Poaching loses smoke flavor

[tomgabison]

Hi all,

I know that casing chewyness has been talked about a lot on this forum. Basically I have a Kamado so controlling temps after the cold smoke is not that easy. I have been poaching with good results. The color after blooming turns into that beautiful red and the sausages do have great mouth feel however after poaching I noticed that their is loss of smoke flavor.

Can I finish them in the oven at 170? Will the casings be tough after that? Should I use a water pan to up the humidity levels in the case?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

As far as my experience there is no magic pill here. Yes you lose a bit of smoke flavor in the poach, but casing mouth feel is best after water poach. The oven approach will air dry the casing just as a smokehouse will and leave it tough. I have found no way around this compromise. Frying will give a crispy casing but robs smoke, grilling hot and fast leaves a tough casing, oven finish the same. So I set my priorities, I want a nice snap and bite through casing the most, over the strong smoke flavor, so for me a poach finish is the key. The little bit of smoke loss is acceptable for the final texture to me. You can run that rabbit hole all you want but in the end you will come back to the poach finish for quality. That’s just my experience.

As a side note, if the strong smoke flavor is important to you then I would add powdered smoke powder or liquid smoke to the recipe and get that in the base mix, I don’t personally care for that added flavor but many do Like it.

 

[tomgabison]

Thank you. Do you think a longer cold smoke could help?

 

[tomgabison]

I guess I never mentioned I cold smoke for 4 hours using an Amzn tube. Maybe 6 will help? I will probably continue poaching. I know there is only so much smoke that can be absorbed. I have seen people on this forum cold smoke for 12+ hours. I do appreciate everyone's help. So happy to have found this forum. Been on for a while. Figured might as well as join

 

[SmokinEdge]

I guess I never mentioned I cold smoke for 4 hours using an Amzn tube. Maybe 6 will help? I will probably continue poaching. I know there is only so much smoke that can be absorbed. I have seen people on this forum cold smoke for 12+ hours. I do appreciate everyone's help. So happy to have found this forum. Been on for a while. Figured might as well as join

Cold smoke is a perfect way to get a good smoke flavor on sausage. Remember though that cold smoke was and is a drying process for preservation or at least extending shelf life by the process of semi drying the sausage. To do this successfully today you need to keep temperature below 80F and keep humidity in the 75% range while smoking. If the temp gets higher changes happen and if humidity is low then the casings dry out and/or you will get a case hardening which is the drying of the surface around the sausage like jerky stopping all internal drying as well as stopping smoke penetration. All these different processes to smoke meat are great but rules must be followed, it’s kind of a deep subject but simple at the same time. How the process is done is what determines success or failure.

 

[DougE]

To do this successfully today you need to keep temperature below 80F and keep humidity in the 75% range while smoking.

Humidity can be manipulated to some degree, but ambient temps, not so much.

 

[tomgabison]

It is summer in FL so will definitely check the temps before I put them on tomorrow. Maybe put some ice cold water on the deflector plates to make sure the temp stays low but I've also heard humidity is the enemy of smoke penetration. There is so much info on this subject that it is so hard to know what works best without ruining batches. Thats why I've been poaching because the results are repeatable. I'm just hoping maybe a longer cold smoke will yield a smokier sausage after the poach.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Humidity can be manipulated to some degree, but ambient temps, not so much.

Humidity can be played with depending on the process used and temps can be too a little but this is going into advanced class, not for beginners.

 

[tomgabison]

I wonder how they smoke the sausage in bbq joints without the casings getting tough. They have the secret! Lol

 

[motocrash]

Maybe try steam poaching. I steam poach uncured sausage before grilling, pan frying etc. The casings turn out much better than being immersed in liquid, snappy, but not tough.

 

[zwiller]

All these different processes to smoke meat are great but rules must be followed, it’s kind of a deep subject but simple at the same time.

Well said. I am somewhat convinced the really good smoked stuff is a smoked MUCH longer than we do and is multi stage/day process. Smoked one day (6-8hrs), rest overnight, then smoked again. Maybe a couple of days even. I am also somewhat convinced an overnight rest in the fridge pulls the smoke into the meat. I would be curious if simply not poaching same day but a day or 2 later might be all you need.

 

[tomgabison]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try an 8hr cold smoke them poach. Instead of putting in cold water, I'll have the water at 150 to make sure that they don't stay in the water too long. Can't multi day smoke because I'm making Jambalaya today :)

 

[zwiller]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try an 8hr cold smoke them poach. Instead of putting in cold water, I'll have the water at 150 to make sure that they don't stay in the water too long.

Good luck. Good call on the keeping the poach hot only. That should help. I don't eat much same day of smoke and feel resting improves the final product.

Can't multi day smoke because I'm making Jambalaya today :)

My mind cannot even process this

 

[tomgabison]

When you poach is it covered or uncovered? Thanks guys! Maybe 1 day I will give advice.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well said. I am somewhat convinced the really good smoked stuff is a smoked MUCH longer than we do and is multi stage/day process. Smoked one day (6-8hrs), rest overnight, then smoked again. Maybe a couple of days even. I am also somewhat convinced an overnight rest in the fridge pulls the smoke into the meat. I would be curious if simply not poaching same day but a day or 2 later might be all you need.

I agree, and cold smoke no doubt will give a deeper smoke flavor. I hot smoke all mine because my RH is 10-20% so I really can’t cold smoke for days because of dry ring so I just hot smoke 5-10 hours whatever the humidity will allow that day. I have rested sausage in the fridge then poached and they are good but with my process it all tastes the same because I’m limited on my smoke session time. I will say though that if you can cold smoke then by all means it’s the best smoke flavor.

 

[SmokinEdge]

When you poach is it covered or uncovered? Thanks guys! Maybe 1 day I will give advice.

Yes covered in water that does not get hotter than 170* F keep the water above 150 but not over 170*. For pork sausage you are done with an IT of the sausage at 145* and beef needs to go to 152-155.

 

[tomgabison]

Thanks everyone. Still in the smoker. Will put into poach in a few minutes. I appreciate all of the insight.

 

[DougE]

I agree, and cold smoke no doubt will give a deeper smoke flavor.

I ran a batch of jalapeno cheddar last winter that was cold smoked only. I used 50/50 pecan/cherry dust, and the smoke flavor was much more pronounced than what I hot smoke. To me, they were bordering on almost too smoky ....... almost expected to blow out a puff of smoke with each bite lol, but they were probably the best batch I've done so far.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I ran a batch of jalapeno cheddar last winter that was cold smoked only. I used 50/50 pecan/cherry dust, and the smoke flavor was much more pronounced than what I hot smoke. To me, they were bordering on almost too smoky ....... almost expected to blow out a puff of smoke with each bite lol, but they were probably the best batch I've done so far.

How long did you rest those Doug? Even a couple days mellows out the smoke but it does get deeper too.

 

[DougE]

How long did you rest those Doug? Even a couple days mellows out the smoke but it does get deeper too.

I just did like usual ........... cold water bath after SV, hung to bloom, and bagged in the fridge for a day or 3 before vac sealing and freezing.

I didn't dislike the results at all, but they were way smokier than what I usually make.