Smoked Sausage Making Question

[openfire]

Hello, Im making a smoked venison recipe that calls for one to smoke the sausage to an internal temperature of 150F, cool the sausage in a ice bath and then refrigerate.

My question is; is this now safe to eat or does it requite cooking? (like bacon does after its smoked)

Thank you kindly,
-Fire

[Frank the Thank]

Yes
I never reach the 150
But after so much time heating, the meat is ready.
If u want to be sure, open one sausage and see

[1886]

When you cook it to an internal temputure of 150 the outer part is hotter. You take it straight out of your smoker and submerge it into the ice bath. This will then bring the internal temputure up and help finish cooking it. The temputure will hit close to 180 or 190 inside. Which will make it cooked.

[Peebles]

Most sources recommend a temperature of 154f (not 150f), but it does keep warming up a bit after you take it out. At this point the meat is cooked and does not need to be reheated to serve. You can enjoy the sausages warm or cold.

Is your meat cured? I assume so, in which case your sausages should have a decent shelf life. Freeze any you won't eat in the next couple of weeks, though they'll keep in the fridge much longer if stored properly If it's not cured it's like any other fresh meat that you've cooked and should be consumed with three days.

[OpenSights]

Take it to 150 internally and its good.

Ice shower or bath right when you bring it out of the smoker is for finsihing the casing so it doesnt shrink and shrivel. I have a hard time seeing what 1886 is saying with it making the internal temp jump up 40 degrees. If you took it up this high it would be the driest sausage ever with all the fat running out of it.

The google machine is you friend. There are hours of reading on smoking sausage.

[sns2]

If you take the sausage up to 152 f internal, you are good to go. End of story. However, a cold shower is helpful in stopping the casing from drying up and shriveling. Allowing your sausage to bloom is the final step which helps develop the deep dark color we are looking for with a smoked sausage. Here is a link that explains both. Good luck!

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

[Mhunter51]

Yup, SNS2 is correct. 152 is the number you want to be at for internal temp. If the internal temp is at 150 and you plung it into ice water it will NEVER reach 180 degrees. If you get your sausage to 159 or above all of the pork fat will start to melt from heat and you will get pockets of gross fat when it cools along with, as has been said, very dry product and you could get a ' burnt ' flavour to the sausage. Also as has been said the plunging into cold, ice water is only to shrink the casing tight onto the sausage, will not drive any heat inward what so ever. Also all this info is of course assuming you have added cure to the sausage prior to mixing and stuffing.

As an after thought I forgot to mention. Most at home sausage makers will not ' cook ' their sausage in the smoker. Too uneven and slow. The very top and bottom of the smoker will be significantly warmer than the middle as will the back vs front. Smoke the sausage to your desired smoke level ( I use 1 1/2 to 3 hours depending on what style/type of sausage ) and then I have a few of the stainless steel buffet trays that they use at restraunts sitting over two of the burner coils on the kitchen oven top. These pans are about 4 1/2 inches high and just long enough for beer sausage coils or summer sausage sticks to submerge in 170 degree water. I use two instant read digital thermometers, one in the water and one in the submerged sausage. If you keep the water at 170 degrees it will only take 15 minutes to cook beer sausage and 22 to 24 to cook the bigger summer sausage. Very easy to control temps this way, and very uniform heating. For beer sausage I just hang it in the cool garage after cooking but summer I will get ice water in a tub just outside the door and plunge as soon as it reaches 152 to 153 degrees. Make sure you do not want to get the sausage over 159 or it will form pockets of melted grease

[Andrzej]

Most of recipes call for 68-72 degree Celsius or 154-160 Fahrenheit to be ready to eat.
From www.meatsandsausages.com

"Apply hot smoke 45-80° C (113-176° F) for 90 min until casings develop brown color.
Bake in smokehouse (thin smoke allowed) at 85° C (185° F) for 30 min until sausages reach 68-72° C (154-160° F) internal temperature.
Cool in air to 15° C (59° F) or lower."

[k.poholka]

I just did my first batch of summer sausage this year (kit). I went through the whole process of reading all the forums, watching directional videos and trying to make heads and tails out of all the different theories and methods. Here's what I did:

Ground up 15lb of deer and 5lb of bacon ends
Mixed in the spices and cure and stuffed the sausage cases immediately
Let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours then smoked in a big chief smoker for 12 hours (4 pans of wood chips)
Couldn't get an internal temp in the 150's so I finished them off in the oven at low setting for 2 hours until it was at the 155 degree range
Didn't ice bath afterward, just put them back in the fridge
Result: great tasting shrivelled wrinkled sausage!

[calgarychef]

Mhunter has the right idea for home equipment.

[honker_clonker]

I made about 60 pounds of garlic sausage and pepperoni on the weekend and I like to employ the water bath method as well. I put my meat in the smoker to give it a bit of smoke taste and to get it to the desired color, then I pop it in a large pot of 170F water to bring the internal temp up to 155, then plunge it into the water bath to stop cooking. Makes a nice juicy product and it really speeds up the process. I use 2, 4 rack Bradleys and it would take a week to finish that much sausage in the smoker vs being able to do it all in 1 day with the water bath method.

[gs100bert]

interesting read i have always been taught /told to cook/ smoke to an internal temperature of 71 degrees celsius or 165 degrees fahrenheit . Only one other post agrees all others are under that temp .

