Venison Summer Sausage in the Oven

[stiltzm109r]

Since my smokers are stored away for the winter, I can't do my Venison on the Smoker.  I'm looking at doing my Summer Sausages in the oven.  I have them in the fridge packed in their casings already.  What's the best way to do this?  Really low temp for a longer period of time or 350 for 1 hour?  The lowest my oven will go is 170.  To check the internal temp, do I poke a thermometer through the casing to check?

 

[woodcutter]

You don't want to go higher than 170 or the fat will render out of the sausage. Another way is to poach them in water in something like a Nesco oven or a large enough roasting pan on the stove. You need to monitor the sausage internal temp and the oven or water temp (no higher than 170). The sausage will be done when the IT is 152. Than put the sausage in an ice bath to stop the cooking and hang to dry.

 

[stiltzm109r]

How long you think it will take?

 

[timberjet]

How much are you doing? What size chubs? I start mine in my big chief that likes to run 140 or so for a few hours for smoke and then either poach in an electric roasting pan. Which are usually on sale this time of year by the way. I got mine at wallyworld for 40 bucks. There is quite a bit of information in the sausage section and the search feature at the top of this page is your friend. It is hard to figure time. Cook to temperature not time. Then like Woodcutter said you will want to do rapid cooling. I then hang mine to dry before vac. sealing.

 

[stiltzm109r]

They are about 1 pound chubs.  10.5 inches long and 5 of them.  So 170 in the oven until internal temp of about 152 and then ice bath and hang.  I don't own a vacuum sealer.  Hmmm.  Have to figure something out.  Just hang them until the casing is dry?  My last question is since they are in casings already, do I just lay them directly on the rack in the oven?

I know, I know..  New guy, and lots of questions... 

 

[woodcutter]

You can lay them on the oven rack. For freezing wrap in ceran wrap and then freezer paper. Time is hard to judge. It can take 6-12 hours in the smoker. The poaching method is much faster.

 

[stiltzm109r]

Thanks for all the help!  Just a quick of shot of what I am dealing with.  This is only the first batch.  I still have about 20+ pounds of meat to make snack sticks and more of this with...

IMAG0295.jpg

• stiltzm109r
• Dec 10, 2013

 

[daveomak]

Those look like about 2 1/2" sticks....  at 170 ish degrees they will take about 24-30 hours....  which is good... nice and slow...  I would add a pie tin of water in the oven so the casings don't dry out and seal the moisture inside the casing....  you want the chub to dry evenly...   When the outside dries and hardens, they call that "case hardening"...   not good when drying big thick sticks like you have...   

Cooking to 155 ish would be good....  Insert the therm in the end of a chub, down the center for temp reading... I'd wait until the 24 hour mark..... 

Here's an FSIS temp chart for non-intact meat and time cooking....

I am assuming you have used cure #1 in the meat mix........    This chart shows "how long at what temp" for safe to eat products...  I always go longer than the chart allows....  As an example, if the chub is at 150 and it takes another hour for it to get to 155, then you know it is safe by 14+ minutes...... 

Anyway, that is how I interpret the chart....   Dave

TimeVTempnonintactmeats.jpg

• daveomak
• Dec 10, 2013

 

[pkdjr8]

Question, I just made 10lb of venison sausage, started to smoke approx 3-4 lbs on a charbroil offset smoker, but it seems to overcook on the firebox end, barely gets warm on the other, and is extremely difficult to maintain a constant temperature, so after about 4 hours, portions of the sausage were getting too much heat on the firebox end of the grille and barely warm on the other so I decided to remove it and put it in the fridge. Now I read where I could possibly do it in the convection oven, but my question is , do I just not take a chance and throw the partially cooked sausage away, or could I put it in my convection oven and finish it? thank you for any info on this.