Venison dried sausage

[Otto]

@crappyice Good luck on these!  Someday I'm going to give this a whirl! They look delicious already.

[crappyice]

Happy with the color so far..smoke is done now to just leave them alone!

 

[crappyice]

@NYBowhunter

If I can control my fridge temp how I hope, I am shooting for 40 degrees or so? I figure no lower than mid-30s and don't want to touch 50s

[mowin]

25 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Happy with the color so far..smoke is done now to just leave them alone!

 

Looks fantastic. 

[NYBowhunter]

20 minutes ago, crappyice said:

@NYBowhunter

If I can control my fridge temp how I hope, I am shooting for 40 degrees or so? I figure no lower than mid-30s and don't want to touch 50s

Lookin good! Yes 40s would be fine, may need to find a way to draw out the humidity from the fridge. Mine have always been hung open air on my patio next to an open window and typically dry within a week or so. Not sure how the drying would work in a closed environment  like a fridge. In a fridge I would just be concerned with held humidity and mold. But I'm sure it will be fine.

[virgil]

36 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Happy with the color so far..smoke is done now to just leave them alone!

 

Looks great.  I'd love to hear a bit about the recipe and process.  i'm assuming low temperature?  How long in the smoker.

[crappyice]

24 minutes ago, virgil said:

Looks great.  I'd love to hear a bit about the recipe and process.  i'm assuming low temperature?  How long in the smoker.

NYbowhunter outlined the process earlier and I am following that ..11 hours at 160 and 3 at 180 with one round of early smoke

[crappyice]

29 minutes ago, NYBowhunter said:

Lookin good! Yes 40s would be fine, may need to find a way to draw out the humidity from the fridge. Mine have always been hung open air on my patio next to an open window and typically dry within a week or so. Not sure how the drying would work in a closed environment  like a fridge. In a fridge I would just be concerned with held humidity and mold. But I'm sure it will be fine.

It cold enough still where I may just leave the door cracked open with a temp gauge inside ..fridge is in an uninsulated  shed. What should the humidity be? The yo link gauge measures that too

Edited March 25 by crappyice

[NYBowhunter]

3 minutes ago, crappyice said:

It cold enough still where I may just leave the door cracked open with a temp gauge inside ..fridge is in an uninsulated  shed. What should the humidity be? The yo link gauge measures that too

Sorry couldn't tell ya, never monitored humidity just the temps due to it being open air /dry where I hung. Mine had dried completely in 6 days. But yes I would definitely leave the door ajar and check them periodically. 

[crappyice]

1 minute ago, NYBowhunter said:

Sorry couldn't tell ya, never monitored humidity just the temps due to it being open air /dry where I hung. Mine had dried completely in 6 days. But yes I would definitely leave the door ajar and check them periodically. 

Most of the stuff I am reading online touches only on sausage that was never cooked. Since this is cooking for so long I am not overly concerned but will keep an eye on it as it hangs.

one last question (until I think of more later!)...did you ever have "healthy mold" on your links as it  dries?

Im picturing dried sausage from Italian  pork stores but again, that stuff is never cooked and hangs for months

[Moho81]

This is out of my league. 

What's the reasoning for drying the sausage? Taste, texture or both? 

[NYBowhunter]

1 hour ago, crappyice said:

Most of the stuff I am reading online touches only on sausage that was never cooked. Since this is cooking for so long I am not overly concerned but will keep an eye on it as it hangs.

one last question (until I think of more later!)...did you ever have "healthy mold" on your links as it  dries?

Im picturing dried sausage from Italian  pork stores but again, that stuff is never cooked and hangs for months

Never had mold on mine, as they get close to being fully dried they will release oils and drip, I place cardboard under to absorb the oil.

[NYBowhunter]

1 hour ago, Moho81 said:

This is out of my league. 

What's the reasoning for drying the sausage? Taste, texture or both? 

Both, it's like a soppresatta / dry sausage. No need to cook, cut and eat with bread and cheese. 

[ATbuckhunter]

Planning on trying this next year.

[crappyice]

And now we wait some more...the refrigerator not plugged in was reading  48 so I flipped it o for the night and will monitor tomorrow