summer sausage issues

[bigtim665]

I have made two batchs one 6 pounds 75 or 80% burger. about 1 1/2 ground pork. I went alittle more on the pork then i needed to. It was alittle grease. Second 16 pounds 12 pounds 90% lean beef 4 pounds of so of pork. I used the same season kit on both. The taste was 10 time better the second time. Everyone loved it but one issue. It was about half the size when i cooked it the shrank down about half the diamater. Now there is one cooking thing that changed last three smokes i have been having trouple keeping the temp up. I was ready to call bradley but found the proplem. the power cord the goes from the smoke box to the the generator was loose tightend it up no proplem. So after 4 hours of smoke the sausage was about 130 degree and i had 10 hunrgy people wanting it. (16 pounds and i got one log) SO i tossed it in the over and cooked it. I just set it on 300 figure it would be ok no big deal. when i pulled it out alot of grease had came out and infact nearly set my oven on fire. Guest the oven is alittle less set it and forget it then the smoker.
Is this what happen i know if you cook a hamburger to face it will shrink same thing with bacon. So should i have dropped the temp to around 200 or 250.
If i use the 90% at 4to1 will it be ok if i slow cook it all the way to 180 or so. or will it still shrink. I do not have a proplem with it shrinking but everyone was questioning it. Also any recipes i am doing another cook out and everyone want more. Seems when we had cook out before no one came. But since buying the smoker the door gets knocked down.

[Kingudaroad]

Summer sausage is best cured first and then smoked at very low temps like 140 degrees for several hours, then bumping up the smoker temp to 180 and cooking to an internal temp of 160. Then to an ice bath to avoid shrinkage.

Sounds like you are cooking it too hot and rendering out all the fat.

If you can't get your smoker that low, then cook it as low as you can get it to an internal temp of 160 then ice bath.

[Richtee]

Summer sausage is best cured first

PLEASE note this... and King's advice is dead-on IMHO.

[Big Guy]

PLEASE note this... and King's advice is dead-on IMHO.

X3 for that advice. For most sausage if the temp gets above 175 it will render the fat out and result in a dry sawdust tasting sausage which is greasy on the outside.

[Gunslinger]

Check out this tutorial I posted for snack sticks. It's pretty much the same for summer sausage, except I add a binder to my summer sausage. But the cooking times are the same.

[bigtim665]

sorry should have add. I cured it for 12 hours the night before. I have a bradley smoker. It will set as low as 130 i think. Normaly i set it at 200 to 225 maybe 250 with alot of meat then it sits at about 220. I think what happen is what happen with my bacon. The temp would not go over 140. so after 8 hours of smoke i stuck it in the over. It hit about 180. I pulled it out and the pan was full of grease and over ran in the oven. I stuck it in some ice. It shrank up and had alot of grease on the out side. Though everyone loved it and thought it was great they where fighting over who got what to take home. Though i do think your right. I will watch it real close from now on. I think the temp isssue with the bradely is solved when i did my cb i noticed it again. Nothing over 140 even at 280 degree. I noticed the power cable that goes from the smoker element to the meat box was loose pushed it in no proplems.

[JustSmoke2]

All great info so far. You try and let the sausage come to room temp first before placing in your bradley. Or start out at 130 for 1 hour to dry out the casings before you start your smoke. Then turn up to 160 for another hour or 2 then to 180 or 200 to finish. A few people have had trouble with temps when starting out as the meat is throwing off cold temps and working against your smoker. MES recommends that your meat be at room temp before putting in the smoker.

[Gunslinger]

Wanna try something good? Next time you're charcoal grillin', throw some thick slices of summer sausage on, put some nice grill marks on it, and eat.