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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  Seasoning and Additives 105 - Common Additives

  Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Are Additives?

  Additives refer to any ingredients added to your product that serve a function other than taste. The reasons for adding this can be moisture retention and yield enhancement, cure acceleration, color enhancement, meat binding just to name a few. Familiarity with these products can help you make a better product and might ease some of your concerns when reading ingredient labels on store-bought packages.

  Moisture Retaining Additives

  Additives with moisture retaining properties include Cold Phosphate, Corn Syrup Solids, Dairy Blend and Sodium Tripoly Phosphate. These products are designed to allow the meat to more effectively bond the water so that it stays in the product during the cooking process. This will give you a finished product with more moisture and is especially important in products with a lower fat content. These products also act as yield enhancers as the more water that is bound up in the product the more volume and weight it will have. For the beginner who wants to use one of these products, I would recommend Cold Phosphate, just be sure to check the ingredients on the seasoning you are using first to ensure that it does not already contain phosphates, as adding too much phosphate can give your product a soapy flavor.

  Cure Accelerator

  Cure accelerators interact with the cure in a way that speeds up its conversion from Nitrite to nitric oxide gas and allows you to go directly from stuffing to the smokehouse. When these are used you do not need to hold your product overnight to allow the cure time to work. Cure Excellerator from Excalibur and Sodium Erythorbate are cure accelerators that have minimal if any, the effect on taste. Encapsulated Citric Acid acts as both a cure accelerator and a pH reducer, it is what gives meat snacks that nice tang. Smoked Meat Stabilizer should be used mostly with wild game and should not be used in a cover pickle, as it will gas out rapidly and create a dangerous cloud of gas, it should not be used in products that you are adding water to assist in mixing. just mix it in when making sausage or snack sticks and it will kill bacteria faster than it can reproduce. For the beginner, I would recommend encapsulated citric acid.

  Liquid Smokes

  Liquid Smokes are popular color enhancers that are sprayed on during the smoking process to give meat the nice smoked appearance. Two common types of this are C-10 and Supreme Smoke and are often used with Hams, Bacons or any other smoked whole muscle meat. Pn-9 Liquid smoke is another type that has a neutral pH but really should only be used in a smokehouse that can atomize it for spraying. Cures also have a coloring factor but we will get into that in later videos.

  Meat Binders

  Meat Binders like Soy Protein Blend and Sure Gel contain some protein which will make protein extraction more efficient as more of it will be available. The Soy Protein blend has a grain or cereal like appearance and will look like oats if you soak it in water but it will dissolve into your product so it will not leave any noticeably different consistency. Both of these have allergens in them though so you need to be somewhat careful with that. Carrot Fiber is a binder that is able to hold 26 times its weight in water, is allergen free, inexpensive and imparts very little if any, taste into your cooked product. Any of these products are going to improve the texture of your finished product.

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• 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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  Fresh Sausage 101 - What Is Fresh Sausage?

  Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What is Fresh Sausage?

  Fresh Sausage is a traditionally a product that has been ground, seasoned and then most times stuffed into a casing for cooking. The size of the sausage can vary from as small as breakfast sausage link all the way up to 35mm Bratwurst style sausage. It can be made from beef, pork, poultry or wild game or other meats and even some non-meat items are being called sausage now.

  Initially, sausage was made to use as much of an animal as possible so organ meats, connective tissue, and other non-desirable cuts were ground, salted and then stuffed into the intestines of the animal to be either cooked or cured. Over time it proved to be so popular due to its taste that the practice of using lower quality cuts is no longer common.

  Today some common types of Fresh Sausage are Breakfast whether it is in links, patties or just made as a ground product, Italian, Bratwurst, Mexican Chorizo, and even some Boudin. Because a cure is not used for fresh products they need to be refrigerated or consumed right away. When cooking them you can add smoke if desired but it is less common.

  Meat Block

  Sausage can be made from almost any meat. Pork is the most common as it is readily available and relatively inexpensive but beef is also fairly common and chicken sausage is also becoming much more common and commercially available. Regardless of what meat block is being used at least 80/20 fat ratio is standard but we like 70/30 and some even go closer to 50/50. This means if a leaner wild game such as venison is being used the correct amount of pork fat will need to be added or the finished product will be less flavorful and overly dry. The best time to add this pork fat is during the second grind so it can mix in well with the lean meat. For most types of fresh sausage, the meat should be ground twice through a 3/16" plate to achieve the ideal particle size.

