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OT: 'Best Wurst', or Ten Dollar-Eighteen-Foot-Long

stike
stike Posts: 15,597
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
While vacationing in Maine we made a stop by a meat store on the way up. grabbed some brats, which i don't ever remember having, frankly. New England is hotdog country.

Well. We loved them., Nice and mild, no kickback from garlic or anything (meaning, they don't repeat on you, burp...).

Decided to make some for the Fourth. Saved half for us and brought half to a party.

Anyone considering a Kitchen-Aid grinder and stuffer, this was done on that (and on their smallest power version I think). The grinding is no problem really. This was five pounds. The stuffing can take a little effort and time. And in a case when you are making emulsified sausage, the fat can warm up and break unless you keep things very cold. I am going to be scouring craigslist for a better stuffer, but this was doable. But it took the wife and I to do it. Our neighbors can see right in the window, and man. The view they got was an odd one. Wife jamming the ground meat vigorously up and down while I am laboriously coiling this thing in the air and laying it out on the cutting board.
Anyhoo...

Here's the freshly stuffed bratwurst (in natural casing). Two casings of about ten feet, making about 18 feet in all given a couple blow-outs...

01bratsstuffed.jpg

I modified the recipe a TINY bit. Typically it is a "fresh" sausage. Not preserved. You refrigerate it, and cook as soon as you can. I added a little pink salts, and then on the morning of the fourth (as in, 1:30am), I smoked it over a languid fire of cherry smoke until 150 internal.

Lotta smoke here. I ain't waitin' for it to die down to cutesy blue, it was 1am.

02smoking_small.jpg

I did get the wispy magic blue, but about a half hour in. The first big cloud was from a handful of cherry sawdust from when I'd cut the cherry chunks.

03smoking_small.jpg

Immediately into an icewater bath (or the skins would shrivel) and then into ziplocs for the next day.

Here they are fresh from the icewater bath

04smoked_small.jpg

No shots of it cooked, but the guy tossed it on his grill (a gasser, yes, but that's why I did the cherry smoke, see?). Cooked it as a coil until it got some color (since it was already cooked), then sliced it to inch long chunks which peeps ate ravenously with toothpicks.

I love this stuff....
ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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Comments

  • Pork Butt Mike
    Pork Butt Mike Posts: 2,584
    Wow stike looks like they came out great. Nothing like fresh. I am doing up corn beef and hash today. Home made is great. :)
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  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    wow not sure if that is ot stike!!

    damn that looks great never thought of the ice water bath.. now i am looking more forward than anything to getting a grinder :)

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    Looks great! Some good tips on keeping the meat and fat cold along with the ice-water bath trick. Your brats, I'm sure, were a treat and a delicacy. B)
    My eyes are watering a bit from the smoke...or is it from laughing.
    Thanks Stike, :lol:
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    man was it good. i just love the whole concept of a "recipe", hahaha

    a clown like me follows simple directions, and WHAM. amazing stuff from simple ingredients
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Essex County
    Essex County Posts: 991
    Nice looking brats. We'd driven down to surprise you but when we peeked in the window, it looked like it wasn't the best time to ring the doorbell. Now I understand.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    it was thirdeye that clued me in to the icewater bath i think. i made some kielbasa for easter, and hot smoked it. i think it was his advice to chill it quick before wrapping it in plastic, or the skins would shrivel as the meat cooled in the fridge.

    thirdeye keeps a somewhat low profile here, but he sent me so much stuff via email and snail mail, that it really helped me understand what's going on. and if you know me, you know i'm all about "understanding" why doing X gives you Y. he was a great help.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i followed the basic emulsified sausage methid in "Charcuterie" (a book that has paid major dividends), and it can be a little involved.

    diced the meat, onto a tray in the freezer til it just begins to get crunchy. grinder assembled and ALSO in the freezer. grind into a metal bowl that is nested inside another with icewater bath between the two.

