I guess it’s kind of late for this but here goes anyway. I’m Kevin from Howell Michigan. I tinkered with meat making for a long time (40 years or so). Rookie stuff in the oven with the boxed brands, but I really wanted to up my game and found Waltons on the net. Sure glad I did! These guys are great. I am learning a lot and can’t wait to expand my horizons (and my pocketbook). I fish and hunt a lot and plan on making stuff I never even thought about before. Thanks again guys.

Hey guys I just made 4 one pound batches of breakfast sausages to find out which we like the best. I ground them twice and added the seasonings and put them in the fridge. I have heard all you guys talk about making a patty and frying it up to taste test. My question is do you fry that patty up right away or do you let the product sit for a while first? I know this sounds trivial but it seems like you wouldn’t get much flavor if you fry it up right away. Doesn’t it take a while for the seasonings to “soak in”? Thanks.

Jonathon Thanks. You are the whip when it comes to this stuff. I am really excited to start making my own sausages and snacks.

Thanks for all the help guys. We ended up going for 2 different seasonings. I love the Holly one and the wife cant get enough of the 110 hot one. I mixed the 4 like I said and left them in the fridge overnight. Got up in the am and tried a little taste test of all 4. We came up with our favs and made 12.5 lbs of each. The sausage turned out way better than I thought it would. We get a pig every year and this sausage is WAY better than what they make so we will just ask for ground pork instead of getting their sausage. Thank you Waltons for such a great place to shop and talk “meatery”.

Mr. A what did you use for the thermal processing? I just did my first batch also and they were dry too. I smoked mine and was told by the guys at Waltons that I dried them out too much by leaving the vents open and not adding the water pan to retain some moisture. I cant wait for my next attempt.

Thanks for all the help guys. We ended up going for 2 different seasonings. I love the Holly one and the wife cant get enough of the 110 hot one. I mixed the 4 like I said and left them in the fridge overnight. Got up in the am and tried a little taste test of all 4. We came up with our favs and made 12.5 lbs of each. The sausage turned out way better than I thought it would. We get a pig every year and this sausage is WAY better than what they make so we will just ask for ground pork instead of getting their sausage. Thank you Waltons for such a great place to shop and talk “meatery”.

Hey guys I just made 4 one pound batches of breakfast sausages to find out which we like the best. I ground them twice and added the seasonings and put them in the fridge. I have heard all you guys talk about making a patty and frying it up to taste test. My question is do you fry that patty up right away or do you let the product sit for a while first? I know this sounds trivial but it seems like you wouldn’t get much flavor if you fry it up right away. Doesn’t it take a while for the seasonings to “soak in”? Thanks.

Joe Hell dang it man my mouth is watering looking at these pics. I can almost taste them with your vivid description. Great job man.

I guess it’s kind of late for this but here goes anyway. I’m Kevin from Howell Michigan. I tinkered with meat making for a long time (40 years or so). Rookie stuff in the oven with the boxed brands, but I really wanted to up my game and found Waltons on the net. Sure glad I did! These guys are great. I am learning a lot and can’t wait to expand my horizons (and my pocketbook). I fish and hunt a lot and plan on making stuff I never even thought about before. Thanks again guys.

Made my first batch of venison brats using Jerrys brat seasoning yesterday and they turned out great. A little bit of tweaking on amounts and they will be out of this world. I made 15 lbs. half of which were with hi temp cheddar and half had the cheddar and some jalapenos. I do have one question though. What do you guys use for adding jalapenos to a sausage? The little cans I bought were convenient but the taste didn’t come through on the final product very well. In fact you couldn’t even taste them.

Mr. A what did you use for the thermal processing? I just did my first batch also and they were dry too. I smoked mine and was told by the guys at Waltons that I dried them out too much by leaving the vents open and not adding the water pan to retain some moisture. I cant wait for my next attempt.

Well for crying out loud, block the replies too. You got me wondering what the heck he posted! Got my curiosity really peaked.Lol

I forgot to add that I used 7 lbs. of venison and 3 lbs. of pork trimmings.

Well just taste tested my very first attempt at making venison snack sticks. I would give myself a C on the end result. I used excaliber jalapeno seasoning and added cheddar cheese (high temp).My ingredients were, 3/4 cup &3 tbsp. of seasoning, 1 cup & 1 tbsp. of carrot fiber binder, 1 1/4 tbsp. ECA, 1 1/4 tsp of sure cure, and 26 oz. of ice water. I followed the smoking time table to a t. My end product was ok taste wise, but the consistency was poor and they were pretty dry. The only thing I might have done wrong is leave my vents open the entire cooking time. I also used no water tray. From everything I have been reading, to prep up for this adventure, the idea is to get all the moisture out of the product. I think I am wrong on that assumption. Please help me out all you sausage gurus. I really want to get this right.

This may sound dumb, but I just made a 10 lb. batch of snack sticks and went to your additives conversion chart for the carrot binder. It says 1 1/2 cups by volume for every 5 lbs. There is only 2 cups in the bag and by your chart it says I need 3 cups for 10 lbs. On the site where it is sold it says 12oz. for every 100 lbs of meat. going by that I needed roughly 1 1/4 oz of binder for 10 lbs. That surely wouldn’t be 3 cups by volume. Help me out here. I ended up using just under a cup of binder figuring 12 oz. will do 100lbs. Are my snack sticks going to be ok? They are on their final leg at 175 as I am writing this.