[Dick284]

Did up 39 pounds of summer sausage and 12 pounds of pepperoni sticks outta deer last weekend.
Experimented a bit with some of the summer sausage. Things like 1/2 beer, 1/2 water for the binder to kick in. Extra pepper and garlic. Added mustard seed, and coriander, and added crushed child peppers.
All sampled out superb.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/Dick284/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-12/3D4EBE8F-7FB3-4584-8D1D-EDDFFA40D6EB_zpsk9hlbtjo.jpg (http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Dick284/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-12/3D4EBE8F-7FB3-4584-8D1D-EDDFFA40D6EB_zpsk9hlbtjo.jpg.html)

Smoked them in the Bradley, set the smoker temp at 200 F for the first hour, then kicked on the smoke(alder and hickory mix) ran at 200F for 2 more hours, then backed off to 180F, till the internal was 150-155, never ice quenched, but then the casing is easier to remove.

[Mhunter51]

That looks really good Dick, and probably will enhance the flavour with the peppers. Can you imagine what it would taste like with ' adult ' peppers instead of ' child ' peppers :sHa_shakeshout: Just kidding but it does make it more tasty to experiment a bit

[wildwoods]

To anyone smoking: You are risking botulism if you do not cure your meat properly. I'm not a freakazoid when it comes to safety, but it must be mentioned.
I have found pork fat and or ground to taste better with deer than beef. There are a lot of great recipes out there. Make sure to find proper cure and away you go experimenting. Butchers and Packers in Edm or Halfords have what you need and knowledgeable staff that will steer you in the right direction. I prefer fresh sausage to smoked myself but still love a smoked garlic ring. We just churned out a batch of fresh sundried tomato with mozza cubes. They were great!
I skip those pre-packaged mixes from Cabelas or Wholesale and mix my own recipes. A great way to taste what you have is to fry a small pattie up like a hamburger before wasting 10-20 lbs (or whatever) of coveted meat with a bad recipe. That has saved us a couple times.
Good thread

[wildwoods]

If you take the sausage up to 152 f internal, you are good to go. End of story. However, a cold shower is helpful in stopping the casing from drying up and shriveling. Allowing your sausage to bloom is the final step which helps develop the deep dark color we are looking for with a smoked sausage. Here is a link that explains both. Good luck!

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

I go 154 deg to be safe but not higher (risk of melting away all your juicy fat goodness).

Bloom for sure in ice water after to keep the casing tight and crisp, but also to help cool internal temp asap. Have fun with it.

[Dick284]

I used a spice kit for my summer sausage. It comes with casings, spices(pre mixed, and cure. Follow the directions, and you're making sausage.

https://www.himtnjerky.com/Cracked-Pepper-n-Garlic-Summer-Sausage-Kit.html


10-4 on using cure... unless it's gonna be fresh sausage, which needs cooking before serving, curing and smoking is a must for all the rest.

[Xbolt7mm]

I saw this thread and thought I would give the tips a try with some smoked cured ham sausage. I smoked it for 3 hours at 160. To an internal of 120. Removed it and placed in 170 water until it reached 153 then straight into ice water. Results where a nice light smoke flavour and a nice pink cured inside. I do like the outside to be a bit darker tho, it's just slightly darker than the inside, but extremely tasty. Thx for the thread, I learned a bit

[alpineguy]

I use a process similar to Xbolt^^ but I smoke at a much lower temperature (110-130) for about 4 hours. Then I boil sausage till it reaches a minimum of 150C. Remove from water and chill in ice water bath.
I used to raise my smoker temperature towards the end to finish cooking the sausage but found the casing to be tougher and not as nice looking. Boiling makes for a nice looking plump finished product.
Like everything, it comes down to personal preference in the end.

Good luck

[Donny Bear]

Great thread good learnings apparently I break all the rules but I like double smoked and dry! And I like playing. Everyone asks for Sausage and Jerky for Christmas so I guess it's good but me thinks reading some of this will help me take it up a knotch.

Great read to all of you. Next week is Landjager smoked and air dried 7 days of babysitting little flat sausages :)

[Suzukisam]

And the smoke is a natural killer and preservative that is why fish is cold smoked so yes it's ready to eat. If you use liquid smoke that does not count and tempature must be brought up. And iether way temp should be brought up if you are making Bear or Cougar sausage

[Huntnut]

I use a process similar to Xbolt^^ but I smoke at a much lower temperature (110-130) for about 4 hours. Then I boil sausage till it reaches a minimum of 150C. Remove from water and chill in ice water bath.
I used to raise my smoker temperature towards the end to finish cooking the sausage but found the casing to be tougher and not as nice looking. Boiling makes for a nice looking plump finished product.
Like everything, it comes down to personal preference in the end.

Good luck

I may have to try this.:)

[h&t]

could someone post summer sausage recipe?
I can google it, but I prefer to hear from someone who made it and liked it.

[Grizzly Adams]

And the smoke is a natural killer and preservative that is why fish is cold smoked so yes it's ready to eat. If you use liquid smoke that does not count and tempature must be brought up. And iether way temp should be brought up if you are making Bear or Cougar sausage

Cure in cold smoked fish ? Just built myself a cold smoke generator and want to try salmon next week.

Grizz

[Bowtech1]

Yup 152 and it's good to go. Ice bath for sure

[Opa]

Check out the "sticky" at the top of the General Forum. A lot of excellent info regarding any type of sausage that you might want to make!!! Pretty much covers the gamut with proven recipes.

[omega50]

I use a process similar to Xbolt^^ but I smoke at a much lower temperature (110-130) for about 4 hours. Then I boil sausage till it reaches a minimum of 150C. Remove from water and chill in ice water bath.
I used to raise my smoker temperature towards the end to finish cooking the sausage but found the casing to be tougher and not as nice looking. Boiling makes for a nice looking plump finished product.
Like everything, it comes down to personal preference in the end.

Good luck

Hopefully you meant 150F:)