Smoked Cajun Sausage

[bobdog46]

I will be trying to smoke my homemade cajun sausage this winter. I understand that in addition to my recipe that I will need to add one ounce of instacure to my recipe per 25 lbs of meat.  I will be making 25-50 lbs at a time. After smoking it will be vacuume sealed and frozen.  Any advice on smoking tempertures and times, as well as any other advice would be apperciated  .       Thanks !!!

 

[scarbelly]

Can you post the recipe so we can look at the ingredients - that will help us with the temps

 

[bobdog46]

I use 70% deer 30% pork(shoulder)   AC Leggs Fresh Cajun Style Seasoning - Crushed red pepper. stuffed in natural hog casing.  I have used this recipe for fresh sausage and it is delicious. I want to try and smoke some this year.  Thanks

 

[mossymo]

The method I prefer for smoking a cased sausage of that size is -

- preheat the smoker to 130º

- put sausage into smoker without any smoke for an hour to allow the casings to dry

- raise temperature to 150º adding smoke for 2 hours

- raise temperature to170º to 190º without any smoke till the internal meat temperature reaches 155º

- move sausage to a cold water bath till sausage reaches room temperature. (optional) this helps reduce wrinkles in the casing.

 

[Bearcarver]

If you like it real smoky, and you used the cure like you said, you can take longer to smoke it, because you don't have to worry about the danger zone. If it's cured right, you can go to about 130˚ for a couple hours, then 150˚ for a couple, then 180˚/190˚ until it is 165˚ internal temp. Some would take it to a different internal, but most of my recipes call for 165˚. 

I never use instacure. I use Tender Quick. My TQ is one ounce to 2 pounds of solid meat & only 1/2 ounce to 2 pounds of ground meat.

I know 1 ounce of Instacure is good for 25 pounds of solid meat, but I would guess that means one ounce of Instacure for 50 pounds of ground meat, however don't go by my guess. Wait until somebody who knows Instacure confirms that, or do a search of "Instacure & Ground meat/sausage".

Bear

I just looked, It appears to be one ounce of Instacure to 25 pounds of meat, whether it's solid meat or ground meat. I find this very odd, so I would still check with a regular Instacure user.

 

[Bearcarver]

Mossy is right about the first hour, no smoke. I neglected to mention that.

I keep smoke going a lot longer though, because I am a smoke fiend.

Bear

 

[bobdog46]

Thanks for the advice- There seems to be confusion on cureing.- Does anybody have preferences on the cure to use for sausage ? Any pros or cons on the different cures ?  This will be my first attempt at smoking sausage and would like to get it right. I hate the thought of messing up 25 lbs or more of meat.  Thanks again   

 

[ak1]

I

I just looked, It appears to be one ounce of Instacure to 25 pounds of meat, whether it's solid meat or ground meat. I find this very odd, so I would still check with a regular Instacure user.

Bear,

I'm using Ready Cure, and their instruction is like instacure. Same ratio regardless of whether it's whole meat or ground.

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear,

I'm using Ready Cure, and their instruction is like instacure. Same ratio regardless of whether it's whole meat or ground.

That seems strange to me:

TQ cuts their amount in half for sausage stuffing, but the other cures don't.

What am I missing here?

Anybody?

Confused Bear (Not like this never happened before)

 

[beer-b-q]

That seems strange to me:

TQ cuts their amount in half for sausage stuffing, but the other cures don't.

What am I missing here?

Anybody?

Confused Bear (Not like this never happened before)

Bear

with TQ rubbed on the outside of whole meat you wash it off after it is cured...

Could you imagine how salty it would be with that much mixed into the ground meat. 

That would be my guess not being all that familiar with TQ in sausage...
 

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear

with TQ rubbed on the outside of whole meat you wash it off after it is cured...

Could you imagine how salty it would be with that much mixed into the ground meat. 

That would be my guess not being all that familiar with TQ in sausage...
 

Yes Paul, that was exactly my first thought, but that doesn't explain why the amount of nitrites used in sausage with TQ is only half of what is used on whole meats, yet the amount of nitrites used with the other cures is the same with whole meat as it is with sausage.
 

 

[princess]

I use Insta-Cure #1 in my brines as well as in my sausage. 1 oz to 25 lb of meat. Ground or solid, does not matter.

Bearcarver, my limited $.02 on this for you... and this is a TOTAL guess...

TQ contains a LOT of regular old salt. Sodium Chloride. Insta Cure #1 might not contain as much? All of my Insta Cure recipies call for the ADDITION of NaCl. (purified, non-iodized), as much as a cup per 25lb or more. How does that compare to a TQ recipie?

I really like the cold shower of sausage too. Not just for the shrinkage. Putting HOT meat into a COLD fridge will raise the temp of your fridge and put ALL your food at risk. Making the sausage COLD, fast is awfully nice.

Cheers!

