Meat curing and smoking

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S-Cackalacky
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by S-Cackalacky »

DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!! Now I got to set my stillin' aside and build a smoker.
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by wilded »

halfbaked wrote:I'm coming also and if I get to the table there will be no left overs. New rule can't post pics unless you tell me how you made it. Corene those ribs are to die for. Pork tenderloin, smoked meat in a tube, not sure what the one with the knife and a fork is but all look really good. Wilded tell us about the meat in a tube.
Just for you!

My wife and I just made a batch of venison/pork summer sausage and link sausage that turned out as good as any we have ever had, just my wife’s and my opinion. So far everyone else that has tried it thought it was top shelf. Many have been asking for the recipe so I am putting it all down here before I forget. It was a lot of work but we think worth it for the end product we now are enjoying. We now have some good link and summer sausage that we know exactly what was put in it. All the meat was good stuff and we cut out all the gristle, lymph glands, blood clots or any other membrane we did not want in the ground meat. The seasoning we used for thirty pounds of ground meat is listed below and worked out great. The meat was stuffed into fibrous summer sausage casings and/or hog gut casings to be smoked later. The summer sausage was then cooked in the oven at 275 degrees until it reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees and then allowed to cool in the fridge overnight before being wrapped to freeze. The summer sausage makes great snacks, sandwiches or an on-the-go meal with cheese and crackers. The same meat was used for the link sausage, I even smoked some of the links and then dried them to hard dried sausage that turned out great. For now here is the recipe for 30 pounds so just divide it down for a lesser amount of meat.

Wild Ed’s Summer Sausage

15 pounds deboned and trimmed ground venison or meat of your choice

15 pounds of ground pork butt

3 fresh garlic gloves chopped

6 fresh jalapenos chopped with seeds

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper

1 ½ pound of grated Cheddar Cheese

1 cup course ground black pepper

1 cup of kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon of meat cure (Prague Powder)

3 cups of cold water

Add cheese, garlic and jalapenos to ground meat and mix.


Add all other ingredients to the 3 cups of water and stir well. Pour over the ground meat and mix well. The spices and cure need to be mixed though out the ground meat mixture as uniformly as possible. Let the meat rest covered with Saran Wrap in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours and then stuff in casings. Cook summer sausage in an oven or smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees before cooling. It is then fully cooked and does not need any more cooking to serve. Links to be smoked or cooked on the grill should just be cooked before eating to 165 degrees or more. Sausage to be dried and eaten like jerky must be brought to 165 degrees in the smoker or oven before drying. I took all the temperatures with a meat thermometer probe.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

Wilded THANKS!!!! :clap: There is not a Smillie that salivates but I would put one on if there was one. I got it all except where the cooking or smoking starts. What temp do you recommend on the smoke and APRX. times to smoke. I know it is aprx. I don't have any gadgets to stuff and never stuffed casings. Where do you get casings. How do you store them after smoked? How long do they keep? I am sure they won't keep long at my house if they taste as good as they look. I need some deer now.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by wilded »

You cook after the casings are stuffed. I buy the casing online. Just do a search on sausage casings and you will find all kinds. For the rings and dried I use all natural hog casings. I run my smoker or oven at around 250 degrees F. I use a thermometer with a probe to measure the internal heat. If I am smoking the sausage in the hog gut I just go by color and doneness. You can always put it on the grill or smoker a little longer if need be. I freeze whatever we are not eating and it is never in the freezer very long so I don't know how long it would keep. It needs refrigeration or freezing although I have thrown a piece of the dried on my truck dash and eat bites off of it for a week or more. As I put cure (sodium nitrate) in the dried.

