Summer Sausage - Pasteurization

[ebbtide3673]

Smoked a 50# batch of summer sausage last night/today. Went for ~ 17 hours. At ~16 hours, I checked them and about 2/3rds were still in the 140 range while the other 1/3rd were ready to come off. (Several at the low end). I put the 2/3rd that were in the 140s back on for another hour. ITs seemed to hold about where they had been when I checked, but based on the pasteurization table seems like they should be good to go, correct? More than anything, want to make sure I'm not going to get anyone sick. :)

I haven't done any pasteurization before but it seems logical so I went ahead and followed it vs. raising the temp higher OR waiting several more hours for the IT temp to reach 152. Should I be worried or am I good to go here?

Found the table referenced here where I found a more detailed blog link here. https://archeryrob.wordpress.com/20...perature-for-summer-sausage-and-snack-sticks

 

[indaswamp]

Correct. The summer sausage should be pasteurized. If you go a bit longer it will help to dry them out some more, all up to you as far as the texture you are going for. But unless you dry to 35-40% weight loss, the summer sausages will not be shelf stable and must be stored under refrigeration.

 

[ebbtide3673]

Cool and thank you! We typically cut them in half, vacuum seal, and freeze which allows us to take out as we're using them.

More than anything, just want to make sure they're cooked enough and won't make anyone ill, which it sounds like is probably the case.

 

[indaswamp]

If you fermented the sausages, or added some acid to the mix, the combo of acid, heat, and loss of water wrecks havoc on the bad bugs...as long as you reach temp on the tables, and hold for the prescribed timeline, you should be good.

As a tip-I always place the probe in the center of a link that is in the coolest part of the smokehouse to ensure all the links achieve pasteurization temp.

 

[ebbtide3673]

Gotcha. Appreciate that! Just trying to learn and have a deeper understanding of what's happening.

I didn't ferment or add acid, just used the Waltons H Summer Sausage mix with Cure #1.

That's a good tip about the probe. I placed a probe down through the top and up through the bottom of several sausages but didn't place it in the middle. (6" probe and sausages are 2.5" x 20")

I did check each sausage this way when I first checked them and again when I pulled them out and had 3 probes in 3 different sausages spread around the smoker for the extra hour of smoke time.

Should I be concerned that maybe the center of the sausages didn't entirely cook through/pasteurize?