    the meat gets the dry ingredients then goes back in to the freezer. clean the grinder and refreeze it also. paddle-mix the meat until sticky (with wet ingredients), then chill it again when emulsified. re-attach the grinder and "stuff the casing" like you are a twelve year old at band camp.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    hahahaha

    what are you talkin about? don't be coy. that would have been the perfect time to "accidentally" walk in.

    i'm always coming out in my bathrobe at parties, with my gold chains and aviator sunglasses. "oh, hey, i just got out of the shower, didn't realize the guests were here already. hope no one is offended by the human body...?"
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    The KA is a decent grinder but as a stuffer it pretty much sucks. It definitely is a two person operation. -RP
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,597
    good looking brats. do you lose alot of smoke flavor with the ice water bath and what temps did you use to hot smoke at. thwaites has some really good brats and its hard to believe after trying them that johnsosnville is so big.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i did the smoking around 175, 200. might have crept to 250 toward the end because i wasn't trying to only smoke them, but wanted to cook them too.

    the trick with smoking sausuage, it's just like smoking salmon. you need to leave them in the fridge with planty of air around them to form a pellicle. they will literally get sticky, and the smoke grabs on pretty tight. the only thing in the water was some fat. tlook at the towels in the pics. they were used to pat down (dry) the sausages after the bath, and though a little color came off, not much did.

    still had good smoke. also why i wasn't afraid of the giant cloud of smoke at the start.

    i have my 9 foot coil in the fridge. may just eat it today. it fits on a plate. hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yeah. stuffing it really is the least enjoyable part of the process (with the KA). frankly, if i had a decent suffer, i would probably be more adventurous. really want to do some dried sausages....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    You're hooked aren't ya'? You did a wonderful job with that sausage.

    enterprisestuffersausage.jpg


    If you are looking on CL or e-Bay for stuffers, and you want a little bit of history try searching for "Enterprise". They are a combination stuffer & lard/fruit press. All cast iron, but parts are available from a variety of sources. You will find some restored ones and ones needing a little TLC. I have 3 friends with them, one is in very nice condition and on display in their kitchen.

    Check out this link.
    Restoring an Enterprise
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    is the hand crank a one-person operation?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    This is the stuffer I have and it works great as a one man operation. -RP
    http://www.lemproducts.com/product/496/90
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    stike,

    Nice looking sausage. I have an Italian pommodori machine with a grinder attachment that grinds and stuffs like a champ. It is easy to do sausage by yourself. If you want I'll look at the make tonight.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • Gunnar
    Gunnar Posts: 2,307
    Great looking brats...is the book one of these two?

    Charcuterie : Sausages, Pates and Accompaniments
    by Fritz H. Sonnenschmidt

    Charcuterie : The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing
    by Brian Polcyn, Michael Ruhlman, Yevgenity Solovyev
    LBGE      Katy (Houston) TX
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    DSC07266a.jpg

    Plunger type stuffers are so fast two people is the best way to go, but I do solo runs (like the batch of lamb sausage in the photo above) by myself. One hand does the cranking and with the other hand, you use three fingers on the tube to adjust the amout of filling. I get a couple of feet out on my board, stop cranking and coil it, then start filling again. I do everything into coils first, then form my links or rings.
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    well when i get my grinder i will be in touch with you as thirdeye is sometimes MIA :laugh:


    that was the kind of thing i needed for this past saturday B)

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

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  • Big'un
    Big'un Posts: 5,909
    Wow Jeff, that looks good. Did I miss the recipe?
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    thanks.

    it's from the second one...
    Ruhlman
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i didn't post it. i guess it's a fairly typical recipe, i just followed ruhlman's method


    basic bratwurst from what i understand
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    not too expensive?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    great. thank you!
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    NT
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    That is impressive thanks for the details and the pictures.

    GG
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Stike,

    It was a couple hundred Canadian. That's with all the tomato stuff and the grinder attachment and I think six dies.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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