Cold smoked sausage

GreatNorthEgger · December 2017

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 · December 2017

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 · December 2017

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

nolaegghead · December 2017

Yes, you need to cure it before cold smoking.

Woodchunk · December 2017

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 · December 2017

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 · December 2017

Thanks Guys. I will try your suggestions

lkapigian · December 2017

Question , is it homemade sausage ?

20stone · December 2017

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.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/pj/hkzylvpoderm.jpeg

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

(Salamis starting their aging process)

lkapigian · December 2017

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 · December 2017

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 · December 2017

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 · December 2017

what is a brisket missile?

20stone · December 2017

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.

Cold smoked sausage

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