Subcategories

• Seasonings and Additives

  Learn the science behind why, when and how to use different seasonings & additives to make the best product you can.

  
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  Sam O. That’s a matter of some debate! I know a deer processor who includes his seasoning and his water in his meatblocks weight, so like 20 lb of meat plus 3 lb of water and 2 lb of seasoning for a whole 25 lb batch and people do rave about his sausage but I have always gone with 25lb of meat and fat and anything that adds on to that is just added on. I have tried factoring in the water and seasoning/additives two times and I liked it less both times.
• Fresh Sausage

  Learn the science behind why, when and how to use different seasonings & additives to make the best product you can.

  
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  Joe Hell Tex_77 Jonathon Sorry…! Got it fixed now. No more [censored] on Joe’s name!
• Cured Sausage

  Learn about the equipment, casings and processes necessary to make Snack Sticks, Summer Sausage and Smoked Sausage and then watch as we go over how to process each type step by step.

  
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  What does one do when your bored and it’s too cold outside… Apparently you think about humidity. Decided to try my own wet/dry bulb experiment. Although very crude the results were surprising. Found a how to on this from the UW Madison extension office. Wish I’d copied the link. Found a psychrometer app to do the math. Lost my slide rule. Was surprised the results were pretty close. Set this up near a humidifier so there was some air movement over it. May try this in the smoker as a test as well. Now you know what cold weather and a cold beer leads to.
• Jerky

  Learn about the equipment, best cuts of meat to use and seasonings and additives to use to make jerky.

  
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  Jerky: 203 Glycerin in Place of Sugar Attend this Intermediate-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have! No Sugar? A few months ago we had a suggestion on meatgistics that we try using something called vegetable glycerin instead of sugar. Let’s face it, 18% added sugar takes a relatively healthy snack like Jerky and changes it into something closer to junk food. Glycerin is a sweetener that does not interact with your body in the same way that sugar does. It doesn’t seem to spike your blood sugar levels, which would indicate that it is a better choice for everyone but especially diabetics. So we are making two batches of jerky from some venison we had here. One is going to be done with 18% brown sugar and one is going to be done with 18% vegetable glycerin. If you are looking for some glycerin it is relatively inexpensive to purchase large bottles of it on amazon. First, we sliced the meat into slightly thicker than 1/4 pieces and cut across the grain. Then mix all of your ingredients until everything is fully suspended, you don’t want a bunch of sugar sitting at the bottom of your mixture, so this might take some time. Marinating We then ran both of these through a vacuum tumbler to pick up as much of the solution as possible. You can use a home style tumbler like this Express tumbler or if you don’t have that you can also vacuum pack it, let it sit for about 24 hours and massage the meat occasionally. This will help loosen the fibers of the meat and it will pick up more of the solution. Smoke Schedule Next lay everything out on a rack in your smoker. If you have the ability to control the humidity in your smoker then I will list the relative humidity levels in the post on meatgistics.com that we will link in the description below. If you don’t have a way to control the humidity then I would suggest you go get yourself a larger than normal water pan and a few automotive sponges. No, we aren’t gonna make you clean my truck before I tell you what to do next, you are going to get those sponges wet and then sit them in the water pan with half of it sticking out into the air. This is going to increase the surface area for evaporation and allow for greatly increased relative humidity in your smoker. You won’t be able to control its levels but it will increase it which is better than nothing. Don’t add this water pan until after the initial 20 minutes which is going to be our drying phase. Stage 1 - 20 Minutes at 110° (dampers wide open) Stage 2 - 30 Minutes at 135° (begin adding smoke) Stage 3 - 10 Minutes at 140° (dampers wide open again for drying) Stage 4 - 30 Minutes at 150° Stage 5 - 175° until internal temperature is 160° The Results The one that we did with the sugar has a glisten to it and is slightly tacky and sticky. The one that we used glycerin does not have this problem, the surface appears dry and mostly normal. Now for the tenderness, both of these are pretty tender, they have some good flexibility and a nice bite. For the taste I notice a slight after taste with the one that I used glycerin on that isn’t present on the sugar but it is certainly not something that would prevent me from using glycerin instead of jerky if I was trying to make a healthier product. So, all in all if you are wanting to make a tender jerky that isn’t going to be processed like junk food by your body then by all means try substituting the 18% brown sugar with 18% glycerin! $500 Budget for Equipment In my opinion, I would spend the majority of my budget on a slicer the Weston 10" Slicer has a hefty price tag of $400 but it will cut evenly and can also be used for so much more than just jerky. Then I would spend the remaining amount on the 6 Tray Digital Dehydrator. Now, another, and equally valid way to go would be to spend the bulk of your money on a Weston 80L Pro Series Dehydrator ($350) and then buying a Weston 9" Slicer, don’t let the 1 " difference between these slicers confuse you though, the 10" is extremely well built and could be used in a semi-commercial environment whereas the 9" is only for home use. Other Equipment Or Supplies A Smokehouse will give you a lot more versatility and can obviously be used for so much more than jerky. Shop waltonsinc.com for Vertical Smokers Shop waltonsinc.com for American BBQ Systems Smokers
• Sausage Casings

