Pickled Venison Bologna

[ThunderLund78]

A friend of mine has some surplus rings he's trying to get rid of before this year's season. He's giving me a couple and I thought I might try and pickle some of it. I've had pickled beef bologna before and it was awesome. I've never tried something like this before. Anyone else ever do it or have a method they wouldn't mind sharing?

[Dark Cloud]

Just chunk it up into your brine - salt, vinegar, water...

I typically add crushed red pepper and garlic to mine.

A 3-2-1 brine is what I work off - 3 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt... Some like more salt or vinegar...

Try and wait a few days before sampling. I know bars keep this stuff out on the bar but I feel better about it being in the fridge, plus i prefer it cold.

Polish kielbasi is great this way also...

[ThunderLund78]

Thanks Dark,

I figured it would be simple brine, I've just never pickled meat so I thought there might've been more to it. How long do you usually let it sit before eating?

[ThunderLund78]

HAHA,

I must've been tired when I read your response the first time, you clearly mentioned a few days I will let you all know how this turns out. Probably wont have time to do it until next week.

[ThunderLund78]

Finally got around to doing this. It worked GREAT. Thanks Dark Cloud, for the method. I did 3-2-1 method by the book for this batch, went with your garlic and crushed red pepper suggestion and also added some onion. I let it sit for 5 days before trying.

obviously it's not something a guy would do with ALL his sausage, but it makes for a great snack with a beer. It's also an interesting conversation starter. Think I'll bring a jar to deer camp

[Dark Cloud]

Glad it worked out!

I was eyeing up some ring bologna at the store today for pickling..

[Deitz Dittrich]

Probably a dumb question.. but are you boiling the brine? and putting it in the meat hot and then hot water bath? or are you going cold all the way OR.. boil brine, let rest.. and then pour in meat slices when cool?

[Dark Cloud]

There are no dumb questions...

I warm the brine enough to disolve the salt then cool. One time I poured on the brine hot and ended up oozing fat out of the meat that left an unsightly scumm layer on top...

[ThunderLund78]

I did not heat my brine at all and pored it over the Bologna right after I mixed it. The Salt seemed to dissolve fine without heating it, in my case.

One interesting thing that I was not expecting was that the bologna was actually less salty-tasting after pickling than if I were to boil or grill it. I'm not an expert on pickling science, but does some of the salt within the bologna actually get extracted during the process? Seems counter-intuitive that a salt bath would make it less-salty. Maybe the vinegar just overpowers it.