-Princess

 

[mossymo]

I really like the cold shower of sausage too. Not just for the shrinkage. Putting HOT meat into a COLD fridge will raise the temp of your fridge and put ALL your food at risk. Making the sausage COLD, fast is awfully nice.

During the winter a now-yellow snow bank works great also

 

[mballi3011]

I like to use tender-quik and instacure myself. But I thought we were talking about smoking the sausage. I think that all of you have it right and the first hour or so no smoke and then after that you add smoke. I like to start my sausage out about 85°-90° for that hour and then go up from there. Usually in maybe 20° intervals until I get to the needed temp of 180°-190° and the internal temp of maybe 152°ish. I have heard as much as 165 but to me thats way to hot and long to smoke the sausage. Now it's a long process but to me it worth it.

 

[Bearcarver]

I use Insta-Cure #1 in my brines as well as in my sausage. 1 oz to 25 lb of meat. Ground or solid, does not matter.

Bearcarver, my limited $.02 on this for you... and this is a TOTAL guess...

TQ contains a LOT of regular old salt. Sodium Chloride. Insta Cure #1 might not contain as much? All of my Insta Cure recipies call for the ADDITION of NaCl. (purified, non-iodized), as much as a cup per 25lb or more. How does that compare to a TQ recipie?

I really like the cold shower of sausage too. Not just for the shrinkage. Putting HOT meat into a COLD fridge will raise the temp of your fridge and put ALL your food at risk. Making the sausage COLD, fast is awfully nice.

Cheers!

-Princess

That is one of my guesses too, because with TQ, you don't add any other salt. TQ is mostly salt, yet it never makes any of my stuff too salty. It just seems odd, because I think they all have the same amount of nitrites used per pound of whole meat. I guess if you didn't cut the TQ in half for ground meat, it would be too salty, but the part that confuses me is you are using only half as much nitrites with TQ in sausage, but the full amount with the other cures.


 

During the winter a now-yellow snow bank works great also

Yup, I use that often in the winter. It's a lot easier to find white snow since we lost out Lab a few years ago too.

 

[princess]

Ahh... but TQ also has niTRITES *and* niTRATES whereas Insta Cure #1 only has niTRATES. IQ#2 has the niTRITES.

NaCl helps with curing too, as it reduces the aW. Just not as dramatically. (I am *such* a nerd!!) 

-Princess
 

That is one of my guesses too, because with TQ, you don't add any other salt. TQ is mostly salt, yet it never makes any of my stuff too salty. It just seems odd, because I think they all have the same amount of nitrites used per pound of whole meat. I guess if you didn't cut the TQ in half for ground meat, it would be too salty, but the part that confuses me is you are using only half as much nitrites with TQ in sausage, but the full amount with the other cures.

 

 

[ak1]

So, TQ would be similar to IQ#2 or Prague powder 2 ?
 

Ahh... but TQ also has niTRITES *and* niTRATES whereas Insta Cure #1 only has niTRATES. IQ#2 has the niTRITES.

NaCl helps with curing too, as it reduces the aW. Just not as dramatically. (I am *such* a nerd!!) 

-Princess
 

 

[princess]

I don't think so. They appear pretty chemically different.

TQ does its own little thing in the curing world. We can swap DQ 1/Prague Powder 1/InstaCure 1 for each other. Each company make BOTH chemicals (nitrate and nitrite)  and although you can't swap "ite" for "ate" you can swap one company's "ite" for another company's "ite." (or "ate" for "ate")

This is why Charcuterie refers to it simply as "pink salt"...

But Morton's Tender Quick is a proprietary blend of curing salts designed by Morton Salt (the Chick-with-the-umbrella)   I know Bearcarver is a follower of the TQ and Morton's has put out a recipe book using TQ.  As I really want to try nearly every recipe in Book-Of-Rytek, I bought IQ 1&2.

I *really* need to type up a nice letter to the folks at Morton and ask for advice...

I also need to do a Jules-and-Julia version of Rytek's Book. ::chuckle::

-Princess
 

So, TQ would be similar to IQ#2 or Prague powder 2 ?
 

 

 

[Bearcarver]

Ahh... but TQ also has niTRITES *and* niTRATES whereas Insta Cure #1 only has niTRATES. IQ#2 has the niTRITES.

NaCl helps with curing too, as it reduces the aW. Just not as dramatically. (I am *such* a nerd!!) 

-Princess
 

The thing that started this comparison (post #1) did not specify #1 or #2. The question in my mind is not why the other cures don't cut theirs' in half. It is why TQ cuts their's in half. When I have time, I will call them.

Bear
 

 

[princess]

I have too many trees and dogs to find ANY clean snow by me this winter! LOL But I really was thinking about filling my bathtub with ice and cold water as I was spraying down the Summer Sausage. Then I was like, "Ooohh... when was the last time I scrubbed this tub??" and decided to leave 'em on the smokesticks just to be on the safe side!!

Cheers!

 

During the winter a now-yellow snow bank works great also