  Learn how to choose the correct casings for your sausage, how to prepare it for use and the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

  
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  Sausage Casings: 201 Tips for Stuffing Collagen Casings Attend this Intermediate level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have! The Basics Learning how to stuff collagen casing can be as much of an art as it is a science. The first thing you can do to make this easy on yourself is to use the correct stuffing tube, you should use the largest stuffing tube that your casing will fit over in its shirred form. For example, a 23 MM casing will fit over both a 10 MM and 12 MM tube but you want to choose the 12 MM tube as this will allow the casing to come off the tube more naturally. Also, you should note that collagen does have a direction, one end of the strand will be fully open and the other will have some of the casing folded slightly over the center hole. The open side is what should be loaded onto the stuffing tube if you lose track of which side was the correct one look at how the collagen is stacked, it looks like bowls stacked in a cupboard, you want the bottom of the bowl to be facing towards the stuffer so the casing comes off as if you are un-stacking the bowls. Right Amount of Pressure Making sure that you are using the right amount of pressure to hold your casing on the stuffing tube is very important and takes some practice. Too little pressure and the casing will come off too easily and you will end up with an under stuffed casing which can create a wrinkled, unappealing product and will not hold its form through the cooking process. The other side of that is that if you use too much pressure you can end up with blow outs or backflow. A blow out is when your casing splits from internal pressure, it forces you to stop stuffing, fix your casing and put your meat back into the stuffing cannister. Backflow is when your product comes back around the stuffing horn instead of going into the casing and creates a host of problems including possible contamination and defects in the texture of the sausage. Also, an overstuffed casing has a tendency to burst during the cooking process You want the casing to feel firm but not so firm that when you try to twist it the casing splits, it is going to take a little bit of practice to master this but once you do it is like riding a bike, you will never forget how. A good way to judge if you are stuffing to the proper amount is if you can just faintly see the swirl line along the casing, you want to be able to just faintly see it. If it is obvious then you are under stuffing, if you can’t see it as all then you have overstuffed. As you are stuffing try to get your sausage into a coil to make it easier to handle. Up to You! Now that you have the sausage stuffed into the collagen you can either hang them in the smoker, cut them into sausage sized sections or twist them into links and then hang them for smoking or vacuum seal them for future use. Now you can smoke, grill or pan fry them. If you made a fresh product and want to vac seal them for future use make sure you freeze them first for at least an hour. If you try to vacuum seal a fresh sausage the vacuum that your machine pulls will crush your product flat. Shop waltonsinc.com for Collagen Casings Shop waltonsinc.com for 11 lb Sausage Stuffer
• Deli Meats

  Learn about common additives, choosing safe deli meat from the store and how to process your own deli meat at home.

