IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
150 here too. Never had a melt down. Higher than that, yes.
Ruined one lot of hunter sausage when distracted and it got up to 160 or so.
Never again.
Nog
Homemade Bacon, Polish Kielbasa, German Bratwurst, And Pastrami
- Thread starter Chasin' Dreams
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150 here too. Never had a melt down. Higher than that, yes.
Ruined one lot of hunter sausage when distracted and it got up to 160 or so.
Never again.
Nog
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Ya you won't really "see" the fat melting until above 160 ish. At temps below that it is so subtle and the little melt that happens still keeps it's form with the meat fibers. It's when it get's too hot above 160 where you can start to see pockets of melted fat in the sausage. I do my Kielbasa and other hot smoked sausage up till 152 to 155 max. There's pics online you kind find that shows the very subtle break downs of fat from 130 and up. It doesn't matter if it's on a bbq or smoker or what but speed of rising temp seems to matter I have found and have found experiments online that show this as well. Most of the old sausage recipes you will find from the old timers back in the early 1900's till WWII show temps of 150 to 155 usually. Where the fat has only subtly melted and is still mostly unnoticeable yet still holds with the meat fibers well and adds that melt in your mouth flavor we are all looking for with good sausage with a good fat to protein ratio and some of that being slightly melted.
For bacon even when hot smoking I didn't go above 140 cause after doing a lot at different temps you can notice the shape of the bellies and cooking quality, texture of fat change with going to higher temps. But that's just personal preference. This new batch of cold smoke gave the greatest taste of the meat and fat I have made yet. Unmistakable difference.
Making sausage or bacon or other preserved meats can be done at lower temps while using curing salts (sodium nitrite) for quicker cures and sodium nitrate for longer cures like salami etc.
The sodium nitrite is used to cure, kill, and control bacteria just as higher temps does. When smoking, cooking, curing meats at lower temps you should be using a curing salt such as progue powder #1 and only use it exactly in the proper ratios for the weight of meat you are using it with.
And if you are worried about using sodium nitrite (which is a natural chemical found in all kinds of foods like green leafy veggies, celery etc etc then you can use another meat curing agent called sodium erythorbate in combination with the nitrites/nitrates. It is used by butchers all the time. Not only does it speed up the curing process but it also blocks the chemical reaction of nitrites/nitrates when heated which can cause the cancer causing by products. It is a very important curing agent IMHO if you are going to be doing a lot of cures with nitrites/nitrates and cooking the cured foods after at higher temps and or open flame.
www.bbc.com
For bacon even when hot smoking I didn't go above 140 cause after doing a lot at different temps you can notice the shape of the bellies and cooking quality, texture of fat change with going to higher temps. But that's just personal preference. This new batch of cold smoke gave the greatest taste of the meat and fat I have made yet. Unmistakable difference.
Making sausage or bacon or other preserved meats can be done at lower temps while using curing salts (sodium nitrite) for quicker cures and sodium nitrate for longer cures like salami etc.
The sodium nitrite is used to cure, kill, and control bacteria just as higher temps does. When smoking, cooking, curing meats at lower temps you should be using a curing salt such as progue powder #1 and only use it exactly in the proper ratios for the weight of meat you are using it with.
And if you are worried about using sodium nitrite (which is a natural chemical found in all kinds of foods like green leafy veggies, celery etc etc then you can use another meat curing agent called sodium erythorbate in combination with the nitrites/nitrates. It is used by butchers all the time. Not only does it speed up the curing process but it also blocks the chemical reaction of nitrites/nitrates when heated which can cause the cancer causing by products. It is a very important curing agent IMHO if you are going to be doing a lot of cures with nitrites/nitrates and cooking the cured foods after at higher temps and or open flame.
The truth about the nitrates in your food
Usually associated with processed meats, nitrates are potentially cancer-causing compounds. But what are they, really – and are they always detrimental?
www.bbc.com
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Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
More bacon on the way. Some homemade maple syrup and concentrated apple cider brines.
UkeeDreamin
Well-Known Member
Assuming those are trimmings on the left (in the vac bag) whose fate is salami or sausage?
Cheers!
Ukee
Cheers!
