Tangy Summer Sausage Recipes

Whisky

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Now that political BS is over with, on to more important issues...

First of all, for me Cloverdale Tangy SS is the standard in which all SS is compared to. I have made my own using encapsulated citric acid, and have had it made from multiple locker plants and nothing has come even remotely close to being as good as Cloverdale for me.

Am I alone in thinking Cloverdale is the best SS ever made?

Has anybody successfully cloned Cloverdale, or something just as good?

Has anybody compared using Encapsulated Citric Acid to a true fermented sausage?

Making SS is about the easiest thing to make and uses up a good amount of meat in the process. But even with two different kinds of venison SS in the freezer I keep buying Cloverdale. I would like to change that.
 
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Retired Educator

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I like the summer sausage seasoning from Hi-Mountain but I do add to it. Instead plain water I add garlic water. Peel and roughly chop up a whole head of garlic. Add to 1 qt of water (most sausage recipes say to add the qt. of water anyway.) Bring to a boil to cook the garlic then blend until the garlic is finely chopped. I also add mustard seed (1 jar of the size about 1/4 cup) as well as about 4 good TBS of pepper. It has a good spice taste without being so spicy that the fussier eaters in the family complain. Hi-Mounain also has a Cracked Pepper (I think it's called), summer sausage seasoning that is pretty good. I do find making summer sausage pretty easy as mentioned above. Want it more spicy, add some spice.

have also added jalapeños and like that but not everybody likes jalapeños and that doesn't add the tang you might be looking for. Did add some juneberries last winter to a small batch. More of a SS that you might use on a cracker as a snack instead of a sandwich. You have to add more of the berries than you might think as they do shrink up when the SS is cooked. Can't say the extra work was worth it but it was a conversation piece. Next time the juneberries will go in a pie.
 

KDM

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I use Grandpa Josh's SS and Pepperoni mix. I kick it up with some mustard seed if I want some pep, but mostly it's straight from the bag to the meat, mix, stuff, smoke, then eat. I used to mess with fancy recipes and intricate processes, but almost nobody cared or could tell the difference between fancy and intricate from the simple and easy. I'm going with simple and easy. Zero complaints so far..............
 

scrotcaster

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I agree cloverdale is the measuring stick to all the ss i have made.. this being said owens north country ss seasoning with citric acid is by far the closest i have come to a cloning it. Definitely worth a try in my opinion
 


Whisky

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I agree cloverdale is the measuring stick to all the ss i have made.. this being said owens north country ss seasoning with citric acid is by far the closest i have come to a cloning it. Definitely worth a try in my opinion

I think I actually got some of that North Country in the pantry. He threw some in for free last year when I ordered some other things. Gonna have to try it.
 

Davey Crockett

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Perfect timing for this topic. I've been making small batches for the last 3 weeks looking for a perfect recipe to make a big batch. I tried an online recipe that I thought was pretty good and some Lems, Hi-Country and some leggs brand all in small batches they are all pretty comparable and I'm not real crazy about any of them. Last 2 batches I used beef broth instead of water and I liked those batches the best so far.

I also add alderwood smoked sea salt to my small batches instead of smoking them. Now If I can add some tang I think it will be getting close. I usually mix up a small batch and stuff one or two casings and make a burger for diner to see what it will taste like. We have an extra chest type freezer that i firered up and set the equipment in there to get away from cleaning up just for a small batch.

We have too much on hand now and Iv'e eaten too much SS in the last while that even good stuff tastes average so sending some down to the kids for taste testing. I'd say the beef broth instead of water has improved more than any other change up i've tried so far.
 

Whisky

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Here's a recipe I found from MossyMO on another site. Maybe he will chime in and let us know how it compares to Cloverdale.

For quite a few years been making summer sausage and while it was good, it wasn't exactly what our taste buds were looking for. A few years ago we found a recipe that we really liked but wanted to tweak it a little and add an ingredient to give it just a little tang, here is what we have come up with.

Tangy Summer Sausage

25 pound batch - 12 1/2 pounds lean beef or venison and 12 1/2 pounds semi-lean pork (the original recipe was a 50/50 mix but we like our summer sausage leaner - we changed this to 20 pounds venison and 5 pounds of pork for our liking)
1 ounce - Cure #1
12 1/2 Tablespoons - Salt
5 Tablespoons - Onion Powder
5 Tablespoons - Garlic Powder
5 Tablespoons - Black Pepper (coarsely ground)
2 1/2 Tablespoons - Mustard Seed
5 Tablespoons - Sugar
5 teaspoons - Nutmeg
5 teaspoons - Basil
5 teaspoons - Coriander Seed
2 1/2 Cups - Ice Water
1 1/2 Cups - Powdered Milk
3 ounces - Encapsulated Citric Acid (ECA) ((this was not in the original recipe, we added it for a tang taste))

First grind all meats thru a 3/16” plate(original recipe called for 3/16” we used a 3/8”). Next add all recipe ingredients except the Encapsulated Citric Acid to the meat mixture, mix well then regrind thru 3/16” plate(original recipe called for a 3/16” again but we used a 1/4”). If you want to add cheese now is your time – the cheese needs to be added before the ECA; for a 25 pound batch our taste buds like 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of Hi Temp cheese. Refrigerate overnight for the cure and spices to meld in the meat mixture.

