We have made sausage for years using an old family recipe, but this year I want to make a batch of jalepeno cheese. We will make about 300 lbs of 50/50 beef / pork sausage in 50 lb batches...it's been a lean year for venison and Nilgai. Does anyone have a great recipe for 50 lbs of spicy jalepeno cheese link sauasage? And do you have any tips for how / when to add the jalepenos and cheese to make the process go smoothly. Do you mix it in with the meat before grinding or mix it with the ground meat before stuffing. Do you use block cheese cut up in small cubes or shredded cheese or both. Do you use fresh jalepenos or pickled? Appreciate the help.

Mix into the ground meat with mixer or hand. We have used both cut up block cheese and another time high temp cheese. Both were good but the cut up cheese just melts into the meat when cooked so you don't get the chunk of cheese bite. I have used fresh cut up jalepenos and dried jalepenos. Cut up ones vary in temp so hard to get a good measure. Dried ones that you rehydrate before mixing in seemed hotter.

Grind meat first. Then put in a hand mixer with cheese and jalapeo. The smaller you cut the cheese, the easier it will be to get it through the stuffer. We learned that the hard way.

We use same seasoning as our traditional sausage recipe. Add a little extra red chili powder / other hot spices if you want more kick than the jalapeos give.

For the cheese - Go to an actual meat market / processor and ask them for the cubed cheese that melts at higher temps ( they will know what to get for you cause they probably use it in their own recipes.

The first year we did it, we used regular cheese, and every time we cooked the sausage it was running everywhere. The next year we went by our local processor and asked for a recommendation. They gave us this cheese that will barely melt and run when we boil it for 10-20 minutes.

We love sausage with the cheese so much, we have vowed never to go back to the original recipe again, ancestors be damned.

Did a test run of jalapeno cheese this year.

Use your regular sausage mix then mix in the cheese and jalapenos. We used LEM high temp cheese and dehydrated jalapenos from REO spices. You rehydrate the jalapenos in water for about 5-10 minutes before mixing.

We use the Mezzetta Tamed Jalapeno peppers. They're not as hot, but they are consistent on their heat level. We just run them through the food processor to chop them up a little, and mix them in with the high-melt cheddar.

Thanks for the input. Any specifics on amounts of jalepenos and cheese to use for 50 lbs sausage? Recipes per X lbs would be appreciated.

OilManAg91 said:

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Thanks for the input. Any specifics on amounts of jalepenos and cheese to use for 50 lbs sausage? Recipes per X lbs would be appreciated.

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Wish I could help but we don't add consistent amounts. The only sound advice I can give you is in regards to the cheese:

Add enough so that you think the amount of cheese is too much. Then add about one heaping handful more cheese for every 10 lbs of meat. You'll thank me later.

LEM cheese we bought said 1 lb cheese for every 10 lbs sausage.

You have to use high temp cheese or it won't work. Also, high temp cheese is expensive


https://www.google.com/search?q=high+temp+cheese&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

That being said, this is ghost pepper high temp cheese. This may do all you need.

T&P for your O-ring.

How are these Amazon prices for high temp cheese?

High Temperature Pepper Jack Cheese - 2.5 Lb. Bag https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007HEVO7A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ABSrAbHV791WV

Sausagemaker.com has it for $2/lb cheaper.

I used Tillamook brand shredded cheddar. You can buy it at HEB. I think it was called "farmhouse shedded." Anyway it was a very coarse grind and it worked out very well. It didn't melt.

As for a specific recipe, I've used this one and it's been good.

https://www.grit.com/departments/venison-summer-sausage-recipe

Granted it's summer sausage I've never made it with hog casings