SS fail

[kuroki]

So I understand the reason for using sous vide to hold to achieve a safe product at a lower finished temperature. What I am less clear about is if you are pulling at 152° is there any reason to use that as opposed to a stock pot at 170° and poaching until it hits 152°? I am wanting to try summer sausage soon and ideally would like to avoid this outcome

 

[SmokinEdge]

Pork fat starts melting 104*F beef fat starts melting 120*F but that doesn’t mean they leave the sausage at that temp. That said the Polish poach at 170*F but I tried that in SV and was a dumpster fire. In my smoker most of my sausage comes out after 4-5 hours at 120-130*F and into 151*F water bath for 30-45 minutes and they are done. I think the longer they are in the hot water the more potential for fat out, that’s just my experience.

Here is what Stanley Marianski has to say about fat and temperature.

”There is very little fat loss between 150-190*F or even up to the boiling point of water 212F. There is a significant fat loss at temperatures over 248F. This is the range that covers barbecuing, grilling or roasting. At those temperatures the fat leaks out of the meat”
Chapter 6 of Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages, page #104.

What he doesn’t say is how long you can hold meats “in the correct temperature range” my experience is not long at all, but then I have smoked sausage for up to 10 hours ramping up slowly from 120-160F with some fat dripping but not bad at all and time above 150F was short. SV though seems more powerful (obviously) than dry heat, so again it comes back to time in temperature, keep that as short as possible. This all assumes a quality grind and no fat smear.

 

[kuroki]

Thanks, that makes sense to me.
I was just reading that exact chapter of that book this afternoon and was trying to make sense of what he suggests vs what I've been reading here.

 

[jkc64]

A BIG Thank you to everyone for the feedback. I think the biggest mistake was the cheap meat. Plenty of other errors but I think the meat was the big one. Time to try again. It would be a lot more fun if someone else did the clean up.

 

[indaswamp]

It would be a lot more fun if someone else did the clean up.

LOL! Ain't that the truth!

 

[wesir]

Did you use a binder like suregel? Also how was your protein extraction when mixing? I did a batch a week or two ago with suregel and ECA and it seemed to work pretty well other than the fact that I had to sweat them at 150 in the smoker afterwards to get rid of some of the excess water I put in to help with stuffing, flavor was too watered down and sous vide prevented the excess water from evaporating.

I used a $2 a pound 10lb 27/73 roll from GFS

 

[jkc64]

No added binder by me. I don't know if there is any it the PS Seasoning mixes. This is the first time I've used something other than 80/20 from GFS. I thought I got a good mix but not as tacky as the 80/20 usually turns out.