After the meat has rested in a fridge overnight, add some water to soften up the meat mixture and mix in 3 ounces of Encapsulated Citric Acid to the meat mixture; this is what gives the tang taste to the summer sausage. The water in the mixture will help incorporate the ECA into the meat – without the water the meat will be too stiff to mix and if you over mix the ECA it will cause the capsules to burst and you won’t get the tang you are looking for; the water will also make stuffing into casings much easier.

Now it is sausage casing stuffing time.

Note: When using Encapsulated Citric Acid it is important to immediately stuff sausage mixture into summer sausage casings and start smoking soon as possible. It is NOT advised when using Encapsulated Citric Acid to add it to a meat mixture and let it refrigerate overnight, as it will alter the flavor of the sausage mixture as it will not give the tang you are looking for.


- Place stuffed casings in smoker at 130º for 2 hours with no smoke, this is the time to dry the casing so the casing and sausage can later take on smoke.

- Turn smoker up to 150º smoke for 4 hours with a light, moderate or heavy smoke(whatever you prefer). You want a slow rise in heat in order for the ECA to release as it is meant too. If you smoke to hot you will not get the right results. Then bump the heat to 170° for another hour – you can continue to smoke or not at this point.

- To finish cooking Increase smoker temperature to 190º and continue to cook until the internal meat chub temperature is at least 150º.

- Once you reach your internal temp, it is time for an ice water bath to rapidly bring down the meat temp and this will also help prevent wrinkly casings on the summer sausage. After the ice water bath hang at room temp for a couple of hours and then it can be refrigerated overnight.

- All that is left to do now is packaging for the freezer and of course taste testing!

For pellet grills, the summer sausage can be hot-smoked, but WITHOUT the ECA. We have made the recipe without the ECA and it is very good as well, just no tang flavor. How to: Smoke Sausage on a Pellet Grill/Smoker
 


Retired-Guy

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The stuff my buddies and I make is WAY better than Cloverdales's! And it's not from a store bought mix of seasonings! :;:duel
 

dgully

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I mix my own spices and add encapsulated citric acid... For the Tang, don't over mix you don't want the capsules to break up till you cook/smoke it.. imo
 

Obi-Wan

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My father in law had a buddy that worked at Cloverdale and he would get us the seasoning for their tangy. Since he retired we have been trying for years to find a mix that compares to Cloverdale without any luck.
 

elkeater

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I haven't seen it myself, but I was told from a buddy that you can buy Cloverdale tangy mix at the Cloverdale store in Mandan.
 

Mgx2400

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Whisky

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Well, I called Cloverdale and they will sell seasoning mix for 25lbs meat. However, a guy will still need to get the tangy part figured out on their own. The guy i talked to didn't know (or wouldn't share) any details about that.
 

sierra1995

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well i' guess i'm going to be the first that disagrees, cloverdale tangy is not the best store bought summer sausage. To me, the flavor gets old after a stick or two and i'm looking for something else for variety. My homeade stuff is good and is my go to, but prior to making it at home, I'd make special trips to Carson to Double R meats, by far the best summer sausage i've had. I've had 3Be several times in the last year and its good too.
 

Obi-Wan

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Well, I called Cloverdale and they will sell seasoning mix for 25lbs meat. However, a guy will still need to get the tangy part figured out on their own. The guy i talked to didn't know (or wouldn't share) any details about that.

That sounds right because we were told we were missing one ingredient because he did not had access to it
 

Whisky

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That sounds right because we were told we were missing one ingredient because he did not had access to it

Lactic acid starter culture would be what's missing. Since I don't know shit about fermenting I am probably going to try Fermento to get the tang and see how that compares to ECA (encapsulated citric acid). If they are a bust, then I suppose I'll have to look into the real deal of fermenting it with a starter culture.
 

TFX 186

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I usually stop at the seasonings store and buy the buck bacon seasonings. The family likes the buck bacon smoked and sliced up. Last year when I was in there, the lady at the store told me that some of the guys were using the buck bacon seasoning in their summer sausage. I bought extra and made summer sausage for the first time. It was excellent. It didn't last long as the whole family thought the same. I will be making it again this year if we have deer meat. Like KDM said, keep it simple and it was. Just season it and separate the lbs out ahead of time. Take it out of the freezer when it's convenient and start the smoker. For the record, my whole family is a huge cloverdale tangy fan. The vote was this was real close but not cloverdale. I'll take real close.

Fish On!
 


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