  Texture

  Fresh Sausage, especially Bratwurst and Breakfast Link Sausage does not have the same texture as a cured sausage. This is because we do not need to achieve protein extraction during the mixing process as we are not smoking this, meaning there is less of a danger of the fat rendering out of the meat during the cooking process. The end result is that when you cut one open it will have a more coarse appearance and mouthfeel.

  Casings

  Fresh Sausage can be stuffed into natural casings, like hog and sheep, or you can use fresh collagen casings. Since Fresh Sausage can cover everything from Breakfast Links to Bratwurst you might be using casings as small as 21mm collagen or as large as 35mm natural hog casings.

  Cooking

  Depending on the meat that you are using to make your sausage you will need to cook it to different internal temperatures. For example, beef and pork sausages need to be cooked to an internal temperature of 160° F while chicken and other poultry need to be cooked to 165°F. The reason that sausage needs to be cooked higher than a whole muscle cut, like steak, is that very little harmful bacteria live inside the muscle, the majority of it is on the surface. Once you have ground that however you have exposed all of the meat to that bacteria and it must be properly cooked to be safe to eat.

  Storage

  Either cook your sausage right away or freeze and then vacuum pack it for future use. If you do not freeze the sausage first and try to vacuum pack it you will end up crushing your sausage and it will either have flat sides to it or it will be pushed out of the casing altogether.

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• 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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  Cured Sausage 101 - What Is Cured Sausage?

  Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Is Cured Sausage?

  Sausage is a traditionally a meat product that has been ground, seasoned and then stuffed into a casing for cooking. Cured Sausage has a few extra steps, it has just had either nitrate or nitrites added to it to allow it to be smoked or slow cured. Cured Sausage covers a wide variety of meat snacks, everything from Snack Sticks and Summer Sausage to Bologna, Salami even a Hot Dog is also technically a Cured Sausage.

  Meat Block

  Sausage can be made from almost any meat. Pork is the most common as it is readily available and relatively inexpensive but beef is also fairly common and chicken sausage is also becoming much more common and commercially available. Regardless of what meat block is being used at least 80/20 fat ratio is standard but we like 70/30 and some even go closer to 50/50.

  This means if a leaner wild game such as venison is being used the correct amount of pork fat will need to be added or the finished product will be less flavorful and overly dry. The best time to add this pork fat is during the second grind so it can mix in well with the lean meat.

  What Does Sure Cure Do?

  The cure that is used when wanting to keep a product safe through the smoking process contains sodium nitrite, also known as Sure Cure, Cure #1 or Prague Powder. The salt and cure block the growth of botulism spores, impart a cured flavor and are responsible for burning the meat a nice pinkish red color. Meat cured with salt alone will not have the same color, as the nitrites help burn that nice red color into the meat and then set it there during the thermal processing stage.

  Texture

  Cured Sausage will have a smooth interior texture with small particle size. This happens because we need to achieve protein extraction and we have to grind it twice, first through a larger plate like a 3/16" and then a smaller plate like a 1/8". Then we will need to mix this until the protein begins to extract from the meat and bind together. All of this extra working of the meat will create a very fine texture.

  Casings

  Cured Sausage covers such a wide variety of Sausages, from Snack Sticks to Summer Sausage that many different casings will be used including Fibrous (Summer Sausage) Collagen (Snack Sticks and Larger) Natural (Snack Sticks and Larger) and even Cellulose Casings (Skinless Hotdogs).

  Cooking

  The cooking or smoking schedules for Cured Sausage will generally be more complicated than fresh sausage. Since we have added a cure to the meat we are able to cook it at lower initial temperatures as the cure will keep the meat safe through this process. Cured Sausage can be cooked on a grill, in a smoker, in an oven or even on a stove top if desired.

  Storage

  Depending on the pH and the Water Activity of your meat, you very well might have a shelf stable product. However, since you probably do not have a way to test either of these at home you should keep these items in a refrigerator or vacuum pack and put them in a freezer.