Ukee
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
I use the belly fat trimmings to add to leaner cuts of pork like legs when they go on sale to make sausage with if i don't make hams with them.
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Mmmmmmm bacon
tinboatrobb
Well-Known Member
Isn't homemade bacon the best, and so easy to do. that looks awesome.
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Love it! Wife doesn't want me to change this brine recipe or experiment cause she loves this batch lol. But my daughters and son in law to be put some requests in so I'm still experimenting more lol. I'm a restless soul anyway and need these kinds of things to keep me occupied
Sea Chaser
Crew Member
I’m inspired to make some bacon . Thanks fellas
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Bone in pork chops getting happy happy marinating in apple juice reduction, sage, thyme, cracked black pepper, crushed garlic cloves and ginger root.
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
10 days of brining done. Going in the smoker today for 5 hrs of ice cold apple wood smoke.
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Right on! Ya it's great cold smoking in the winter time and not having to worry about temps creepin' up. Slicing mine up today. Very excited lol. Very curious as to how the apple juice reduction infused it's flavor into the bacon. They smell amazing.
getbent
Well-Known Member
Looking forward to the verdict
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
So far have only sliced up and tried the apple juice thyme bacon and its amazing. Like gourmet specialty meat flavor. It caramalizes quickly while cooking cause of the sugars in the apple juice reduction so i cook it on lower temp till it crisps up nicely.
I will use even more thyme next time cause that added flavor goes so well with the apple flavour. I havent sliced up the maple brown sugar yet but i will tonight. I have even eaten a few pieces not cooked cause the flavor is so nice and is even more pronounced than when cooked.
This brine will also work super well for curing hams, prosciutto etc.
Now i have four different flavors we can go between for our bacon fix
I will use even more thyme next time cause that added flavor goes so well with the apple flavour. I havent sliced up the maple brown sugar yet but i will tonight. I have even eaten a few pieces not cooked cause the flavor is so nice and is even more pronounced than when cooked.
This brine will also work super well for curing hams, prosciutto etc.
Now i have four different flavors we can go between for our bacon fix
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
Got busy for a couple weeks and finally got around to slicing up, packaging, and trying the maple brown sugar batch of bacon. This batch is much milder flavored than the apple thyme batch. Less salty too even though i used the exact amounts in each brine batch. I think the more liquid in the apple juice reduction batch allows the flavors to penetrate the meat more. The apple juice thyme is by far my favorite for a gourmet flavored treat but for an all around staple of bacon for the house this batch's flavor is great for that.
I'm working on plans for an apple juice reduction/thyme brined 14 month salt cured prosciutto ham in the near future too. The apple/thyme flavor combo goes so well with pork. Good quality imported prosciutto is one of my favorite treats that we dont buy too often cause the good stuff is so expensive.
I'm working on plans for an apple juice reduction/thyme brined 14 month salt cured prosciutto ham in the near future too. The apple/thyme flavor combo goes so well with pork. Good quality imported prosciutto is one of my favorite treats that we dont buy too often cause the good stuff is so expensive.
Sea Chaser
Crew Member
I really need a slicer!
Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
They come in handy that's for sure! I've been through three of them so far. Had an old big, heavy commercial Berkel that was an x Safeway one but it eventually died. It was probably 30 or 40 years old or so, then I bought a smaller one from Amazon that was a joke, under powered and not big enough to fit whole chunks of meat on it and returned that one. Then I found this one used online and it's pretty decent but I'll be getting the blade sharpened next week as it's been used for a few years now too by the previous owner and I don't think he had the blade sharpened recently.
If you watch for them online on Craigslist or FB marketplace etc sometimes nice used ones pop up and some of them also have self sharpening attachments on them. Trick is to find one big enough and powerful enough to do decent sized chunks of meat but not so overly heavy and obtrusive they are a pain to use/store for home use. I think if you go with a unit at least 1.5 amps with a 10" blade or bigger you'll be good. But 3 to 4 amps is even better. It's good to also cut the meat a bit frozen too so you get really nice even cuts that don't fall apart but it isn't necessary for all cuts of meat. Well cured meats will usually cut well even when not frozen.
I use it for cutting up cheese and bread as well.
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