my food "to-do" list
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
I was told they have temp gauges that go into the meat and there is an app that you can use on your smartphone to monitor the temps. He says they are designed to tolerate the heat. You don’t even have to get out of the pool! F’ing technology!
lol, well, that is only about half true. you have to know how to operate your equipment, and an accurate thermometer in your smoke chamber and one in the product sure is a big help. trust me, after nearly 20 years of routinely smoking, smoker cooking, grilling, etc., I'm still an amateur by every metric. learn something every time I burn wood or charcoal for cooking. this a journey, not a destination. the sooner you get started, the better, Sgt. tick-tock, brother.
Buckmaster
Senior Member
FWIW....I run an insulated electric much like this one: https://www.sausagemaker.com/20-lb-Digital-Stainless-Steel-Smoker-p/19-1010.htm
It get's the job done for this amateur backyarder.
It get's the job done for this amateur backyarder.
I will deal with that when/if it happens. Until then I will enjoy.
My probe temps are spot on. I always double check temps with my manual thermometer. My cooking temps are within 5 degrees on what the digital read out says and what the mechanical one in the lid says. The lid is always 5 degrees higher. I suspect the difference in locations is the biggest reason for that. Digital is at the cooking grates the mech is in the lid.
For the amateur like me the pellet grill is a good starter.
It's funny how my "food to-do list" hasn't really changed much in the last 10 years. over the last couple of weeks I canned all of my squirrels (28 quarts) and venison shanks(16 pints), ground and packaged 50lbs of venison since we were almost out of burger. still have that much more for grinding in the freezer. I like to get this stuff done in February, but I've been working on paying jobs since the day archery season ended. no rest for the wicked.
with that all done, I got busy on some bacon, which I have not made in two years. one last tweak of the salinity and sugar this time. the rest of the flavor profile has been good the last couple of times, so I didn't change that any. put the 11 lb belly in cure two weeks ago today. I let it cure for 7 full days this time, which is a bit longer than I've done in the past. It just doesn't take 10 or 20 days to cure pork belly sealed in a vacuum bag. dried it Saturday night and smoked it for 8 hours with hickory and apple wood last Sunday, it's been getting happy in the fridge ever since. I baked some while I was slicing it all. I think I've got it where I want it. probably the best bacon I've made.
wound up with about 8 lbs of sliced bacon, plus about 1lb of ends. bacon ends are awesome for flavoring beans and such, adding to fried cabbage, and for pasta alla Carbonara in place of the traditional guanciale or pancetta. it smells all smoky in here.
with that all done, I got busy on some bacon, which I have not made in two years. one last tweak of the salinity and sugar this time. the rest of the flavor profile has been good the last couple of times, so I didn't change that any. put the 11 lb belly in cure two weeks ago today. I let it cure for 7 full days this time, which is a bit longer than I've done in the past. It just doesn't take 10 or 20 days to cure pork belly sealed in a vacuum bag. dried it Saturday night and smoked it for 8 hours with hickory and apple wood last Sunday, it's been getting happy in the fridge ever since. I baked some while I was slicing it all. I think I've got it where I want it. probably the best bacon I've made.
wound up with about 8 lbs of sliced bacon, plus about 1lb of ends. bacon ends are awesome for flavoring beans and such, adding to fried cabbage, and for pasta alla Carbonara in place of the traditional guanciale or pancetta. it smells all smoky in here.
When hunting season ends there is always some more work to be done for me. This is traditionally the time of year when I put up my squirrels, grind venison, make sausage and bacon. Because of major surgeries for either Nancy or me, I have not made sausage or bacon since 2021. Once again this year another surgery. Nancy had to have a discectomy at her C5-C6 vertebrae. This was 15 year old injury that started giving her real trouble gain about 6 months ago again. I have been here caring for her while she recovers, which has gone well for her. I seized the opportunity to get some real work done in the kitchen while watching her convalesce.