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• 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 101 - What Is Jerky?

  Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What is Jerky?

  Jerky is a meat product that has been processed, seasoned, cured and then cooked or dried. Drying and curing meat is one of the oldest ways to preserve meat and has been around for 1,000s of years. It is typically made from low-fat content pieces of meat or has had the fat trimmed off. Jerky should still be cooked up to 160°F internal temperature to kill off harmful bacteria.

  Types of Jerky

  Whole Muscle - Whole muscle is jerky that has been sliced into strips between 1/8" and 1/4" inch then coated on all sides with a mixture of the seasoning and the cure. Once that is done it will be placed in a plastic bag with just enough water to cover all the strips and held in a refrigerator for 12 hours and then cooked and or dehydrated. The advantages of this type of jerky are that it is easy to do and you need minimal equipment.

  Restructured Jerky - This is a form of jerky that has been ground up, seasoned and cured and then extruded into strips or sticks. The jerky is then cooked and or dehydrated to form the classic jerky structure. The advantage of this type of jerky is that you can control what form the jerky takes and that you can use more of the animal as you don’t need to start with a whole muscle cut of meat.

  Water activity

  A key part of making jerky is lowering the water activity. A simple explanation of water activity is that it represents the amount of water in a product that is free to be used for microbial growth. A product can have some moisture to it but most of that water is bound up with the meat, or sugar and mold or other microbes cannot access it to begin spoiling the meat.

  Cure

  You might hear some people say that Jerky does not need to be cured as it is going to be dried out. However, the meat will not start out at that level of dryness and since we are cooking this at low temperatures we are creating an environment that is ideal for the growth of botulism, so cure should be used for safety reasons. Think of it as a seat belt, your car will start without it but it’s not a great idea to ride around town without it on!

  Smoking/Dehydrating

  We do not recommend that you use only a dehydrator unless that dehydrator can run at 160 or above. The reason for this is if you dehydrate the meat before killing off the bacteria you have made that bacteria much harder to kill. In essence, you need some moisture to kill the bad bacteria.

  Storage

  If you have a way to measure water activity and it is below .85 then you do not really need to vacuum package it and it can be left out, now, there are other factors here but it is a good general rule. However, since most people do not have a way to monitor this you should still either put it in an airtight container and store it in the fridge or vacuum package it.

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• 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 104 - Shelf Life & Storage

  Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  Natural Hog and Sheep Casings

  Shelf-Life - If they are unopened and stored in a refrigerator or cooler you can expect to get 12 months from these casings but remember, these are a natural product, not a manufactured one so times can vary. The casings might have an unpleasant smell to them but that is to be expected if however the smell is truly rancid then the casings have gone bad and should be disposed of. The difference in smell between the slightly unpleasant normal smell of these casings and spoiled casings is unmistakable.

  How To Store - These will be sent to you either packed in salt, if you purchased the home pack, or kept in a salt solution if you purchased the 100-yard hank. The salt will keep the casings fresh throughout the shipping process but they should be stored in a cooler or refrigerator when you receive them until they are ready for use. Once you have taken them out of the package and rinsed and cleaned them they can be put back into the salt or salt solution and vacuum packed again at which point they will have the original shelf life.

  Collagen Casings

  Shelf-Life - Collagen casings should have a shelf life of between 12-24 months depending on how they are stored. If the casing feels excessively brittle when you are putting it on the stuffing tube or you are experiencing an unusual number of blowouts your casings might have gone bad and should be disposed of. You can slightly rehydrate older collagen casings by taking them out of there package and storing them in the refrigerator the night before they are going to be used. Once you have used how much you need you can reseal them in a bag. Do not vacuum pack them though as this will crush the casings

  How To Store - They should be kept in a dry place that is between 40-60° F and left in the original packaging until they are ready for use. Once they have been opened you should reseal the casings and always store them in an airtight container. The older the casing is the more brittle and prone to blowouts it will become.

  Fibrous Casings

  Shelf-Life - These casings do not really go bad, you should get at least a few years out of them if stored correctly.

  How To Store - They should be kept in a cool dry environment and out of direct sunlight.

  Cellulose Casings

  Shelf-Life - These casings do not really go bad, you should get at least a few years out of them if stored correctly.