PS: If you don't have casings just roll the sausage in wax paper and do in the oven or smoke and you can still slice it for meals or sandwiches. It just does better and looks better in casings. You can make patties out of the mixture and fry or grill also. Enjoy. Wild Ed
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

Wild Ed it is killing me. I have been on craigs list hunting a grinder and stuffer. Found a warring pro mg100. Anyone used one? Good bad. I am supposed to buy tomorrow. Its new but owned by someone for $25
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Truckinbutch »

I'm glad to see how this thread is growing wings . Lotta good meat processors on this site . Guess the two hobbies go hand in hand .
Flatwoods called me this evening just as SOH and I were winding down a very long day . We picked up a hog at our favorite butcher's this morning . 40 mile trip each way to get to a good butcher and back home . Hog was bigger than I had expected . 215# on the rail . Had it broke down to hams , bacons and chops . Rest went into sausage . We got the bacons and fatback put down in cure and seasoned up the sausage . Waiting on our new stuffer to get here next week to link that up .
The hams intimidated me to the point that I just plunked them in the freezer until the small stuff finishes . They weigh around 30# each . I'm considering boning them and breaking them down to individual muscle groups before I cure to avoid the risk of bone sour . Any of the rest of ya done this with any success ?
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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When I was a kid we would kill the hog and season it and fry it until it was awesome. We had multiple big cast frying pans and we would fry it with patties big enough to put in a large mouth canning jar and pour the grease on top of it and can it. The trick was to get the right amt of grease as to go over the sausage. On pints we would cold pack and can it. It was good for gravy and can not make patties. Canned sausage IMHO is the only way for long term storage. Now tenderloin sliced and canned is about the best thing you ever put in your mouth. Momma lays on the ground when opening a can of tenderloin cause she already slapped herself.

30 lb ham usually means 300 lb hog. Isn't it to hot to do bacon and fatback and ham? We cured in the root cellar? I assume that must be what you are doing.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by wilded »

Yes and I broke them down and took out the bone. Used Morton's Sugar Cure and went by the book. Really good but salty. Thin sliced was ok. Remember real cured ham is always saltier tasting than modern liquid injected cures. I usually soaked the thick cuts in cold water before using just remove any extra salt.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by wilded »

I even cure the butts or shoulders now. I remove the bone and cut in two pieces then cure. They make great buckboard bacon that way. The last back I put fresh pureed jalapenos in the cure and after they were cured and rinsed I rolled the buckboard bacon in black pepper. It was wonderful.
JMHO Wild Ed
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

Pepperoni anyone? Please pass the pepperoni. Pickin my grinder/stuffer up tomorrow. The wife is not happy. I am spending her shoe money. :roll:
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Truckinbutch »

halfbaked wrote:When I was a kid we would kill the hog and season it and fry it until it was awesome. We had multiple big cast frying pans and we would fry it with patties big enough to put in a large mouth canning jar and pour the grease on top of it and can it. The trick was to get the right amt of grease as to go over the sausage. On pints we would cold pack and can it. It was good for gravy and can not make patties. Canned sausage IMHO is the only way for long term storage. Now tenderloin sliced and canned is about the best thing you ever put in your mouth. Momma lays on the ground when opening a can of tenderloin cause she already slapped herself.

30 lb ham usually means 300 lb hog. Isn't it to hot to do bacon and fatback and ham? We cured in the root cellar? I assume that must be what you are doing.
I cure in a used refrigerator . Maintains a consistent 34-40 degrees . Will hold about 100# at a time .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by DFitz »

One of my favorites in cured meats I've made is pork pastrami. Typically brisket is used but I tried using the copa muscle. I like some fat content in my pastrami.
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The pic shows it sliced cold. I chill it to get good thin slices then reheat it for sandwiches.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Truckinbutch »

You gonna bring a platter like that over to 'The Liar's Bench' and share for a few hits off our jugs ? :wave: Looks delicious :clap:
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

DFitz wrote:One of my favorites in cured meats I've made is pork pastrami. Typically brisket is used but I tried using the copa muscle. I like some fat content in my pastrami.
Image

The pic shows it sliced cold. I chill it to get good thin slices then reheat it for sandwiches.
Man that looks like a heart attack on a plate. I bet that is sum kinda great. You my friend have to drink lots of strong likker to cut all that fat out and a beer chaser. What time is supper? I'm on the way. :wave:
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by gio »

:P Mmm! Some of the best home made meats :crazy: I have seen in a while. I'll bring the wine and smokes. Tell me where... :arrow:
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by DFitz »

Home cured smoked ham

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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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Or maybe some salamiiiiiii....

