homemade summer sausage on the traeger

[CaNINE]

I followed the recipe from Steve Rinella's book, Hunting, Butchering and Cooking Wild Game. Used 8 pounds of mule deer trimmings and 2 pounds of pork fat. Set on smoke for 1 hour then turned it up to 180 F until the meat thermometer read 160 F. Plunged the batch into ice water then let it chill in the fridge for a day before wrapping and freezing. The method worked great. Flavors are quite good.  I will increase the seasonings a bit next time to add a more intense profile.

[92xj]

Nice,
 I'm pulling 80 pounds out of the smoker I'm 30 minutes for it's ice bath, will cut into portions and vac seal tomorrow. Duck salami, goose jalapeno cheddar summer sausage and duck pepperjack and cheddar summer sausage.

[jkthomps]

Ugh, you guys are making me hungry! I just finished the last of the elk and deer I had and my freezer is empty... hint hint

92, let me know how that goose summer sausage turns out. I love the same style with elk and deer.


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[Jburke]

I did the same this last fall. It turned out pretty good for my first run at any sort of smoked sausage.


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[CaNINE]

That looks great! I'll post up some pics later. We are serving some sausage as a game snack tomorrow.

[trophyhunt]

You guys put it in the ice water bare back, not wrapped in anything?

[92xj]

You guys put it in the ice water bare back, not wrapped in anything?

Correct.
I used a 120qt cooler with ice water. Pulled out of the smoker, casing still on of course, and into the bath for 30 minutes to an hour then into the game fridge over night. Vac sealing this morning.

[Jburke]

You guys put it in the ice water bare back, not wrapped in anything?

Yeah, that's how I did it.  First time making it so I have no experience doing it a different way though either.  I'm going to try some pepperoni sticks here soon also but the jalapeno cheddar summer sausage is definitely a winner.

[92xj]

all cut up and starting the sealing process...

[h20hunter]

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhh

[CaNINE]

92xj I can tell you're a man not to be messed with. That's some serious sausage making capability.

[Jburke]

92xj I can tell you're a man not to be messed with. That's some serious sausage making capability.

Puts my 10lbs to shame for sure!

[92xj]

92xj I can tell you're a man not to be messed with. That's some serious sausage making capability.

Puts my 10lbs to shame for sure!

Shoot, no shame in 10 pounds or even one pound.

The fact that you guys are processing your own game and creating product that is edible is awesome. There is pride in that.  Once you start doing more or doing 8 10 pound batches throughout the year you will progress into doing larger batches fewer times a year. I was tired of doing 5-10 pound batches and it taking fooooorever to complete so I built the smokehouse which can do around 125 pounds at once. honestly I really just hate the cleaning process of the grinder and stuffer and wanted to get it all done at once to only have to clean once.

[206]

92xj,

How many smoking hours do you average to bring it up to temp?

[92xj]

92xj,

How many smoking hours do you average to bring it up to temp?

Anywhere from 12-16 hours.
Yeaterday it took 13 to get to 155. Some say 152 others say 160. I shoot for 152 and if I still have time in the day before bedtime I'll let it run a little longer to hit 155. Once you're at 150 internal for longer than an hour, everything bad is killed and you have no worries.

[206]

Thanks.  That's why I hate smoking SS, takes forever.  It pays to go Big or go home with SS. 

[92xj]

Thanks.  That's why I hate smoking SS, takes forever.  It pays to go Big or go home with SS.

Yeah, tons of people rush it and then get a crumbly product and don't know why. It takes patience, which most don't have, they then crank up the temp of the smoker to hit internal temp quicker and rendar out the fat. I never go above 177 degrees in my smoker for summer sausage.

[CaNINE]

I realize that my traeger is not the ideal unit for making SS.  The temp modulates quite a bit but in the end through careful monitoring of the sausage via internal temp probe the product turned out well. There was a little fat rendering but I pulled it and ice bathed it to put in check. The sausage isn't crumbly. It's not as dense as a commercial product and I assume that's more to do with the stuffing process more than the smoking?

[Jburke]

I used my GMG for mine and I'd have to agree that they aren't ideal but work well enough as long as you're not wanting to do really large batches of it.  I've used mine for jerky a bunch and for smoking other meats as well and it has turned out good though.

[Kit Carson]

That's awesome! 

[Blacklab]

Great stuff guys