  How To Store - They should be kept in a cool dry environment and out of direct sunlight.

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• 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 Meats 104 - Basics For Making Fresh Deli Meats

  Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Is Deli Meat?

  Deli meat can be made a few different ways, it can be fresh, which will be a whole muscle cut that has been cooked and then sliced like a roast or some turkey. Or it can be reformed from smaller cuts or even an emulsified product that is then sliced and sold by weight for sandwiches and subs.

  Meat Block

  Eye of the Round
  1 Bag of Soluble Pa’s Black Bull BBQ Soluble Seasoning

  Equipment

  Walton’s Automatic Syringe Injector

  Process

  The first thing you need to do is decide if you want to remove the fat cap before or after you cook this. I like to remove it first when making deli meat. Cut off as much of the fat as you can without cutting too far into the meat. Remove any silver skin or membrane still attached to the meat.

  Choose a marinade that includes phosphates of some sort, phosphates allow the meat to retain more moisture through the cooking process and since we aren’t going to cure this we can’t step it up in slow stages so moisture loss can be a major problem. Mix your seasoning into your water, making sure everything is fully dissolved. Inject your meat evenly with as much of the seasoning as the meat will accept. You will know that your meat is fully seasoned when the marinade start shooting back out the injection holes.

  Vacuum Sealing

  Hold the product overnight (or at least for a few hours) to allow the seasoning to more evenly disperse in the meat. My favorite way to do this is to put the meat in a vacuum bag and seal it. It does not need to be a perfect vacuum, simply remove as much of the air as you can from the bag, this will allow more of the marinade to stay inside the meat and will keep anything that leaks out to stay in contact with the meat, adding to the flavor.

  Topical Seasoning

  Before you put your meat in the smoker or oven you might want to rub the outside with an additional seasoning. I like to try to choose something that will either compliment the marinade I used or something that will juxtapose it strongly enough to be easily noticebale. Rub as much as you want on the outside of the meat, since we are going to slice this so thin and this seasoning will only stay on the outside it is almost impossible to overseason a topical rub when making deli meat.

  Note

  The cook schedule will be very simple for this type of meat. If you are using a smoker an important decision is to add smoke or not. When I made this I used our PK-100 Smoker but did not add any additional smoke to it.

  Thermal Processing & Smoking

  225° until the internal temperature is 132°

  Cooling

  Remove from the smoker and cover in tin foil for at least 20 minutes. This will continue the cooking process for a few minutes and let the juice and blood absorb back into the meat. If you slice it too soon the juice will leak right out of the meat.

  Slicing

  For sandwiches, it is preferable to slice your meat as thin as you can. This will depend on your slicer, trying to slice at the thinnest setting might not give you full pieces, select the lowest setting you can that will still produce full slices.

  Wrap up

  Making homemade Fresh Deli Meat is really very simple. You have probably made roasts in the oven before and this is the same process, just make sure you are marinating with a seasoning that contains phosphates and you slice it as thin as you can.

  Additional Tips If your preferred seasoning does not contain phosphates you can add some to the marinade to increase the water holding capacity of the meat, just make sure you do not exceed a usage of 2 oz per 25 lb of meat or you might get a soapy taste to your meat. Other Notes

  An important note is that once we have sliced it we have exposed the entire area to bacteria, this means we need to treat it like a ground product now and it needs to be refrigerated and consumed within 3-5 days.

  Watch WaltonsTV: Deli Meats 104 - Basics For Making Fresh Deli Meats Shop waltonsinc.com for Bratwurst Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives
• 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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  Smoked Meats 104 Smoked Pork Loin

  Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Is Tenderloin?

  One of the easiest and most common things to be smoked at home is a pork tenderloin. They are readily available at almost any grocery store or supermarket and they are easy to get right. The fact that it is a tenderloin means it is the psoas major muscle, which is it is a muscle that runs along the spine. They are tender as they aren’t a heavily used muscle like the chest or leg would be.

