Cold smoked sausage

GreatNorthEgger

Hey guys, I just bought a-maze-n pellet tray for smoking cheese. I want to try cold smoking sausage as well but don't want to get sick. I know of the danger zone for meat but would that apply of I am not using heat and it's cold outside. 

I hope my question isn't dumb 

Any help would be much appreciated 

milesvdustin

If you want to cold smoke and not finish cooked in the dutation you need to use cure salt like in jerky. Beyond that, someone more knowledgeable than I will be along shortly

SmokingPiney

If you're going to cold smoke, the meat has to be either cured or cooked. 

nolaegghead

Yes, you need to cure it before cold smoking.

Woodchunk

If you want to use the pellet tray to apply smoke then the meat should already be cooked or have some form of a small amount of heat and many hours

lkapigian

Cure 1 is a must ...put sausage in @ 100 for an hour to dry before adding smoke or it will taste acrid....I go 120 140 160 170 until IT is 152-155....put in ice bath right away ...let bloom at room temp, refrigerate overnight and enjoy

GreatNorthEgger

Thanks Guys.  I will try your suggestions 

lkapigian

Question , is it homemade sausage ?

20stone

lkapigian said:

Cure 1 is a must ...put sausage in @ 100 for an hour to dry before adding smoke or it will taste acrid....I go 120 140 160 170 until IT is 152-155....put in ice bath right away ...let bloom at room temp, refrigerate overnight and enjoy

FYI, this is a hot smoke, and another way to go with it.  I just did the same with 14# of brisket missiles.

SmokingPiney said:

If you're going to cold smoke, the meat has to be either cured or cooked. 

Normally both.  In broad terms, here are the options, a couple of which involve your Amazin Smoker:

• Hot smoke - (think kielbasa) - Per @lkapigian, add Cure 1 to the sausage and hot smoke (~180 F up to an IT of ~160 or so.  Chill.  Bloom.  ready to eat)

• Cure and cold smoke and cook hot later - (think bacon) - Cure with Cure 1 the appropriate amount of time (meat cut dependent) and then cold smoke - MUST BE COOKED LATER BEFORE EATING
• Cure and cold smoke - (think salami) - Cure with Cure 2 (also pink, but not the same stuff), smoke and then hang in a climate controlled chamber until it loses ~30% of its weight (moisture loss).  Does not need to be cooked further.  For some cuts (prosciutto, eg), this can take up to 2 years

For the last one, go to school a fair amount before you go down that path.  Dry curing are a dance with bugs in your meat.  It is worth reading up a bit before you get too frisky.


(Foreground - Brisket missiles drying before hot smoking, Background - Prosciutto 1 year in, 1 year to go)


(Salamis starting their aging process)

lkapigian

20stone said:

lkapigian said:

Cure 1 is a must ...put sausage in @ 100 for an hour to dry before adding smoke or it will taste acrid....I go 120 140 160 170 until IT is 152-155....put in ice bath right away ...let bloom at room temp, refrigerate overnight and enjoy

FYI, this is a hot smoke, and another way to go with it.  I just did the same with 14# of brisket missiles.

SmokingPiney said:

If you're going to cold smoke, the meat has to be either cured or cooked. 

Normally both.  In broad terms, here are the options, a couple of which involve your Amazin Smoker:

• Hot smoke - (think kielbasa) - Per @lkapigian, add Cure 1 to the sausage and hot smoke (~180 F up to an IT of ~160 or so.  Chill.  Bloom.  ready to eat)

• Cure and cold smoke and cook hot later - (think bacon) - Cure with Cure 1 the appropriate amount of time (meat cut dependent) and then cold smoke - MUST BE COOKED LATER BEFORE EATING
• Cure and cold smoke - (think salami) - Cure with Cure 2 (also pink, but not the same stuff), smoke and then hang in a climate controlled chamber until it loses ~30% of its weight (moisture loss).  Does not need to be cooked further.  For some cuts (prosciutto, eg), this can take up to 2 years

For the last one, go to school a fair amount before you go down that path (particularly with the last one).  Dry curing are a dance with bugs in your meat.  It is worth reading up a bit before you get too frisky.


(Foreground - Brisket missiles drying before hot smoking, Background - Prosciutto 1 year in, 1 year to go)


(Salamis starting their aging process)

Great post @20stone

jtcBoynton

GreatNorthEgger said:

..... I want to try cold smoking sausage as well but don't want to get sick. ....

Before you go down the cold sausage path, you should read:
https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/safety-and-health/cold-smoking-meats-dont-do-it

After reading that, if you still want to try cold smoking sausage, you need to find a trusted source that can teach you how to safely do it. This is not an area to just try things out.  

20stone

Agreed with @jtcBoynton on doing some homework pre-cold smoking.

Bacon is a great place to start, as contamination is a lot easier to control on whole cuts. 

milesvdustin

what is a brisket missile?

20stone

milesvdustin said:

what is a brisket missile?

It is a concoction of Andrew V, a chef/butcher that helped us out in January. 

It it is a large format porks sausage w ~35% left over chopped cooked brisket added.  I can post the recipe a bit later. 

This time we had about 4 lbs left over from @The Cen-Tex Smoker ‘s awesome brisket (5 guys can only do so much on a 17 LB brisket), so I banged out another batch.