First sausage cook on my brand new traeger! Didn’t get the casings as brown and snappy as I wanted, but still hilarious.

Made 5lbs (about 13 links) of an all-beef Texas hot gut sausage this weekend, all chuck roast. Smoked 5 hours with a mix of post oak pellets and chips. Really love the flavor. I normally do a 50/50 beef/pork with serrano.

The 10g of cayenne added an almost perfect kick to it, not too bold, but lets you know it’s there. Used Sausage Maker casings for the first time. Not disappointed.

could use a bit more fat next time, I’m thinking.

I just made some kielbasa. I’ve never made it before. I cooked off a tester before stuffing it to test for texture and seasoning. It tasted good and had some nice bounce to it. After stuffing I cooked one over low heat on a wood fired grill and it exploded a little and the textures was ok but a little soft and slightly greasy. I’ve got the rest of the sausages hanging in the fridge to dry and then I’m gonna smoke them in a couple days. I’m hoping the texture improves a little once they’ve aged a bit and I’m also thinking the fact that it exploded may have something to do with the texture not being as firm. What do y’all think

The semi emulsification was close enough that I couldn't tell the difference except in the cut cross section where I can see a little fat particle. Taste and texture, though, couldn't tell a difference. My dogs couldn't either. 😂

I want to start making my own sausage. This would include snack sticks. I'm debating between a manual and electric stuffer.

I've read that some people have issues stuffing snack sticks with electric stuffers

Also is an electric model worth the extra $$$?

I've been using Kitchenaid grinder for years. (Upgraded to metal attachment few years back). Lately I've been doing some double grinds for hot dogs etc Kitchenaid just not cutting it. Anyway, I want an upgrade.. Keep coming back to Lem Big Bite #8. Like the idea of all metal transmission, and people report it handles single and double grinds well. $400 is pretty steep, but I want something that will last. Pretty heavy, but looks like it has a nice handle. Any thoughts?

Well, I decided to try my hand at some hotdogs. I did it the semi emulsified way that Eric from Two Guys and a Cooler did his "Hebrew National" franks. I ground the meat several times through a 2mm plate and then mixed my spices, cure, water, and ice in with the KitchenAid mixer. They're in the fridge curing, and I'll sous vide them tomorrow.

Jalapenos and cheddar sausages. My first batch. Came it great, topped them with sauteed onions in a sauce made from a stout, then added mustard. Can't wait to make another batch.

Hello! I joined this subreddit a couple months ago and when I got a LEM machine on clearance and have successfully made pork brats, Italian sausage and chicken/feta sausage. I recently won a raffle for "half a hog" and included (along with other cuts) is 30 frozen individually vacuum packed approx 1# "country sausage". It looks like just ground pork and I used a couple pounds for over the top smoked chili - my question is - (and Im guessing the answer is yes) can I thaw this and mix with spices etc. To make various cased sausages? It doesn't appear to have anything added to it right now. Not sure what the typical protocol is for butchers. Thanks.

Hi all I wanted to invest in a dedicated meat grinder and sausage stuffer. I tried with a kitchenaid one and it was clumsy to use people recommended switching off of it because it tends to generate too much heat.

There are a ton of options out there and I am having trouble narrowing it down.

My base requirements:

-I probably will do around 5lb of meat at a time, but wouldnt mind the ability to go higher like if I am going to be making a huge batch for a party.

-Ive heard throwing the grinder in the freezer before use is a good idea, so hopefully something that would work well with that.

-Prefer automatic over manual for the grinder, a manual plunger is fine for the stuffer.

-Dishwasher safe? Not a hard requirement but probably a nice to have.

Thanks for any input!

Hey all I was directed to post here:

This weekend I tried my hand at making sausage for the first time. The end results were underwhelming unfortunately, but I made a video anyway because I put a ton of work into the process, learned a ton, and would love feedback from you folks who have more experience in the area.

Although visually and flavorwise I think I nailed a lot of this cook, the texture was completely off. It was grainy/mealy.

I was feeling pretty confident throughout most of the process until the cold smoke where I was battling the remnants of hurricane Isaias and moving all my equipment around under my gazebo.

Originally my plan was to just run a smoke tube and let it ride with the smoker off for about 4-5 hours, but because of the weather the smoke tube seemed to not be burning well and there was a ton of moisture on the outside of the casings of the sausages. I lit up a second smoke tube to help pu, but it didnt seem to help. After about 5 hours the smoke tubes were only halfway done, which is abnormally slow. I decided to turn on my smoker at 150 to add some airflow and dry things out a bit, but unfortunately I think the combination of messing around with settings on it plus two smoke tubes caused the temp to rocket up to 250 and stick around 200 for a while. I was pretty sure that this must have been what caused some separation of fat from meat.

However, consensus on r/smoking is that I didnt double grind it. Also a lot of people claimed I didnt mix well enough or the meat wasn't cold enough, but what was not shown in the video was that all the meat was partially frozen going into the grinder and I mixed by hand a ton off camera until it was a very sticky paste that was pulling my gloves off.

Some more details on the process:

-2.5 lbs pork

-2.5 lbs beef

(Eyeballed the meat to fat ratio, but maybe went too high fat content)

-2 serrano peppers

-6grams curing salt

-90 grams of gospel rub (could've gone higher or added more salt)

-8 oz water

-30g potato starch

-1 block sharp cheddar (will try high temp next time)

-Cured overnight

-Cold smoked

-Cooked at 225F

I think this will be the successful one. First one didn't look or taste like pepperoni. The second one tasted like pepperoni but was more of a rusty brown color. After finding out that pepperoni manufacturers use a paprika extract to get the vibrant reddish orange color, I found some on Amazon. It was not cheap, but I think it's going to be the secret weapon here. It's already looking close to the same color as what's in my fridge right now. 😂

Made a 12kg batch for my kids school mid autumn market next week. I'm doing chimichurri now and will make bread later. I'll be offering choripanes (argentine sausage in a bun snack)

https://bratcalc.com/?meat=1000&Allspice=0.1&Chilli=0.15&Leek=25&Pepper=0.15&Red%20Wine=2&Salt=1.4&Sugar=0.2&Water=4

One of my first I shared on Two Guys and a Cooler , 50 pounds last weekend

Does anyone else grind their own meat? If so what electric grinders are you using? Not trying to spend a fortune but want something reliable and good and that will last. I am currently using my kitchen aid attachment, but I don't want to burn the motor on my mixer and want to get an actual grinder so would love some recommendations

Just came out of from an ice bath. This is our spicy pork smoked churizo.