Since the day after her surgery on Tuesday 2/6 my kitchen has been buzzing. I have ground and packaged 45lbs of venison, packaged fresh squirrels for braising later, packaged 10 bags of saddles and cooked them sous vide for buffalo woodland "wings" later on, and canned the rest which amounted to 14 quarts. I had 80 or so squirrels frozen, and they are all put up properly now. This week I made sausage. I made more than I have made in a pretty long time since we were out of everything except a few packages of brats and breakfast sausage.
I started with grinding and packaging 25lbs of fresh pork shoulder breakfast sausage. In total, I ground 85lbs of pork shoulder and 55lbs of venison during this whole affair. This is what I wound up with after all the grinding, mixing, stuffing, smoking, and cooking was done.
At the top left is 10lbs of Rebel Smoked sausage with cheese in summer chub casing, 10lbs of Rebel smoked sausage in 38mm edible collagen casing. Top right is 20lbs of fresh brats with cheese and 10lbs without cheese. Bottom is 12lbs of Venison summer sausage with cheese and 15lbs of smoked Parmesan sausage, a.k.a. "Pizza Sausage".
I ran the smoker for three days in a row. I put four hours of apple and hickory smoke on all of these sausages which was also enough time to give them good color and start cooking them. After the smoke was done, I vac sealed them and finished them all in a 155 degree sous vide bath for about four more hours. There is not a better way to finish cooking these types of sausage, imo. They are done absolutely perfectly. No chewy rind from a long stay in the smoker and the texture is perfect. The internal temperature of most of these was just over 100 degrees when I took them out of the smoker, so they were not too hot to handle. I did a fair amount of sampling while cutting these up this morning. the Rebel sausage with cheese is phenomenal, and this might be the best batch of summer sausage I have made. We sampled the cheesy brats Friday night and they were quite good, too. This was a lot of fun and a lot of work that I really needed to get done, but I'm glad it's over now. Time to go do some paying jobs and build some bows.
Since the day after her surgery on Tuesday 2/6 my kitchen has been buzzing. I have ground and packaged 45lbs of venison, packaged fresh squirrels for braising later, packaged 10 bags of saddles and cooked them sous vide for buffalo woodland "wings" later on, and canned the rest which amounted to 14 quarts. I had 80 or so squirrels frozen, and they are all put up properly now. This week I made sausage. I made more than I have made in a pretty long time since we were out of everything except a few packages of brats and breakfast sausage.
I started with grinding and packaging 25lbs of fresh pork shoulder breakfast sausage. In total, I ground 85lbs of pork shoulder and 55lbs of venison during this whole affair. This is what I wound up with after all the grinding, mixing, stuffing, smoking, and cooking was done.
At the top left is 10lbs of Rebel Smoked sausage with cheese in summer chub casing, 10lbs of Rebel smoked sausage in 38mm edible collagen casing. Top right is 20lbs of fresh brats with cheese and 10lbs without cheese. Bottom is 12lbs of Venison summer sausage with cheese and 15lbs of smoked Parmesan sausage, a.k.a. "Pizza Sausage".
I ran the smoker for three days in a row. I put four hours of apple and hickory smoke on all of these sausages which was also enough time to give them good color and start cooking them. After the smoke was done, I vac sealed them and finished them all in a 155 degree sous vide bath for about four more hours. There is not a better way to finish cooking these types of sausage, imo. They are done absolutely perfectly. No chewy rind from a long stay in the smoker and the texture is perfect. The internal temperature of most of these was just over 100 degrees when I took them out of the smoker, so they were not too hot to handle. I did a fair amount of sampling while cutting these up this morning. the Rebel sausage with cheese is phenomenal, and this might be the best batch of summer sausage I have made. We sampled the cheesy brats Friday night and they were quite good, too. This was a lot of fun and a lot of work that I really needed to get done, but I'm glad it's over now. Time to go do some paying jobs and build some bows.