old and dried out meat!

Tod osier

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Sep 11, 2015
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Fairfield County, CT Sublette County, WY
One of my favorite non-sporting activities these days – making fermented sausages. These are indestructible and a staple camping/adventure lunch for us.

Nice couple batches that we packaged today. On the left is a venison peperone and on the right is an elk salami. We tried for two very different batches and were really happy with what we got. We started these back in January and have been drying since. Both started as 30 pound batches (25 pounds meat and 5 pounds fat).

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For the elkalami, we ground the fat really coarse, which is a really nice look and great for flavor and texture.

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The deererone

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Couple shots of the food prep room we put in the basement – one of the best things I’ve done. We have a couple three freezers and a chiller for garden produce or meat when it is too warm to hang. Big deep sink will fit anything. Chamber vac is a great thing to have. Just really nice to be able to process fish and game in a dedicated area.

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Tod osier

Tod osier

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2015
Messages
1,615
Location
Fairfield County, CT Sublette County, WY
Exactly what I have been wanting to try and make for years, just don't know where to start.... Awesome products!

Very worth it, we have been making dried sausages for several years and had absolutely amazing luck as far as quality. We make Landjaegers every year and some sort of salami. When sealed it lasts a couple years, so if you make a couple new things every year, you have a rotation of what you can pull out.

If you can follow a recipe and are careful, it is pretty straightforward. We have always worked in large batches (over 20 pounds) and just went with it and had good luck. Good quality meat (easy for the hunter) and good fat from a butcher that breaks down their own hogs makes for a great product.

Get the below book, read it and jump in. I'd be happy to answer any question you had, there are also some great forums with a lot of experts!

Ruhlman & Polcyn

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (Revised and Updated): Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn, Yevgenity Solovyev: 8601404327117: Amazon.com: Books
 
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Joined
May 14, 2015
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I've built a walk in cooler myself and do all my own game and fish processing as well as several hogs every year. I'm always interested to see the setups that others have and how they go about doing the same thing. Care to elaborate on your set up? Maybe in a separate post if you don't want to hijack this thread.
 
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Tod osier

Tod osier

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2015
Messages
1,615
Location
Fairfield County, CT Sublette County, WY
I've built a walk in cooler myself and do all my own game and fish processing as well as several hogs every year. I'm always interested to see the setups that others have and how they go about doing the same thing. Care to elaborate on your set up? Maybe in a separate post if you don't want to hijack this thread.

I really thought about a walk in - that must be really nice. We use one of our chest freezers for a chiller and it works pretty well. I have a temp controller that you plug the freezer into and can adjust temp to chiller temp. Veggies put in totes hold really well or quarters while you process, but they aren't hanging like in a walk in.

For the setup, I partitioned off a long skinny room with 12' of countertop (what you can see) with a sink and cabinets underneath. Behind is a long (12') pantry. Freezers (3) are at the end. I plumbed for gas and thought about putting a range top, but for canning I just use a turkey fryer outside, which is just around the corner. Lots of drawers for organization and shelves wherever they fit. I have a couple places that I think about putting in couple wall cabinets, but haven't because I wonder if they will make the space feel closed in.
 
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
94
Thanks for that! I'll try to remember this coming season to take a few pictures of our walk in cooler in action (and hopefully full). Again, always interesting seeing how other people do the same thing we do. Thanks!

I really thought about a walk in - that must be really nice. We use one of our chest freezers for a chiller and it works pretty well. I have a temp controller that you plug the freezer into and can adjust temp to chiller temp. Veggies put in totes hold really well or quarters while you process, but they aren't hanging like in a walk in.

For the setup, I partitioned off a long skinny room with 12' of countertop (what you can see) with a sink and cabinets underneath. Behind is a long (12') pantry. Freezers (3) are at the end. I plumbed for gas and thought about putting a range top, but for canning I just use a turkey fryer outside, which is just around the corner. Lots of drawers for organization and shelves wherever they fit. I have a couple places that I think about putting in couple wall cabinets, but haven't because I wonder if they will make the space feel closed in.
 

elkyinzer

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Sep 9, 2013
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Pennslyvania
Looks very good. What does you drying setup look like? I want to try charcuterie someday but lack the humidity control right now. My basement is too humid in the summer and way too dry in the winter.
 
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Tod osier

Tod osier

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2015
Messages
1,615
Location
Fairfield County, CT Sublette County, WY
Looks very good. What does you drying setup look like? I want to try charcuterie someday but lack the humidity control right now. My basement is too humid in the summer and way too dry in the winter.

My drying setup is very low tech, but has been completely foolproof. I only make sausage in the winter when the humidity is low. I use a large chest freezer as a chamber with a wood rack I made to hang, and use ambient basement temp 50-60F. I have a humidity sensor in the chamber and a small computer fan to move the air within. I crack the lid to release humidity and do not use any sort of humidifier. This works because I make enough quantity where the sausage generates enough of its own humidity (I don't think this would work with one sausage like I see a lot of guys making in internet sausage forums). I never make less than 20 pounds and up to 40 in a batch (my goal is to reduce the quantity of meat I have on hand and turn it into something better and different). I can maintain whatever humidity I want with my system. Early on when the sausages first go in to get 70 percent humidity, the lid is open an inch or maybe 2 at most (at that stage I'm trying to belch off humidity as fast as possible without dropping too low). When the sausage is getting pretty dry, I may have the lid propped by a 1/4" and close it for several hours every couple days to bring the humidity back up if it gets too low. It really is pretty easy, I check in on it several times a day anyway.
 
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EsteemGrinders

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Oct 3, 2016
Messages
173
Location
Oregon
Very Nice work!! My wife is from Bulgaria and this type of meat is big. We have made a couple batches over these that have turned out great. What part of the country are you in out of curiosity? Also are you of Slavic decent? I only ask as most I know who make this are. My kids call it stinky sock suasge. LOL Love the stuff but damn it can have some funky smells.
 
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