You are using it right away. Would be the same as doing a butt or ribs or a beef brisket.
Typically fatties are assembled and then cooked so that bad stuff doesn't have time to grow. Mine never take more time than half an hour to put together and then into the smoker they go.
Plus aren't you usually using sausage and bacon that has already been cured?
I see a lot of breakfast and italian sausage used, these don't have curing salts, generally. Ground beef is frequently used as well.
Correct. And that is where to 40* to 140* in 4 hours is applicable for safety.
It's a meatloaf.
I do use #1 or TQ if I am refrigerating my links overnight, but a fattie is in essence just a complicated meat loaf.
Cure, in terms of Safety, lets you Cool Smoke, 100 to 180°F or Cold Smoke ambient to 100°F. Any meat, whole muscle, ground, injected or Fresh sausage (breakfast, Italian ,brats) MUST be Hot Smoked at 225°+.
Fatties made with sausage, get Hot Smoke, ALWAYS for two reasons, they are most commonly made with Fresh Sausage or Ground Meat and are Stuffed, with precooked or raw ingredients that can harbour any number of bacteria...JJ
Thanks JJ! So if I smoked my andouille (for example) at 225℉+ cure #1 is not required?
Correct. Without the cure, the high temp kills any bacteria before it has a chance to grow. The flavor will be somewhat different, no hammy flavor, but still tasty...JJ
Fresh sausages like brats do not use cure, and typically they are grilled @ 250~300 degrees and pushed through the danger zone before the 4 hour time clock is up. Cure #1 is used in smoke sausages because we are smoking them at low temps. i.e. 130~170* and those sausages will be in the danger zone longer than 4 hours. We do this so the links do not get any 'fat out' which will occur when cookig sausages above ~180*F.These are whole muscles though, not comminuted.
When smoking sausage it's typically 24hours after linking that they get smoked - this is why the Cure #1 is required?
I see a lot of breakfast and italian sausage used, these don't have curing salts, generally. Ground beef is frequently used as well.
Whole intact muscle only has bacteria on the surface. At 225+ the bacteria are killed in the first hour. How long the interior take to get to temp does not matter. Nothing there to grow and make you sick.
Regarding a 5 hour Fatties getting to a 140+ IT. 4 hours is a guideline that is easy to remember but taking a little longer, 5 hours, is usually no issue because of the growth characteristics of bacteria. They can take longer to get out of bed and get going than a teenage boy!...JJ
Typically fatties are assembled and then cooked so that bad stuff doesn't have time to grow. Mine never take more time than half an hour to put together and then into the smoker they go.