Directions

1. Preheat your Pro Smoker smokehouse to 100°F on smoke setting. 

2. Soak casings in warm water.

3. Trim and cut the meat into 3-4” pieces. Place in the freezer for 45 minutes to temper.

4. Set up grinder with 3/8” plate and grind the meat once.

5. Reset grinder with 1/8” plate and grind the meat again.

6. Add seasoning and maple cure, along with 3 cups cold water to the meat and mix well for 7-10 minutes until the meat becomes very tacky.

7. Add high temp cheddar cheese and mix until incorporated.

8. Load meat block into stuffer.

9. Stuff the meat into casings and tie off ends.

10. Hang the sausage on smoke sticks, ensuring there’s space between them for optimal airflow.

11. Insert meat probe into one of the sausage’s center to monitor temperature.

12. With dampers wide open, dry the sausage at 100°F for 2 hours. 

13. After 2 hours, increase the temperature of the smokehouse to 120°F.

14. Run for 1 hour.

15. Fill sawdust pan ½ way with your choice of sawdust and dampen with water, then form into a funnel shape. Check out our Sawdust Tips and Tricks video guide for further guidance.

16. Place the sawdust pan on the heating element and increase the temperature of the smoker to 130°F.

17. Set dampers to 2/3 closed. Confused on dampers? Learn how to optimize airflow in your Pro Smoker Smokehouse with our guide to adjusting dampers!

18. Run for 1 hour.

19. After the hour, increase temperature of the smoker to 140°F.

20. Run for 1 hour.

21. After the hour, remove sawdust pan from smoker.

22. Then increase the temperature of the smoker to 150°F. Run 1 hour.

23. After 1 hour increase temperature of the smoker to 160°F and run for another hour.

24. Increase the temperature of the smoker to 180°F and run until the internal temperature of the summer sausage reaches 155°F.

25. Remove the summer sausage from the smoker and place in an ice bath to bring the temperature down to 100°F rapidly. This should take about ½ hour.

26. Hang the sausage at room temperature for 2 hours to bloom.

27. Place in the fridge to cool completely before slicing.