  Meat Block

  3 lb of Pork Tenderloin
  1 Shaker of Pork Roast with Apple Cinnamon and Butter
  1 Shaker of Apple Sweet and Sassy Rump Rub

  Equipment

  Walton’s Automatic Syringe Injector
  Grilleye Pro Plus

  Process

  The usage on the Pork Roast with Apple Cinnamon and Butter is 5 oz to 6.25 lb of pork and just about 1 lb of water. Since we have about 3 lb of tenderloin we are going to dissolve half the shaker in half an lb of water. Next, we will place our pork tenderloin in a bag and pour in the mix over it, then we will vacuum seal it to remove the air and leave it in a refrigerator overnight.

  Marinating

  So to marinate this I am going to put it in a vacuum bag with the seasoning and since this marinade already contains phosphates it will do a good job of soaking in and staying in the meat through the cooking process. If the marinade you are using does not contain phosphates I would consider adding some as it will chemically change the meat so it has a higher water holding capacity. If we were doing a thicker cut like a pork butt and maybe even an entire Pork Loin I would inject it but as this is a 104 class we will cover injecting in later videos.

  Topical Rub

  Rub all sides of the Tenderloin with the rub of your choice. Since we have already marinated this it should have enough moisture for the seasoning to stick to the tenderloin, if it is not sticking to the meat you can rub it with some mustard and then rub the topical seasoning onto the mustard.

  Wood

  For Pork you can really use any wood you want, Fruitwoods like Apple and Pecan are good choices if you like a lighter smoke flavor but the pork will definitely stand up to Hickory or Mesquite as well. If we were smoking chicken or fish I would definitely stay in the fruitwood family though as stronger smoke flavors will overpower those types of meat.

  Note

  Adding a pan of water to your smoker can help increase the humidity inside of the smoker. Humidity can help speed up cook times and it will give you a moister finished product. I like to use the Grilleye Pro Plus as it allows me to monitor the temperature of the meat without ever having to get up. It can connect through Bluetooth or through my wireless network. It also allows me to set alarms so if I am not paying attention it will start beeping at me once it has reached a set temperature or is outside a temperature range.

  Thermal Processing & Smoking

  225° until the internal temperature is 145°

  Cooling

  Let the meat sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before cutting.

  Wrap up

  If you are looking at smoking your first piece of meat pork tenderloin is a great choice, it is very easy to do, does not require any special preparation and almost always ends up as a delicious meal!

  Additional Tips If you want to pull your Pork Loin at 140° and wrap in foil it will continue to cook for another 5° to get you to 145°. Other Notes

  We can get away with an internal temp of less than 160° because this is a whole muscle cut and very little if any, bacteria live inside of the muscle of the animal. It will instead be concentrated on the outside and by getting the internal temperature to 145° we know the outside is well above 160°.

  Watch WaltonsTV: Smoked Pork Loin Shop waltonsinc.com for Bratwurst Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives
• 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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  Cured Whole Muscle Meat 105 - Ham Basics

  Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Is Ham?

  Ham is the upper portion of a pig’s hind leg, it will usually be in the range of 16 inches long and around 12 inches wide at the widest point and its weight will vary pretty dramatically. To cook it safely at low temperatures it needs to be cured first and because of the size of the ham injecting it is a better choice than pickling or brining to make sure the cure is evenly distributed.

  Meat Block

  14 lb Uncured Ham
  1 Bag of Country Brown Sugar Cure
  1 lb of California Ham Spice

  Equipment

  Walton’s Automatic Syringe Injector
  Versanet
  Auto-Load Hog Ring Pliers

  Process

  To figure out how much cure and water you will need you will first need to weigh your ham. This ham weighs 14 lb which is known as its green weight. Country Brown Sugar Cure calls for 2 lb of cure to be mixed with 1 gallon of water for a 10% pump. This means that we want to use the appropriate amount of cure and water and then pump 10% of the “green weight” into the ham, so a 14 lb ham will be 15.4 lb after it has been pumped.

  Water

  It is very important to use water that has low microbial levels and low to no chlorine, buying distilled water from your grocery store is a good way to ensure you will not have any issues from the water. If you are using tap water leave it in an uncovered container in a cooler overnight to let any of the gas escape the water.

  Injection Points

  We recommend a 14 point injection for a ham, starting at the thinner side inject near the end once on each side of the bone and then move up the ham making 4 more injections in a straight line until you reach the thicker end. Once you reached the thicker end, which should be your 6th injection, make 8 more evenly spaced injections around the end of the ham in a clockwise direction.