  
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  Deli Meat: 202 Additives For Homemade Deli Meats Attend this Intermediate-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have! Phosphates In Deli Meats 103 we went over some common additives that are used in commercially processed Deli Meats, most of them are harmless and are aimed at increasing the freshness of the meat, the shelf life, taste and appearance. However, most of these items are not things you are going to have in your home, or have easy access to. However, there are a few additives that are easily available and will give you a nice reformed deli meat that can be sliced almost as thin as a true deli. It doesn’t matter if you are making homemade deli meats or buying it from the store, some sort of phosphates will almost certainly be present. The phosphates raise the pH of the meat and allow it to hold more water. Commercial processors do this because a) water is much cheaper than meat and b) consumers want cuts of meat that are juicier. We recommend you use Cold Phosphate as this will dissolve easier in cold water than some other types. An important note on phosphates is that if you are injecting it you need to mix this in first so it can suspend in the water. I’d recommend you add phosphates to any deli meat you are making but it is especially important when making low fat deli cuts. Binders Binders, especially in low fat cuts, are going to be very key here when making a reformed cut of deli meat. Without it you will have a hard time getting everything to stick together tight enough to let you slice it deli thin without it crumbling. Carrot Fiber isn’t a traditional binder but it holds 26 times it’s weight in water so it can help with a juiciness, if you are going to use carrot fiber, like I do in future videos, is to use it in conjunction with cold phosphate. Super Bind is going to give you carrot fiber and potato starch, so you get the best of the carrot fiber plus the potato starch forms a gel at the same temp as the meat really starts to expel water. The only problem with this is that in a homemade deli you are going to have some voids in your meat. Having no voids with a hand crank stuffer is extremely difficult and those voids will be filled with this gel. It can be very unappealing. Sure Gel or Soy protein blend can also be good choices. Sodium Lactate Sodium Lactate is used by commercial processors to extend the shelf-life of meat products. It is sometimes used as a powder but is most often used in its liquid form. It increases the shelf life of meat products by regulating the pH of food and reduces the effects of bacteria spoilage. In its liquid form you would use it at a rate of 1.5% of your meat block, so for a 25 lb batch you would use .375 of a lb. As we sell it in gallons you can see that it would last you a long time. Sodium Nitrite & Sure Cure Another option for deli meat can be using sodium nitrite or sure cure. We’ve talked about it exhaustively in the past but using nitrite helps fight botulism spores. Its important to use when smoking meat as you are often creating the perfect environment for the growth of botulism and other bad microorganisms. It can also assist in increasing the shelf life of the meat and preserving the color and flavor. Watch WaltonsTV: Deli Meat: 202 Additives For Homemade Deli Meats Shop waltonsinc.com for Additives Shop waltonsinc.com for Cold Phosphate - Sodium Phosphate Shop waltonsinc.com for Sodium Lactate
• Smoked Meats

  Learn about different types of smokers, using different varieties of wood and best practices for smoking your own meat at home.

  
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  Masya That’s a good point and thanks for posting it in the comments, I will go ahead and add it to the article as well!
• Cured Whole Muscle Meats

  Learn about the equipment and cures needed to process your own hams and bacon at home and then follow along with our step by step videos.

  
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  Tex_77 Argh! I changed the information in the post.
• Specialty Sausage

  Learn how to make specialty sausages such as Braunschweiger, Lebanon Bologna or Blood Sausage.

  
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  Jonathon Agreed! I have to drive about an hour to find an ‘exotic’ market like that but it’s worth it just to browse the oddities. Lots of weird bugs, grubs and unidentifiable creatures. Also dehydrated frogs.
• Meat Processing Equipment

  Learn about the importance, functions and abilities of meat processing equipment.

  
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  Jonathon Yes…My kitchenAid absolutely SCREAMS when using the grinder. It’s nothing short of ear piercing.
• Wild Game

  Learn the science behind why, when and how to use different seasonings & additives to make the best product you can.

