Hanging Christmas Gifts in the Smoker

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

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.

Did my first batch of Summer Sausage and Snack Sticks with Alaskan Mountain Goat. At first I was hesitant to use Wild Goat meat for sausage but was assured by my friends it was great meat so off I went. We made 25 lbs of summer sausage and 25 lbs of snack sticks and it turned out great. I have found that if the meat is properly taken care of and you are making a smoked cured product you can not tell the difference between, Elk, Moose, Venison, Caribou and now Mountain Goat. I am going to try black bear this spring, BUTTT I will be Especially sure it has been frozen at the right temperature for the required amount of time and that it is cooked to 160 degrees as trichinosis is very prevalent in bears in Alaska. Also I would never try to make anything out of Caribou that was in the Rut as you cannot get rid of the Smell.

Got my snack stick supplies ordered Friday and received shipment Monday in the mail. Unheard of to Alaska!!
Thanks for support

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.

Ronald Shrout

I Was totally surprised looked like any other animal I boned only this one had lots more fat to trim

I have been using beef fat exclusively for my summer sausage and snack sticks and would have to do a batch with pork fat to compare. Please send me your meat to pork fat ratio for 12.5 lb and I can try a batch and see if I can see a difference . I will make 2 ea 12.5lb batches and compare. Personally I have never been able to tell the the difference between the meat I use, I have used Caribou,Whitetail and Sitka Black Tail Venison, Moose, Elk and Beef and can’t tell the difference in flavor of the finished product. I am planning on trying Black Bear this year with Extra Precautions to ensure it will be trichinosis free as our bears are well known to carry it.

JohninPa
I don’t use any pork butts on my snack sticks, just 20lb lean venison, 5lb beef fat, cure salt, Seasoning and binder and they come out with a nice crisp texture

Ronald Shrout

if you are trying of Finnish of summer sausage or snack sticks you dont need a sous vide, just a metal pan big enough to put the product in covered in water and set it on some kind of burner and heat water to 170degress and adjust burner to keep water between 165-175 degrees. the heat transfer in water is way better than air in an oven

Is it possible that you could video it and add it to your how to video clips? Your how to video clips are Soooo helpful

Dave

Did my first batch of Summer Sausage and Snack Sticks with Alaskan Mountain Goat. At first I was hesitant to use Wild Goat meat for sausage but was assured by my friends it was great meat so off I went. We made 25 lbs of summer sausage and 25 lbs of snack sticks and it turned out great. I have found that if the meat is properly taken care of and you are making a smoked cured product you can not tell the difference between, Elk, Moose, Venison, Caribou and now Mountain Goat. I am going to try black bear this spring, BUTTT I will be Especially sure it has been frozen at the right temperature for the required amount of time and that it is cooked to 160 degrees as trichinosis is very prevalent in bears in Alaska. Also I would never try to make anything out of Caribou that was in the Rut as you cannot get rid of the Smell.

I grind twice for summer sausage and snack sticks, but I grind my fat first with 1/8 then change plates and grind the meat 3/8 or 1/4 then I thoroughly mix fat with the ground meat and then regrind the two together as I feel that this gives me a better distribution of the fat.

I now use the 170 degree water bath for all my summer sausage and snack sticks as it insures a consistently cooked product and saves a lot of time and ensures a better appearance of the finished product, no burnt, shriveled ends etc. I now use the 1 1/2" diameter casings for my summer sausage as it gets to 140 degrees in 1/2 less time then 3" diameter casing I used to use and it also is the perfect size when sliced for crackers on cheese trays. The only other way I know of to reduce cooking times is to add moisture to the smoker with a pan of water with sponges floating on top to increase the moisture which increase the heat transfer but this does not nearly reduce the time that the water bath does so I use this method for whole smoked meats. I use a deep stainless steel steam table pan on my propane burner to do the water bath and have very little trouble regulating the water temp and can get 25 lb of snack sticks or summer sausage in one batch and when it reaches temp I dump the hot water out and add ice and cold water to stop the cooking process and then dry the finished product on a clean large bath towel.

Dave

One of my best pieces of equipment was a stainless steel deep sink big enough for cleaning up my equipment and smoker racks and a place to work outside of my wife’s kitchen as I sometimes make a big Mess![