  Cover Brine

  Then we will use the remaining cure solution to cover our ham while we let it sit in the cooler overnight if you used a cure with sodium erythorbate or added it yourself and 3-4 days if you did not. We want this to be a 50% strength solution so our options are, either us the cure at the rate of 1 lb per gallon of water or we can weigh what we have left over from our injection and add whatever it weighs in water so the cure would now be at a 50% strength solution.

  Note

  Next, it needs to be stuffed into a casing like Versanet so that it can then hung in the smokehouse. You can choose to tie this Ham or use Ham Tubing, we like versanet as it is a plastic product that releases easily from the ham after the smoking process.

  Thermal Processing & Smoking

  1 Hour at 120° with no smoke
  2 Hours 140° and begin smoking
  4 Hours at 190° until internal temperature reaches 145°

  Cooling

  Then hold this at room temperature for 1-2 hours before moving to the refrigerator or vacuum packing it.

  Wrap up

  Now we have a beautiful homemade smoked ham that is going to taste at least as good as anything bought in the store!

  Additional Tips If you had a market hand saw you can make a cut perpendicular to the h-bone on the back of the ham Watch WaltonsTV: Ham Basics Shop waltonsinc.com for Bratwurst Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives
• Specialty Sausage

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

  
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  Specialty Sausage 102: Making Lebanon Bologna

  Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Is Lebanon Bologna?

  Lebanon Bologna was originally made by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1800’s. Traditionally it is a dark bologna, similar to salami in appearance and texture and it has a tangy flavor. It is often eaten as cold cuts and it can be slow cured and cold smoked or smoked using more modern methods. We are going to be making a version today that will not be slow cured or cold smoked as that makes it more difficult for the average home user.

  Meat Block

  7 lb of Untrimmed Pork Butts
  3 lb of Lean Beef
  1 Bag of Lebanon Bologna Seasoning
  1 10 lb Capacity Bologna Casing
  1 Bag of Sure Gel
  Sodium Erythorbate

  Equipment

  Weston #12 Butcher Series Grinder
  Walton’s 11 lb Sausage Stuffer
  Weston 20 lb Meat Mixer

  Process

  If you can you should cut the fat off of your pork and grind your pork fat separately through a 3/16th plate twice. Then grind your beef and lean pork through a 3/8 plate and then through a 1/8 plate. Keep ground pork fat separate. Making sure EVERYTHING but especially your pork fat is cold before you grind it is very important here for particle definition.

  Meat Mixing

  Place lean meat in the mixer. While mixing add Lebanon Bologna seasoning, Sure Cure and Ice Cold Water. Mix for 5 minutes. Add ground fat trim, sodium erythorbate and mix for 3 more minutes. Lastly, if you are using Encapsulated Citric Acid add it during the last 60 seconds of mixing. If you add the Encapsulated Citric Acid too soon you could break the encapsulation and release the acid into the meat too soon.

  Sausage Stuffing

  Stuff your meat into fibrous casings that have been soaked for at least an hour in water that is 80 - 100° so the casings are pliable. These casings are tough and durable so don’t worry about blowouts just stuff them fully but make sure to leave enough room to get a hog ring on the open end. When stuffing larger diameter casings it is important to choose the largest of the stuffing tubes that your casing will fit over and make sure you are gripping it nice and tight, we want these casings packed nice and solid.

  Note

  You can also use Fibrous or Non-Edible Collagen casings, we chose this as it had the capacity we wanted and it presented the product well.

  Thermal Processing & Smoking

  To smoke start them out with 125 for 1 hour, then 140 for 1 hour then 165 for an hour and finally at 180 until the internal temperature reaches 155°.

  Cooling

  Place it in an ice bath or shower for 20 minutes to bring the temperature back down and then hold at room temperature for 2 hours and then move to a cooler or freezer before vacuum packing. I let this sit in a refrigerator overnight before slicing to make sure the temperature was brought all the way down.

  Wrap up

  All in all, this is very similar to making a salami or even a summer sausage, the main differences are separating out the pork fat from your lean and using the correct ratio, seasoning, and casings. The fried Bologna sandwiches were very good!

