Definitely going to try the bologna. It's doesn't get smoked does it?
Ring bologna? Yes, its typically a smoked sausage.
I'm going to toss this in here on smoking.
Smoking is a very individual process. Its something that each person should develop over several sessions, maybe even over years. The only three things I am a real stickler on is using cure in any meat that is going to be smoked [ and yes that includes the fish I smoke ] and getting the cured meat's smoked temperature to at least 152 degrees AND keeping an absolutely clean work area. Aside from those three things I think the sky's the limit. Play with this stuff and it will reward you. Much like working up black powder loads, keeping good, concise notes is imperative too.
Lots of people smoke their sausage until the internal temp has risen to the point that the cure has done its work and continued smoking until the sausage is done to their finished texture preference. The smoke does not have to be running while the sausage is finishing. Smaller sausages like the sticks finish quicker than say, ring bologna or summer sausage, but because they are thin the smoke can get overbearing if too much smoking time is used. A lot of this will depend on the product - sawdust, pellets, pucks or chunk wood - used to create the smoke. Regardless of the preferred finish texture of the meat, it has to reach at least 152 degrees for the cure to do its work completely and it's recommended that the temp gets to 162 and I find I get a better tasting product by doing the smoke at the beginning of the process rather than thru the entire process. This of course is my personal preference and most certainly not a hard and fast rule.
With sticks I fill the cabinet with the strings of meat, then I close and latch it. Next, I start the smoker with the smoke working right off. I keep my heat at about 170 degrees for about 4 hours, letting the smoke run out at around the 3-hour mark and a 21mm snack stick is finished. At 4 hours the heat is killed and the meat is left in the cabinet until its cool. Then I hang the links on a rod in the garage for two days to mellow before trimming to length and vacuum sealing them.
Summer sausage and ring bologna are much thicker and require a longer cooking time. I refer to it as cooking time even though its is actively smoking during much of the time. I hang these sausages in the cabinet then start the heat only. I get the links to about 90 degrees, then start the smoke and lift the cabinet temp a bit but not much. Smoke is going on for four hours and then is halted but the cabinet heat is still cooking the sausage until the internal temp hits 152-154 degrees in all of the links, then the heat is killed, and the sticks left in the closed cabinet until completely cooled. Way too many people smoke the death out of sausage thinking they need smoke going on it the whole while. The warmed links will suck smoke like crazy and 4 hours will leave a nice bark on the meat in the casing and when the heat is shut down at 152 degrees and the cabinet yet closed up the temp inside the links will continue to rise for maybe thirty minutes and will get very close to 160 degrees which assures of a safe product.
On ring bologna, I used to smoke it for a couple hours then use boiling water to finish it but that got to be too much of a hassle and some collogen casings would split, creating other issues. I smoke my bologna just like I do my summer and its excellent and when cooked with sauerkraut or other foods its not the least bit dry.
I know I have mentioned the venison/pork ratio I use here and will do so again. 50/50, very lean, clean venison to pork shoulder minus the bone and gristle. I use all of the shoulder meat and fat. This stand for all of my summer, bologna and sticks. Others may choose to change the ratio to fit their own tastes and preferences and that fine because there really is no carved in stone ratio of pork to venison.
I mentioned a clean work environment above. This is important in every aspect of making sausage. I keep at least two ice cream buckets of mild bleach water and clean wash clothes available at all times. Take time to wipe up bloody surfaces especially any clotted blood or hair of membrane that's stuck to the cutting surface. Its amazing how fast these always present elements can sour and spoil a batch of meat. I use one bucket for the sole purpose of cleaning my knives and when a knife needs it, take time to wash it and sharpen it. Dull knives may get your blood in a batch of meat in a blink.