How long is it safe to leave sausage with one teaspoon of cure #1 per five pounds at room temperature before it goes in the smoker?
Sausage question.
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You can leave until it gets to room temp, then into smoker. This will give the casing time to dry some. And as long as its not 90* in your house. Ha
I usually mix all the ingredients for my sausage, refrigerate and leave overnight for flavors to mix. As long as it's refrigerated, can't see any problems before stuffing. Obviously, the clock is ticking for bacteria, bad stuff to develop the longer it sits at room temp. The longer you let it sit, the greater the chance you're going to get ill from it. Also, what is room temp. 65% or 85%. All these effect the final product. There is no specific answer for your situation.
My thinking for smoking stuff is like stir fried food. Have everything ready to go before you start. Get sausage stuffed and ready to go, keep cold till in smoker, get smoker up to temp, than put it in. Monitor temp and slowly rise it drying the sausage slowly because smoke won't adhere to a wet surface. Once that's going on, get sausage up to internal temp you want applying smoke once dry. The time you smoke it depends on how much smoke flavor you want in it. Good luck.
Your good.
My 2 SS chubs hung for 48 hours before i put cold smoke to them. I been doing this since 1975 and i'm still alive.
Sausage On!
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Awesome! Thanks Nepas! I had them hanging on the porch last night and they started to frost last night so I brought them in. They still felt cool to the touch this morning. Internal temp was 54 degrees. I plan to start smoking this afternoon. Should be interesting. It's windy and cold.
Now your off to another galaxy . Hot smoke use cure #1, cold smoke, you need cure #2. #1 works in low temp environment to prevent botulism, cure #2 is like a slow release cold medicine. It needs to be refrigerated for a specific time for absorption, than stuffed and aged at temp and humidity controlled. #2 is used for Prosciutto, country hams, all dry cured meats, sausages, using various molds for flavor, etc. Good luck.
Well, that's not entirely accurate...
Hot smoke use cure #1? Why? If I'm "hot smoking" that means that I have my meats in an environment that is 210° or greater, no cure needed if I'm smoking fresh sausages...
Now, for WARM smoking, <200° and I'm using comminuted meats, I would use cure #1 because I have disrupted the whole muscle aspect of the meat and most any pathogens that were on the surface are now inside of the comminuted meat as well.
Cold smoke I need cure #2? No, I don't, not all of the time... Depends upon the product that is being cured and how long it will cure before it is consumed. I cold smoke salmon that has been cured with #1 for quite a few hours... I also cold smoke some meats at less than 40° at times, no cure at all... However, if I want to cold smoke some pepperoni that will then hang until I get a 35% moisture loss, yeah, #2 would be the best choice...
The use of cure, and the type used, is dependent upon what you're making, as well as how it will be treated...
Here is the Cure that is reliable. Follow this and you will end up perfect every time.
CURES - Cures are used in sausage products for color and flavor development as well as retarding the development of bacteria in the low temperature environment of smoked meats.
Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word "cure" refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.
The primary and most important reason to use cures is to prevent BOTULISM POISONING (Food poisoning). It is very important that any kind of meat or sausage that will be cooked and smoked at low temperature be cured. To trigger botulism poisoning, the requirements are quite simple - lack of oxygen, the presence of moisture, and temperatures in range of 40-140° F. When smoking meats, the heat and smoke eliminates the oxygen. The meats have moisture and are traditionally smoked and cooked in the low ranges of 90 to 185° F. As you can see, these are ideal conditions for food poisoning if you don't use cures. There are two types of commercially used cures.
Prague Powder #1
Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. Cures are used to prevent meats from spoiling when being cooked or smoked at low temperatures (under 200 degrees F). This cure is 1 part sodium nitrite (6.25%) and 16 parts salt (93.75%) and are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to ‘gas out’ at about 130 degrees F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20% of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Mix with cold water, then mix into meat like you would mix seasonings into meat.
Prague Powder #2
Used to dry-cure products. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. (1 oz. of sodium nitrite with .64 oz. of sodium nitrate to each lb. of salt.) It is primarily used in dry-curing Use with products that do not require cooking, smoking, or refrigeration. This cure, which is sodium nitrate, acts like a time release, slowly breaking down into sodium nitrite, then into nitric oxide. This allows you to dry cure products that take much longer to cure. A cure with sodium nitrite would dissipate too quickly. Use 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat when mixing with meat. When using a cure in a brine solution, follow a recipe
My reading is anything over 170, you're cooking, not low smoking. If you're going over 170, you probably don't need a cure but I err on the side of caution. My mistake using cold smoke term but I meant curing meats. Once cured properly, it's up to the individual if they smoke or not. Everyone should read, check out various sites and draw their own conclusions on what is best for their situation because whatever their decision, they're get the benefit or suffer the consequences of their decision.
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