  
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  Wild Game: Goose Pepperoni Sticks Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have! What is Pepperoni? Pepperoni is a cured style of Salami that is traditionally made from Pork and Beef, but it can be made from 100% of either one or other meats like Turkey or Wild Game. If you are going to slow cure it then using 100% pork is recommended. In America, you can basically break down Pepperoni into Pizza Pepperoni and Sandwich Pepperoni, the Pizza Pepperoni is usually smaller in diameter and Sandwich Pepperoni is larger in diameter. Both can either be smoked in a similar fashion as a Summer Sausage or cold cured. Meat Block 10 lb Goose 2.5 lb Pork Fat (or 10 lb untrimmed pork butts) Ingredients: 1 bag Pepperoni Unit 11.2 oz for 12.5 lb batch Sure Cure 1/2 oz for 12.5 lb batch 3/4 Gallon of water Optional Ingredients: Sure Gel Meat Binder - 3 oz per 12.5 lb High-Temp Cheese - 1 lb Either Encapsulated Citric Acid - 2 oz per 12.5 lb OR Sodium Erythorbate - 3 GRAMS for 12.5 lb batch Equipment Meat Grinder Meat Mixer Sausage Stuffer Walton’s Sausage Tier (Optional) Casing Preparation We will be making some in 19mm Smoked Collagen Casings and some in 26mm Cellulose Casings. Neither of these casings requires any preparation but the cellulose casing is NOT edible so you must peel it before eating. Process Clean your goose and soak for 24 hours in saltwater in a cooler. This will bleed the meat and give you better taste and consistency. Pack your goose meat into an 8-inch wide vac bag roll (or use multiple 8" diameter bags if you don’t have a roll) and freeze it almost solid. Cut the goose meat into chunks small enough to fit down the throat of your grinder. Grind the goose meat through a 3/8" plate. Grind the goose, and pork fat through a 1/8" plate. Try to mix the pork fat in sporadically throughout the second grind to help disperse it evenly. Pork Fat - With goose being as dark as it is and having a lighter consistency we really think it helped to go with straight pork fat, instead of a 50/50 mix of Goose to untrimmed Pork Butts. You want to go for either 20 or 25% fat content with these. Pork Butts - If you cannot find any pork fat, you can use a 50/50 mix of goose and untrimmed pork butts Meat Mixing Mix seasoning, cure, sure gel, and a cure accelerator(unless it is encapsulated citric acid) with the meat. You want to mix this until you have very good protein extraction, you will know you have reached this when your meat starts getting very sticky and tacky and it pulls when you try to stretch it instead of breaking into smaller clumps. With a meat mixer, you usually want to mix around 8 minutes, being careful to change directions of the paddles every minute or so. If you used encapsulated citric acid you should add it, along with the cheese, during the last 60 seconds of mixing. This will prevent the encapsulation from splitting or the cheese smearing. Sausage Stuffing Choose the largest tube that your casing will fit over. We did both the 19mm smoke collagen and the 26mm cellulose casing so we did have to switch tubes. With the collagen casings, you want to stuff until you can faintly see a swirling line down the casing. Then cut them to the longes length that you can hang in your smoker. For the cellulose casings just stuff until they are full and smooth. These are very strong casings and you shouldn’t have to worry about blowouts too much. Once they have been stuffed you can twist them into links but then you have to tie off between every link. Or, you can go with a butcher twist that will give you bundles of 3 sausages. Note The Walton’s Sausage Linker can be a big-time saver here. With just a little practice you can tie off your casings in a fraction of the time it takes to hand-tie them. Thermal Processing & Smoking: 120° for 30 Minutes (With No Smoke Or Humidity and Vents Wide Open) 130° For 60 Minutes (Add Smoke & Humidity and close vents 3/4) 140° For 30 Minutes (Continue Smoke & Humidity) 160° For 60 Minutes Continue Smoke & Humidity 180° Until Internal Temperature is 165° Add Smoke & Humidity and Close Vents Cooling Run a 10-minute shower cycle with fans on OR Place in an ice bath for 10 minutes to stop the cooking process & help set the casing for the collagen and helps separate it from the cellulose. Wrap up With Goose, I think using pork fat made a big difference vs a 50/50 mix with untrimmed pork butts, this allowed the goose color, flavor and consistency to stand out. The cellulose casings worked wonderfully here, the skinless products appearance and consistency was a big hit Other Notes 24-hour soak in saltwater will help bleed the meat Remember to freeze your meat almost solid Without a cure accelerator of some kind, you need to hold this for 12 hours after stu8ffing before going to the smoker. Watch WaltonsTV: Wild Game - Goose Pepperoni Sticks Shop waltonsinc.com for Pepperoni Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives