Summer Sausage - Step by step

[NRA4LIFE]

Very nice.  You need a meat mixer though.

Had one and sold it. 
It was a pain to clean and never mixed the meat 100 percent.  Always left some on the sides that didn’t get sucked into the big annoying ball of sticky meat.   After a few rounds of the mixer, I had to go back to hand mixing for a more consistent product.   Though I know lots of folks who love them.

Yes, I love mine.  And it keeps my knuckle hair out of the sausage.

[cooltimber]

Thanks,great job. This helps a lot.

[riverrun]

Thanks for sharing!

[callturner]

Very nice.  You need a meat mixer though.

Had one and sold it. 
It was a pain to clean and never mixed the meat 100 percent.  Always left some on the sides that didn’t get sucked into the big annoying ball of sticky meat.   After a few rounds of the mixer, I had to go back to hand mixing for a more consistent product.   Though I know lots of folks who love them.

Yes, I love mine.  And it keeps my knuckle hair out of the sausage.

I use rubber gloves and keep hot water close by.

[92xj]

Very nice.  You need a meat mixer though.

Had one and sold it. 
It was a pain to clean and never mixed the meat 100 percent.  Always left some on the sides that didn’t get sucked into the big annoying ball of sticky meat.   After a few rounds of the mixer, I had to go back to hand mixing for a more consistent product.   Though I know lots of folks who love them.

Yes, I love mine.  And it keeps my knuckle hair out of the sausage.

I use rubber gloves and keep hot water close by.

Yeah, my bowl of hot water for the casings sits close by and I dip my hands in it often.   Nitrile gloves for the whole process but they do nothing for the cold.

[Houndhunter]

Great write up 

[callturner]

I tried the nitrile and they do keep your hands clean , but I use the orange Playtex type. They let me work a little longer before running my hands under hot water to warm them up.

[kellama2001]

Awesome write up and great pics, thank you for sharing! I'm hoping to get a grinder under the Christmas tree this year so I can start making sausages too

[Fletch]

Great write up with great pics.  It is confirmation for me that I am not alone in my process.  I have run the meat through the grinder a 3rd time with an open plate and right into casings...it works but just got the motorized stuffer and life is good    Boy did you hit it right with cold fingers aye yi yi 

[pickardjw]

@92xj with this recipe is the sausage "shelf stable"? i.e. could you take this on a 3 day backpacking trip and it's still safe to eat the 3rd day?

[92xj]

@92xj with this recipe is the sausage "shelf stable"? i.e. could you take this on a 3 day backpacking trip and it's still safe to eat the 3rd day?

 I cant answer that. I'm no USDA professional. I'd do a little research on what is possible with 6.25% sodium nitrite cure.

I will say, I have eaten my summer sausage after numerous days outside of a fridge and am still alive.

[Woodchuck]

@92xj with this recipe is the sausage "shelf stable"? i.e. could you take this on a 3 day backpacking trip and it's still safe to eat the 3rd day?

If yours turns out anything close to how xj's comes out, you won't have to worry about it lasting that long.

[pickardjw]

Ha! Good answers. I wonder if there's an, "ask the USDA" thing somewhere.

[Ghost Hunter]

Definitely taking some pointers here.

[pickardjw]

Started grinding around 4pm yesterday and finished stuffing at 12:30am. The .75 HP Meat! grinder was pretty impressive, especially having only used stand mixers to make sausage previously. The time to start and finish these smaller casings was the real time suck but those long ones won't fit in my smoker. The fine grind was also slow at first. I kept everything cold but it was maybe a bit too warm after mixing, so put everything in the freezer again and took a break and it mowed through better after that.

Ended up about 4 casings short so I may have to try a loaf like @hunter399 

Pit Boss Pro Series II is currently set at 150* and maintaining temp around 110*. It's cold out. Stocked up on pellets so it can feed all night. To be continued...