First try at Trail Bologna

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 23:03

I bought a kit at Gander Mountain a while back and since I've got some time off this week I thought I'd give it a try.

10 lbs. ground chuck/pork butt mix using 3/8 plate.

Mixed the cure with 1/2 cup distilled water and mixed into the meat. Mixed the seasoning pack with 1 cup distilled water and let sit in the frig for 30 minutes before mixing it into the meat. Then ran the meat mixture thru the grinder using the 1/8 plate.

final mix

Got the Kirby cannon loaded and ready.

Stuffed

Fried up the leftovers for a nice sandwich for lunch.

I'll let these sit in the fridge overnight and smoke first thing in the morning.

more to come...
Mike

cogboy · Post by **cogboy** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 23:19

Looks good ,please keep us posted on the smoked results !

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 01:48

Looks good and a nice setup

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 04:08

Ok time to smoke. The kit instructions say to let it come up to room temp for 2 hours before cooking or smoking. I usually don't set sausage out that long before smoking but I'm going to follow the instructions exactly and see how it turns out.

After the 2 hour wait I got the smoker loaded up.

The smokehouse method instructions are as follows:

Stage Time Temp smoke damper
1 1 hr. 140 off open

2 2 hrs. 140 on 1/8 open

3 2 hrs. 160 on 1/8 open

4 to IT of 156 180 off closed
I don't know why I can't get this chart to look right but hopefully you can figure it out.

I've never finished cooking with the vent closed but I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Got the pid programmed and here we go.

While I was setting up I noticed this big guy hanging out up in the corner.

I think it is a harmless garden spider. Hope I'm not wrong because it is pretty big.

more later...

Post by **redzed** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 06:55

Hey Pops! Welcome to best sausage hangout in the world! Those mini bologna rings look great! Looks like you have made yourself a really nice facility there, and spotlessly clean!

I hope that when you reached stage 4, and closed the damper, the smoke generator was off! I know from experience that in a Bradley, it's sometimes tough to bring your sausage to the target IT in a reasonable period of time. There would be nothing wrong, and maybe even better, to to finish a product like bologna by poaching.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 13:43

Throw a grasshopper into the spider web and watch the resulting show.

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 20:50

They're done. It only took about 5 hrs.

Into ice bath for about 15 minutes to get the IT down to 100.

Hanging to bloom for a couple of hours.

Then they will take a 2 day nap in the fridge before we cut em open and have a look.

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 21:08

redzed wrote:Hey Pops! Welcome to best sausage hangout in the world! Those mini bologna rings look great! Looks like you have made yourself a really nice facility there, and spotlessly clean!

I hope that when you reached stage 4, and closed the damper, the smoke generator was off! I know from experience that in a Bradley, it's sometimes tough to bring your sausage to the target IT in a reasonable period of time. There would be nothing wrong, and maybe even better, to to finish a product like bologna by poaching.

My Bradley is tricked out with the extra heating element and a fan to move the heat and smoke around. I didn't have any trouble getting the bologna up to temp. I barely got into the last temp cycle and it was done. I like the idea of poaching to finish. I think I will try that when I make a large chub of bologna for my dad in the next few weeks.
My kitchen is a old garden shed converted to a pretty nice place for me to conduct my sausage and jerky experiments. Believe it or not it was my wife's idea. Here are a couple of panoramic pictures my oldest son took soon after we completed the work.

No that not some creepy neighbor in the window that is my youngest son.

and this is my outdoor covered cooking area attached to my kitchen

We did all the work ourselves and we're pretty proud of it. We have a pretty big family and an extra kitchen comes in handy on holidays.

Thanks for looking

Mike

cogboy · Post by **cogboy** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 22:11

Wow, nice set-up and nice sausage ,thanks for sharing !

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 02:14

Beautiful looking setup, commercial quality and clean as could be. Great job! RAY

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 07:50

Pops,
A great looking kitchen set-up and I love the look of those sausages. More photo's required though and the taste test.
Cheers,
Jan.

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 18:13

OK it's been 2 days so it's time for the taste test.

The casing peeled off easily. Nice texture and color. Sorry my camera sucks. They tasted really good. Nice smoke flavor. Goes really good with mustard or cheese.

Vacuum sealed one of the rings to take to my dad this afternoon. I used Weston resealable bags. I really like them. Makes it easy to grab a few and close it up and toss it back in the fridge for later.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 07:23

That batch looks yummy and also looks like something that would go well with mustard AND cheese on a bit of a fresh-baked roll. The speckled fat makes me think that with the smoke flavor that it would also be a handsome addition to a pizza. Very nice work, wish I was close enough to sample. My wife's BFF just this week is back in Austin and will soon be relocating there for a new position, she's originally from Huston. We'll be going back to visit which means I get another trip to the Salt Lick. I hear some say it's tourista, I thought it was heaven the two times I've been there, no waiting in line either. RAY

cogboy · Post by **cogboy** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:45

I can almost taste them from here,nice job !

txpops · Post by **txpops** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 14:21

sawhorseray wrote:That batch looks yummy and also looks like something that would go well with mustard AND cheese on a bit of a fresh-baked roll. The speckled fat makes me think that with the smoke flavor that it would also be a handsome addition to a pizza. Very nice work, wish I was close enough to sample. My wife's BFF just this week is back in Austin and will soon be relocating there for a new position, she's originally from Huston. We'll be going back to visit which means I get another trip to the Salt Lick. I hear some say it's tourista, I thought it was heaven the two times I've been there, no waiting in line either. RAY

Thanks. I have made lots fresh sausage and snack sticks but this is my first time making smoked sausage. I am very pleased with the results. The flavor gets better everyday. My brother lives in Austin. He's been to the Salt Lick a few times and likes it very much but I've never been.

Mike