielbasa, and spanish chorizo (the last two in regular hog casings for links.) Since I had planned an overnight brisket cook for Friday night, Saturday was the perfect day to test out the smokebox for sausage.

In the am, my brisket was running at 225F, and the box thermometers were 155F (top) and 125F (bottom.) This looked like it would work great, as I wanted to start the summer sausage pretty low since it's a thicker sausage. I put it in on the bottom shelf for about four hours, moved it up to the middle shelf for 2 hours, then finished it at 190F in the oven since I couldn't get that temp in the box without raising the main chamber temp (which I didn't want to do.) Once the summer sausage came off, I loaded in the kielbasa on the bottom and middle shelves. Every hour, I swapped those two shelves, for about four hours. I then finished those links inside, again, not wanting to change the main pit temp. For the last round, I loaded up the chorizo in the box, but the brisket was done by this time. After three hours in the box, I moved the chorizo to the main chamber at 180F to finish.

The result? It worked great! One of the keys to good sausage (and there are a few more) is to really focus on keeping the cooking temp below 180/190 so that the fat stays in the sausage. Also, starting at a lower temp helps to dry the casing properly before raising the temp to finish the sausage. I felt like I was definitely able to use the different zones in the box to my advantage, and provide my sausages with the proper temp adjustments that they needed to get smoked up while keeping the fat and texture that I want.

It was a fun day! If anyone has any questions, let me know.... Here are a couple of pics of the result (didn't get a chorizo pic.....it was late.)

 

[Micky]

That looks delicious!

Man, I want to learn to make sausage like that. I recently purchased a Recteq Bull and have much to learn. I have year round access to exotic game such as Axis, Red deer, and Fallow deer. We plan to make jerky and sausage on the Bull.

 

[rgreenberg2000]

Thanks, @Micky I'm jealous of the access to fresh game that you've got. I've never made any wild game sausages, and I think that would be fun.

There are a ton of Internet resources out there for sausage making, and a number of really good books, too. Great Sausage Making & Curing by Rytek Kutas, while a bit of an oldie, is a really good resource. Since your game meats will be hard won, you might consider doing some practicing with store bought pork or beef. Maybe start with making some bulk breakfast and/or italian sausage to get the feel for grinding, and mixing. Then move on to stuffing into casings, which you can either poach or cook on the Bull at 180F (which is conveniently where the Bull runs on LOW.)

Not sure if you have equipment yet, but one thing I always recommend AGAINST is using a meat grinder as a stuffer. It's an exercise in frustration! Get yourself a decent piston style stuffer from LEM, or similar.

Anyway, I find sausage making to be great fun, and though it has a learning curve, it would be a fantastic way for you to maximize the use of all parts of the game you hunt. Good luck!

Rich

 

[Greg Jones]

Looks wonderful! I assume the smaller casings were natural hog, did you use for the large summer sausage?

This was a perfect combination for this smoke, but as a FYI to others wanting to try something similar, keep in mind that anything In the smoke box will pick up some of the flavors of whatever is in the main chamber. trust me, it’s not always a pleasant match.

 

[Greg Jones]

Not sure if you have equipment yet, but one thing I always recommend AGAINST is using a meat grinder as a stuffer. It's an exercise in frustration! Get yourself a decent piston style stuffer from LEM, or similar.

I forgot to mention, this is a big +1. I don’t own a piston stuffer yet, but I do have the auger type that is typical of a meat grinder and they do not work well.

 

[rgreenberg2000]

Looks wonderful! I assume the smaller casings were natural hog, did you use for the large summer sausage?

This was a perfect combination for this smoke, but as a FYI to others wanting to try something similar, keep in mind that anything In the smoke box will pick up some of the flavors of whatever is in the main chamber. trust me, it’s not always a pleasant match.

Good point on the flavor carryover, @Greg Jones! I wouldn't cook fish on the left and sausage on the right!

Yes, you are correct, the links were in 32-35mm hog casings (these were LEM casings), and the summer sausage was in 1.5x12" non-edible, fibrous casings (also from LEM.)

my piston stuffer (I actually have three.) My first casings were stuffed trying to use the KitchenAid mixer attachment.......almost ended my wurst career!

Rich

 

[rgreenberg2000]

Fruits of my labor all packaged up. Bulk breakfast sausage in front from the rest of the butts that I ground up. Not pictured are the items I'm planning to eat in the next week. All of this goes in the freezer (or to friends.)