Sausage'ology 101: Reverse Engineering

[SixZeroFour]

A very good friend of mine (or so he tells me ) has this sausage recipe that is beyond words. I have yet to taste anything better and have sampled my fair share of BBQ sausage. Problem is the stingy bugger wont share the recipe!

SO  - after literally YEARS of trying to get it out of him... even offering up a free performer in trade! I have decided to come up with my own blend. Pretty sure the base for his is Jimmy Dean sausage of some sort so that's where my experiment will begin. Unfortunately for me they only sell the stuff down in WA so I made a special trip down last week and stocked up. It's a sweet sausage so I selected some popular rubs that are on the sweeter side and got to it!

Here's my selection of Jimmy Dean's finest



It helps to handle ground sausage as little as possible so I like to use a piece of parchment paper to press the roll down into a large patty:




Here is the result along side the selected rubs:



Most will recognize at least two of these: Simply Marvelous Sweet Seduction, Plowboys Yardbird, and a personal fav' Prairie Smoke N' Spice Chicken and Rib Rub:



I cut a corner out of a piece of paper and used it as a stencil to keep each rub separate:




Top left (1) is plain, Top right (2) Prairie Smoke and Spice, Lower left (3) SMSS and (4) Yardbird:



Rinse and repeat two more times - and we're ready for some heat:



Target temp was between 250 and 270 for the cook:



Everything in order...




Added a small piece each of Pecan and Apple wood:



Mmmm...



Juuust about there:




Gratuitous Charcoal Shot:



And finally the big moment...


Tasting time! ... couldn't quite grab the camera in time before a sausage or two disappeared



Each and every one was sampled and graded from yum to DAYM!. Once the experiment had concluded the remainder was released to the circling wolves (family)



In the end I ate a whole lot of sausage that day... it was a glorious, almost magical experience I will not soon forget

My personal favorite turned out to be the JD Regular with the Simply Marvelous Rub. It's given me a real good base to start with and now I look forward to adding and tweaking it to perfection.



Thanks for looking everybody and hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Regards,

Matt

EDIT: had them mislabelled originally! It was the SMSS not the Yardbird!

[1buckie]

Sausagology...................yep !!!!


"My personal favorite turned out to be the JD Regular with the Yardbird Rub."

^^^ So this one gets you close to the "Secret Recipe" ?

[SixZeroFour]

It's on the way there and I think with more experimenting I can get it pretty close it has the right base flavours to it anyways.

[austin87]

That's a great experiment, making sausage is a blast! I've been itching to make some hyper atomic pork and beef hot links (friend has a grinder/stuffer) but cases really aren't that important.

[IQ2]

I like your experiment. Thanks for sharing.

[blieb]

It's like friggin' science!  Man some of those cook pics are magazine quality.  I'm salivating.

[jcnaz]

Mmmmm, good!

[austin87]

@SixZeroFour do they still make those charcoal baskets you have, or have they been replaced by these guys? http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7403-Char-Basket-Charcoal-Briquet/dp/B000WEMGM4

[MrHoss]

Looking pretty tasty there 6.

The guy won't share his recipe? I'd share with ya' guy without thinking twice. My advice would be to not offer anything in trade for something that should be given.

[SixZeroFour]

@SixZeroFour do they still make those charcoal baskets you have, or have they been replaced by these guys? http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7403-Char-Basket-Charcoal-Briquet/dp/B000WEMGM4

@austin87 Yes they do. They aren't cheap new but I like them better than the new baskets myself...

http://www.ereplacementparts.com/wire-charcoal-basket-p-1477460.html

[Troy]

Cool technique man. Should have blogged it!

[Fishawn]

Great experiment! Looks like some good testing

[WNC]

Way to put the science in que! You got some really great close ups too!

[Chuck]

Nice post on the sausage. I'm surprised my favorite, JD hot, was not part of the experiment.