Cooking Cheap

I’m going to fire up the smoker Wednesday and I want to maximize the effort with lots of stuff to smoke. So, another attempt at Pepperoni and something called “Herb Sausage”. These recipes are from Morton Salt but just in case, I’ll write them down here. The only change is I’m using the smoker instead of liquid smoke and an oven. I know from last year that the pepperoni tastes fine and it won’t stay in the freezer for very long. The second recipe doesn’t call for smoke, I’ll have to think about that but I’ll probably smoke it. They are very different recipes when you start crushing the spices and mixing them up.

Pepperoni

• 1 lb hamburger
• 1 1/2 level tsp of Morton Tender Quick
• [1 tsp liquid smoke if using an oven]
• 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Mustand seeds
• 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds, slightly crushed
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/4 tsp Anise see
• 1/4 tsp Garlic powder

Combine all ingredients, mixing until thoroughly blended. Divide mixture in half. Shape each half into slender roll about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic or foil. Refrigerate overnight.

Unwrap rolls and place on broiler pan. Bake at 325°F until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of a roll reads 160°F, 50 to 60 minutes. Store wrapped in refrigerator. Use within 3 to 5 days or freeze for later use.

[My way]
Omit the liquid smoke and place in smoker until 160F. Might take a few hours at BBQ temps.

Herbed Sausage

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1-1/2 level teaspoons Morton® Tender Quick® mix or Morton® Sugar Cure® (plain) mix
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons dry red wine
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dry basil, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Combine all ingredients, mixing until thoroughly blended. Divide mixture in half. Shape each half into slender roll about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic or foil. Refrigerate overnight.

Unwrap rolls and place on broiler pan. Bake at 325°F until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of a roll reads 160°F, 50 to 60 minutes. Store wrapped in refrigerator. Use within 3 to 5 days or freeze for later use

[tips]
Don’t use a ricer to twice grind the hamburger. It annoys the meat, may not work and you have to clean it.

[Smoking log]
20:00 6/22/05

It took a long time to get the smoker up to temperature, an hour and half from lighting the chimney. I need to remember this. Sausage was on at 19:45, the remains of the point cut is on and soon the pork chop cause I’m getting hungry. It’s running 240 at the lid, and the probe in the sausage says 107 it’s been it their for 15 minutes of so. Roughly 5 pounds of food to smoke.

20:20 6/22/05
Sausage probe reads 145. They are not not going to take much longer at this rate. I closed the bottom vents, lid temp is 235 of so. I added the pork chop a few minutes earlier and I put one of the Herbed sausages in the oven (and one is in the smoker with the pepperonis, as a control for confinement loaf).

20:32 6/22/05
Lid 200F, probe: 154 F, turned the chop over. The sausage doen’t look near done to me. When the 160F alarm sounds I’ll switch the probe to the pork chop. The sausage recipes do have wide variations in their oven temps but always 50 to 60 minutes for a 160F internal. That’s not clicking in my logic.

Opened the vents a tiny bit.

20:45 6/22/05
225F at the top. 152 on the probe. Finally the WSM is settling into for a smoke. Hard to say what the chunk of brisket point is doing. It was black and smoked going in. For sure, It’s more black and more smoked now.

21:00 6/22/05

225F at the top, 154 on the sausage probe. The oven timer went off at 50 min @ 350F. Internal temp of that bit, 140F. 10 minutes more for the oven sausage. The “herb sausage” from the oven does smell good.

21:15 6/22/05
Oven sausage reads 160F after 60 minutes at 350 (and it was just a half pound). Flipped the pork chop over. Lid temp is 225. sausage probe is 156 if I remember correctly. Finally, the temps are doing what I would expect. Like the experiment on how low a Weber grill can go and, I’m learning . I’m getting hungry too.

21:35.
Sausage probe sounds the alarm. They look right to me, I removed them. I instered the probe into the pork chop and it reads done. the brisket will cook until the charcoal runs out in a hour or two.

22:35.
Double Opps! The pork chop was supposed to go to 160F, not 145F. My bad. It’s back on the smoker. It was very tender and tasty at 145 though. Just wasn’t cooked and it’s no where near the “Smoke And Spice” claim of 60 minutes at pit temps. I didn’t think that was right. Now I have proof that I do know my way around the pit, Was is a typo in the book, an editing error? The answer no longer matters. I’m done with following recipes. I figured out the torilla thing and the bread thing and now I know I’m flying free on the BBQ thing. I’m flying on my own in the dark of night. Literally. It’s 1100PM and I want a pork chop!