Sausage Question

[tomd8]

I've never made sausages but I do have a question.  I've seen a few sausage recipes where smoking looked like a long cold smoke and required curing salt as an ingredient.  If you smoke pork sausage at 200 deg to an IT temp of 150 degrees do you still need to use curing salt? 

I ask this question thinking about a way to make a sausage which limits salt and has no nitrates.  I'm not trying to stir the pot and argue what has or hasn't been proven about the health risks of nitrates.  I know this temp would be cooking it but you would have spiced ground meat being smoked the way other smoked meats get cooked. 

This may be unconventional since sausages have been made with curing salt for hundreds of years but I'm curious if this method can produce a reasonably tasty sausage.  Thoughts?  No problem if you think this is a dumb idea.

 

[aircon]

Can't answer your question but I'm intrigued to know what pink salt is?

 

[tomd8]

Aircon - Curing salt - https://www.sausagemaker.com/insta-cure-no-1-5lbs-p/11-1013.htm

 

[barelfly]

From what I’ve read from the sausage I made a few weeks ago, if you are going to smoke the sausage, you have to use a cure. Here is a link to some good reading. First link is a nice quick and easy read. The second link is like the mother load of sausage reading.

http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/smoke-sausage.html

https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making

 

[tomd8]

Hi Barelfly - Thank you for the response and the links.  I looked at the first but need to read the second.  From my prior reading I'm under the impression (correct or not) that cure is necessary when an extended cold smoke is being done where the meat stays under 145 degrees for a long period of time.  What I'm wondering is if sausage is smoked the same that we smoke ribs which is a shorter smoke and bring the IT up above 145 is it safe and will it be tasty enough?  Kind of like fatties are done but inside a sleeve instead of a bacon weave.  It may be that the sausage won't pick up much smoke flavor for such a short smoke or the fat renders out too much so why go through all of the trouble.

 

[barelfly]

From some other things I’ve read, specifically for Sous Vide, temperature danger zones are in that 40-140* for longer than four hours. That’s when you can get the bacteria that is mentioned in the articles. If you get past that temp, it begins to pasteurize and kills off bacteria. There’s a specific time that it takes to pasteurize at various temps. For smoking at the colder temps, bacteria risk is same and hence the pink salt.

But I’m not an expert on this, so for the smoked sausage that I made and will make in the future, I’ll use the pink salt for safety precautions. It’s such a little amount compared to the overall meat, it’s just how I’ll go with it.

But if you plan on cooking them immediately at hot temps, like on a grill or boil, those fresh sausage recipes don’t use the pink salt from what I have read. But, it’s not getting the smoke you are wanting. Perhaps liquid smoke helps solve that.

So, perhaps the method you mention using a hotter cook and getting the temp up past the danger zone within the time is fine, but who am I to say it’s ok. But your point on rendering out the fat it also spot on. Fat begins to melt out of the sausage and you get dried out sticks, so the reason for cold smoke or lower temp smoking.

Again, I will not forgo the pink salt for the sausage I make if it’s going to be smoked first. Purely for safety reasons, just don’t want to chance it. I don’t want anyone to read my comments and think I am suggesting to smoke without curing salts.

 

[Pork Belly]

Long answer: Buy Charcuterie by Michael Rulhman, and read it. Some folks bitch about his salt levels, I don't have an issue. 

You don't even need to use his recipes, just read and learn. he clearly explains, the chemical reactions of salt, nitrates, history and science of preserving meat.

Short answer use a pre-made mix from Butcher and Packer or High Mountain Seasoning and follow the instructions exactly.

 

[tomd8]

Thank you all for the feedback.  I'll do the recommended reading and I've ordered the book.

 

[Pork Belly]

Good luck with it Tom. You can PM me any questions if you want, Im not on here everyday, But I will reply when I am.

 

[tomd8]

Brian - Thank you for the feedback and the generous offer.

 

[Bowfineater]

I think you are supposed to cure smoked sausage, and not ribs, or pork butt, or other bbq, because botulism is anaerobic (only grows in the presence of no oxygen)

Sausages are in a casing, and bbq is not.

This is just my guess.

 

[poppypig]

I'm no expert but the way I understand it is ribs and butts are solid meat products, any bacteria will only be on the surface and smoking inhibits growth, sausage on the other hand is ground meat so bacteria are mixed all thru the meat so you need the cure to protect the interior until the temp is above 140, unless you are making fresh sausage which will be cooked throughly and eaten or frozen until you cook and eat. Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can elaborate more