Hanging Christmas Gifts in the Smoker

Whole Head Sauerkraut
My ancestors came from the Transylvania area of Germany and in addition to regular sauerkraut they made whole head kraut and my uncle would put up a 55 gallon wooden barrel full with about 50 heads of cabbage each year about Halloween time and it would be fermented for the New Years Celebration. Pigs in a Blanket \ Cabbage Roles were the main course. As a kid growing up 60 years ago in addition to the pigs in a blanket we would frequently have sliced head kraut with meals and I always loved it. My cousin simplified the recipe and my brother and I still make it each year in smaller quantities in a food grade plastic barrel. As it is with Jonathon much of it is share with others.

Fresh!!! Tanner Crab, BBQ Rib Eye Steak, Fresh Steamed Asparagus and Bake Beans!

Making snack sticks is the true test of a stuffer and its quality. I now use a 1/2" ratchet as it is a lot easier to pull down than push up and that really makes it easier for the person doing the cranking. Just got my turntable and very large stainless steel bowl and can’t wait to see if that will save time on the sticks and eliminate one person in the operation. Going to place a Waltons order today for supplies for next week. Also my wife is in charge of Vac Sealing our smoked salmon and snack sticks and she has had great luck with VacMaster full mesh Pint size bags in our noncommercial home sealer. they come in package of 50 and only 1-2 non seals in a box. Cant wait till I can afford a commercial Sealer.

Awsome looking burner, but not sure it will let you get to 180 degrees in that big of a smoker, you may want to insulate the outside of the smoker, The other thing that is very important with a burner that big that you have a gas valve with standing pilot so if the flame goes out the gas will shut off and the gas valve will let you hook up a thermostat to control temperature. After a lot of searching on the internet if found a thermostat that goes from 80 degrees to 240 degrees. Propane is heavier than air and sinks to the bottom and then seeps out and stays low and I had flames roll across a floor with a leak on a boiler and luckily I could get to a valve and shut it off.

Thanks to Austin, Jonathon and all the staff a Waltons, I just placed the first order shipped to Alaska USPS and shure that there will be many more to come in the future.

Dave

Home made German whole head Sauerkraut leaves wrapped around cabbage roles

Great, hope my thoughts will help you, my homemade smoker is about 6’ tall, but my bottom section where my burner is about 2’ way too much wasted space just for burner, but in 1986 when I found the stainless steel shell that was the way it was built. I found the shell in the dump on Adak ,Alaska where I was stationed with my family and the Navy SeaBees in stalled a electric heating element and a thermostat for me and it holds 12 full size oven racks, I have made many modifications during the years adding a fan to bring in outside air for making cold smoked salmon, installing 2 convection fans from old gas ranges for more even temperature, installing drip trays to keep the grease from draining down on the burner box, getting a smoking deal on 10 stainless steel grated smoker racks, adding a shelf above the burner to hold a water pan for extra Humidity, converting it to natural gas to cut down on my electric bill and give me the extra heat to do briskets, pork butts, turkeys, and prime rib and finally modifying my Man Cave to accommodate my smoker indoors with a Exhaust hood and fan to make it easier and more pleasant on bad weather days. Lots has happened in 34 years.

Yes the only ones that I get pertain to topics I have replied to and that is great for me

Steven Winscot What brand is the stuffer it kind of looks like the Old Optima I rebuilt, had machine shop modify stuffer plate from leather gasket to O ring what a difference in making snack sticks. I would love to find a matching smaller diamater stuffer plate and cylinder for making snack sticks as it still takes a lot of mussel to turn the crank and I have went to using a ratchet instead of the crank for snack sticks.!

I don’t do Facebook, don’t have time in my life for it, But I love what we have here, Sharing information and Ideas.

Dave

smokinbubba

can you tell me what brand and model # as I would like to see now it works, I have modified my present smoker to Natural Gas and put 2 convection fans in it and I still have hot spots

smokinbubba I have tried the Butcher Packer Trail Bologna, but it does not have the flavor of Troyers, I wonder if there is a Lab that could chemically analyze their Bologna and give me a list of spices and percentage, wonder if they can do that and how much it would cost?

My favorite sausage recipe is made with 20 lb lean meat and 5 lb beef fat and I use Con Yeager’s Pa Deer Bologna seasoning, you might want to give it a try.

Dave

Bigbass68 Does it come out tasting like Troyers Trail Bologna and will you share recipe

What seasoning did you use as I am desperately looking for a seasoning mixture that tastes like Troyers Trail Bologna

Looks like you have hanging strings on both ends of the bologna sticks and that can be really helpful to ensure the ends closest to the burner not over cook if you rotate them 3/4 of the way through the cooking process.

When using a conventional stuffer Instead of using a crank, I use a socket and a 1/2" ratchet which enables you to pull all the time and not have to push on the back stroke which is a lot harder for old fellows.

Get snack sticks to 140 in the smoker and then water bath them in water heated to 160, once they reach 160 internal dump the hot water and add cold Ice water till they cool then, let them drip dry with a fan blowing over them. A double steam table pan works great on a double propane burner for water bath finishing all sorts of smoked cased products
Dave

I would have bought one but I could not find one that was deep enough for a reasonable price and I already had a fan. Some day I will permanently duct it but for the time being I just open up the window and place the flexible duct outside.