Barb shot a very nice Axis doe early March. Perfect for the freezer she was 90 lbs. dressed and will provide about 40-50 lbs. of meat as well as burger and brats. This is a new twist for us this year. We have butchered our own venison for many years, including burger and breakfast sausage patties. This year a new arena: bratwurst. We now have a much larger sausage stuffer (5 lb capacity) and are ready to tackle it.
First of all, we grind all of our trim meat, using extra suet for fat. For this I use lots of trim pork fat from the summer cooking. If I need more then I use beef fat or bacon. All do the job. Once I have separated all the grind we intend wrapped/frozen for burger, I mix the seasonings for the bratwurst and mix thoroughly. You will regrind this at least once more including to add cheese if you wish. I forgot the cheese. This is a maiden voyage, so far....at least no icebergs.
I use real pork casings for this. They are packed in salt and sealed. I take out what I need and soak them in warm water. Seal the rest in the bag. Once I am ready to stuff, I fill the stuffer hopper barrel and soak casings and then place them on the fill end of the stuffer. Yes, just like putting on a condom. Keep the casings in the water as you feed it as it makes the case more pliable and easier to feed. Bring it out a little bit and tie off the end. Then begin to turn the stuffer handle so that it begins to fill the casings. From now on it is a timing thing. Keep turning the handle to fill the casings and keep filling casings full while guiding the casing along at a decent speed to allow filling behind it without excess pressure or it will burst. Trust me. Move them along into a circle (these are easier to handle).
This hand must keep moving so the back can fill easily
No matter how you stuff it, when done fill all you can into the last of the casings and tie off the end tightly. Now you need to divide them into individual brats. Figure your desired length and pick up sausage and flip several times to twist. I don't individually separate them until done with smoking and before vacuum sealing/freezing.
Now, prick each sausage with a pin about 3 per link. This will let steam out without busting the sausage during smoking. Now, hang the entire string of links on the S-hooks in the smoker. At this point the brats are cured, seasoned, stuffed, and done with the assembly process, but not cooked. I lightly cold smoke them to impart the wood seasoning of choice.
For this I use my small, electric cold smoker. This system uses a electric heater coil to heat a small pan of wood and another of water for humidity. I fill the large pan with lump charcoal after it is heated to nearly white, then add apple chips for flavor. This is accomplished in advance, so the pit is at smoking temp when meat is added. The water pan is filled and left alone. I smoke them at 100-150F MAX for up to 6 hours. This will further season the brats, but not completely cook them. This you accomplish on the grill or whatever for your particular recipe.
Brats in
Brats out; 3 hours @90-120F
When done vacuum seal and freeze till use. After the Titanic docks I'll let you know how these tasted.
NOTE: I DID A BIT OF RESEARCH AND NEXT TIME I'LL USE NATURAL COLLAGEN CASINGS WHICH ARE ALREADY ON A TUBE, REQUIRE NO SOAKING, AND FEED MUCH EASIER.
"Sausages are like laws, it's best not to see them being made"
Otto Von Bismarck
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