F-LC culture and finished temp question.

[bonedrake]

I always use F-LC culture when making summer sausage and use the recipes from meatsandsausages.com. one thing Iv always noticed is that all of the semi-dry recipes say the finish temp should be 140°. I personally always try to temp to 152°-155° to be safe. If I knew for sure that the 140° would be safe I would try a batch to see if I like the texture a little better. I'm thinking it might be safe just because of the fermentation. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Here is a link to one of the recipes. http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/gothaer

 

[bladeguy]

I am not a meat or sausage expert, however, I would assume this is a semi-dry sausage. It contains cure #1.....I can only say that Rytek's book for semi-dry sausage call for cure #1 (1 teaspoon for 5 lb.'s) and fermento for a fermenting agent, and those recipes call for 145 degrees finish temp. So I cannot vouch for this particular recipe, however, I have done sausage with Rytek's recipe to 145 and to 152 (because I used ECA instead of fermento once) and texture wise, I noticed no difference. My philosophy? I do what I believe is safe since I share my food with friends and family so much.......I don't want anyone getting sick.

 

[bonedrake]

That's exactly why I always take them to 152° or a little more. I guess if I had the equipment to measure ph and water activity I would feel more safe playing with much lower temps. I would think though even without the fermentation if a product was held at 140° for long enough it would still be safe as it would pasturize it.