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Ok, this is making me hungry!
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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Are you curing those hams hide on or skinned ? All looking good :thumbup: I'm stuffing pepperoni and kielbasa tomorrow .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by DFitz »

I've cured them both ways. Wet and dry cured.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

Truckinbutch wrote:Are you curing those hams hide on or skinned ? All looking good :thumbup: I'm stuffing pepperoni and kielbasa tomorrow .
Love to hear at least about the Pepperoni if you don't mind. Both would be perfect. :D
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Truckinbutch »

Halfbaked , I'll let you all know about the pepperoni about Tuesday . First try at it . Did up a few pounds of kielbasa 3 weeks ago and it disappeared in 2 day's time . Was barely able to keep a pound for myself .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by SoMo »

I know this is about smoked and cured but wanted to add my work, I'm pretty proud of these my before and after. Beautiful Duroc gilt we raised, smoked and cured half ham and something you won't get from the grocery 16oz pork ribeyes.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Halfbaked »

Ever do any pickled pigs feet? When I was a kid we used to get blood puddin and souce and scrapple. I might be spelling it wrong. I used to really like it till I figured what it was. Gotta like those pigs with long tenderloins. Ham hocks and everything. While we are off topic I put mustard on my pork before I grill it. Ever tried that?
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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halfbaked wrote:Ever do any pickled pigs feet? When I was a kid we used to get blood puddin and souce and scrapple. I might be spelling it wrong. I used to really like it till I figured what it was. Gotta like those pigs with long tenderloins. Ham hocks and everything. While we are off topic I put mustard on my pork before I grill it. Ever tried that?
Oh yeah Baked, spicy brown is one of my favorites especially for a good bark on pulled pork or even a pork steak. Grilled over my own cut and split oak coals scrumptious. I love my fresh pork better for ya and easier to raise than beef.
Everything's better home made, everything!!
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Truckinbutch »

Good food is good food . Don't concern yourselves with diverging from a specific topic when it's a thread I opened . I use yellow mustard as a glue to help hold my rubs on when I'm doing pork .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by SoMo »

SoMo wrote:
halfbaked wrote:Ever do any pickled pigs feet? When I was a kid we used to get blood puddin and souce and scrapple. I might be spelling it wrong. I used to really like it till I figured what it was. Gotta like those pigs with long tenderloins. Ham hocks and everything. While we are off topic I put mustard on my pork before I grill it. Ever tried that?
Oh yeah Baked, spicy brown is one of my favorites especially for a good bark on pulled pork or even a pork steak. Grilled over my own cut and split oak coals scrumptious. I love my fresh pork better for ya and easier to raise than beef.
Yep used to eat all that stuff, especially when we lived in S.carolina. Just recently learned to make ghetta if I spelled it right. Boil your pork bones and such pick the meat from the bones and dice it up. Then add diced onions salt pepper and oats to the broth in proportion. Form it in loaf pans, refrigerate until set up. Slice it half inch thick then fry in bacon grease till brown on both sides. Pretty good on a cold day.
Everything's better home made, everything!!
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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I've got pancetta in the cold smoker today. Some cheddar cheese in with it.
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

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My pepperoni was a disappointment . Made a good tasting sausage but didn't firm up into a hard stick of pepperoni like I was hoping for . Be glad to get pointers from anybody that has been sucsesful in this venue .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by wilded »

Time. It has to be dried and that takes time and the right conditions. The only difference in a sausage link and dried country links is the time they are allowed to hang and age. JMHO
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Re: Meat curing and smoking

Post by Tater »

Im doing 10 lbs pork loins per Truckinbutch recipe.Also 4lbs eye of round and 3lb deer loin into dried deer/beef.Also 4 lbs chuck trimmed up into corned beef.
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
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