  Additional Tips Removing the fat cap before you break down your pork butt is easier sometimes, it all depends on how it looks before you start cutting into it. I put very little smoke on this as I didn’t want that to dominate the taste so I filled my smoke tray about 1/4 of the way full. I am glad I did it this way as it allowed for the Lebanon taste to come through more. Other Notes

  I added X-Tra Hot Red Pepper to this to help give it a nice zip and to cut some of the sweetness. I used it at a ratio of 3 oz per 100 lb of meat and since I was doing 10 lb that means I used .3 of an oz.

  Watch WaltonsTV: Specialty Sausage 102: Making Lebanon Bologna Shop waltonsinc.com for Cured Sausage Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese
• Meat Processing Equipment

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

  
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  Meat Processing Equipment 104 Smokers

  Attend this entry level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!

  What Are The Main Functions?

  Smokers are designed to cook food, usually at lower temperatures for longer periods of time, while imparting a smoked flavor at the same time. They do with wood chunks, pellets, sawdust or charcoal as the smoke sources, some also use the wood as the heat source.

  How Do They Work? Vertical Smokers -

  Vertical smokers have a heat source, usually, gas or electric, at the bottom of the smoker and the pellets or wood chips sit on top of the heat source causing them to smolder and smoke. There will be one or more dampers on the bottom of the smoker and one at the top to allow smoke come up from the bottom and out of the top, drawing the smoke up and over your product. The one disadvantage to these units is that they are not suitable for grilling, they really can only be used as a smoker.

  Offset / Barrel / Ceramic -

  If you like Charcoal and wood smoking then a Ceramic, Barrel or offset Smoker like the ABS Pit Boss might be the best way for you to go. These work great for smoking large amounts of meat at a time or large cuts of meat. The Pit Boss has a rotisserie inside it that keeps the meat moving to make sure everything gets the same amount of smoke and prevents you from having to worry about any cold spots in your smoker. These smokers can range anywhere from basic to very advanced with electronics monitoring the amount of air flow and rotisserie. These types of smokers provide the most classic smoke flavor as they use wood chunks and/or charcoal as both the smoke and heat source. In my opinion, the only disadvantage to these types of units is the cleanup and setup required.

  Pellet / Combo Smoker -

  A pellet combo smoker is a good choice for someone who will do some smoking but always wants to be able to easily grill on the same piece of equipment. These use wood pellets and can smoke at temperatures as low as 150° or grill up to 500° or more. They have a hopper with the pellets on one side, an auger that feeds those pellets down into a heat source than then burns the pellets to act as the heat and smoke source. A chimney will be set off to the opposite side from the hopper to draw the smoke out of the grill area. The advantage to these units is the ease of use, just hit a button and they are ready to go. The disadvantage would be that you are not going to pick up as much smoke as you would with a wood smoker and you generally won’t be able to start below 150°

  How Important Is It?

  Smokers are an essential part of the homemade sausage and meat snack making process. For commercial processing, a good smokehouse is where I would recommend you spend more money as you can make it back faster than on almost any other piece of equipment. For home processors, a quality smoker will give you a much better-finished product and make your entire process more enjoyable.

  Alternatives

  People without a way to smoke can absolutely still make Summer Sausage, Snack Sticks or really any other type of meat snack. You can cook all of these items in an oven and you can add smoke flavor by using Hickory Smoke Powder. Of course, a smoker is preferable as it will give you a more authentic taste.

  Should You Buy One

  Absolutely you should get a smoker. If you don’t think you will smoke enough to spend the money on a dedicated smoker you can get a pellet combo grill to replace your propane smoker! Meat that comes off of a pellet grill/smoker has a much different flavor than meat cooked on a propane grill.

  Best Choice For Beginners

  The Weston 30" Vertical Smoker is an inexpensive and easy to use vertical smoker that, with some practice, will let you smoke almost anything you can think of!

  Other Information

  Make sure that you are using the correct fuel source for you vertical smoker. Some, like the PK-100, need to use sawdust only and pellets can create issues.

  Shop waltonsinc.com for Vertical Smokers Shop waltonsinc.com for American BBQ Systems Smokers