Why is Winter Time preferred for smoking sausage?

[exhaustedspark]

 

[exhaustedspark]

Oh yea the question for the start of the thread.

I believe it is do to habit. That is when they used to butcher the pig so they did not have to feed it during the winter.

just a thought.

Karl

 

[shooterrick]

OK well these discussions often create different opinions and yes I agree with Kutas.  I make fresh Italian and Breakfast sausage and Bratts.  I keep it all so cold my hands hurt when mixing in a bus tub.  I then vac pac and freeze after setting a few hours in the fridge. 

If I am making a sausage to smoke I use a short time cure like TQ or the proper Instacure measured carefully and time given in the fridge for the cure to do its thing.  Andouille, Polish, ect I do this way. 

Freeze fresh no cure.  Smoke first use a cure.  Hell Celery has lots of Nitrates in it.  I love the stuff!

 

[shooterrick]

OOPS!  The original ?.  Yes it is because temps are better for making sausage and bacon and such in the winter.  As far as just making sausage fresh in todays climate controlled world with air conditioning I would not worry about it if making indoors and keeping in mind to grind and mix very cold meat.  As far as smoking it I guess it would depend on the days temps after curing and what the bottom line temp you can keep your smoker.  If all prep is cool indoors then the outside temps and what you can do with your smoker, would be the only concern if the sausage is cured properly.  You can always consider buying or making a cold smoke generator that produces little heat but use a cure when smoking any ground product or cold smoked product.

 

[exhaustedspark]

There one was a young lady that wanted to know why the ham was always cut off on the ends.   So she asked her mother. her mother said i don't know. Grandma always did it so they went to the old folks home and asked Grandma. and she said the pan was short so we had to cut off the ends to make it fit.

Yep sometimes the answer is the simplest answer.

They just had to butcher the pig because they did not want to feed it during the winter.

Karl

 

[laszlo]

They just had to butcher the pig because they did not want to feed it during the winter.

Karl

As far as I remember it has very little to do about not wanting to feed the pig during the winter. Folks got baby piglets usually early in the spring as nobody would risk growing them during winter (the barns tended to be without climate control...). In summer the pigs did not have the size. In November, early December the size of the pigs  was just right. Some people liked to kill pigs when they reached 250-300kg and it usually happened in February.

Distinct advantage of winter was lack of blowflies and other bugs. Mind you the pig was butchered not only to provide meat for sausages, but it was time to prepare bacons and hams. Impossible to do during warm months. Fridges are and were widely available, but not to store 200 kg worth of meat and meat products.

 

[hemi]

Getting back to the original post. I think it has to do primarily with the season. Tradition dates back to the days prior to modern refrigeration and the growing season. The hogs were at the end of the summer season where feed was plentiful. I am not so certain it applies to the times we live in today.

Even so, I do most of my sausage making in the late fall through early spring. I can work outside on the back patio without needing to make a mess of Mrs. Solaryellow's kitchen and no concern of bugs and excessive temps that could cause troubles throughout the process. I also find smoker temps easier to control in the mild Carolina winter than the hot humid summer.

I live about 30-35 miles west of you..I seldom post but I felt obliged to help beat this horse some more..  Nitrates ARE poison.  So is OXYGEN in pure form. It also is a pain when welding.  corrodes the metal something awful. We can't do without Oxygen.  We are unable to eliminate nitrates in total also.

  Nowadays U can make sausage at any time of the year because we can keep the temp.where we need it to be a LOT easier than we could

back inna day.

When I was a boy in the mountains of NC. [andrews-murphy] we did not have the ways to keep the meat at a safe temp for any length of time, especially the amount that a hog produces..  My folks did not have electricity until the mid sixtys.  Could have got it sooner but can U say

STUBBORN ?

  I ain't postin this to step on no toes.. Just that I remember the times being discussed.

 We always waited until after the first frost and started gettin the stuff together..  When we started butchering alla the neighbors helped to do it QUICK

Basicly because of the cold weather was a help and the feeding of the stock, the weight of the pigs and so forth.  Just about ALL the reasons

stated came into play.

  My part in it was being a goffer.  U guessed it..  Goffer this, goffer that..   My main job was helpin Mom And Granny  make liver mush in that

monster size caldron.  A slap onna back of the head made me stir that stuff till my arms about fell off.   The next few days we would help the neighbors.  No such thing as ''too busy''   ''ain't got time''  not more than once anyhow..   Just about all the reasons stated are true to some extent. 
 

 

[alblancher]

Lazlo  Where you raising them 300kg pigs,  You had hogzillas you where butchering. 

 

[laszlo]

In Central Europe, up to late seventies. These hogs were called Easter Pigs as they were butchered few weeks before Easter to stock pantry to the hilt. 300kg was the norm for any selfrespecting farmer.

 

[kielbasa kid]

I see this time and time again. Yes the Nitrites are poison. Of course they are. That is why we use in moderation. If it was not then it would not kill the botulism.  My water "well" has arsenic as does any one Else's. This is very common However do not eat a cup of pure arsenic.

There is no proof that nitrates cause cancer or any other illness in the proper doses. Especially since we have it in our own body's naturally.

I have seen where anything smoked is believed to cause cancer. i do not believe so.

I will continue to smoke and cure and drink my well water.

I also will continue to Discuss my opinions and kk's

Hey the guy has a great dog what can i say.

Life is good.

Karl

The number one cancer in Poland according to the Cancer Society, is stomach cancer; courtesy of smoked meats.

Argue the point with them.

I have NOTHING to prove.

Real men, do not ingest smoked meats in, "moderation".

  I always 

 out.

As for "well water" and "arsenic"; do you still have a full head of hair?

Or does it come out by the hand full?

Everyone knows that vodka and orange juice are put in water to neutralize the bad stuff. Get with the program already. Gee willikers kimosabe.

I quit! This is like

I feel like Sisyphus.
 

 

[tgil]

Wow! Just got back to this thread. Lots was said while I was away.

 

[sirhuntsalot]

I just made a 25 pound batch of venison/pork summer sausage yesterday. The temp was in the 90s. If I was making it out in the hot sun them maybe I would be in trouble. It was ground inside at a very cold temp and the seasoning and "cure was put in. It was placed in the fridge overnight after I had stuffed it. Now the directions tell us to let it dry for an hour at 100 and then add smoke at 110 for four hours. Then up to 175 until the internal temp was 156. So if the meat is at 100 to 110 for up to five hours why would it matter if it was summer or winter? It doesn't. The meat just knows its at 100 and the temp outside the smoker means nothing. Now the "cure" is a MUST for this kind of sausage. It is cooked low and slow for a long time and thats why you must have cure in it. If you dont want to use cure then summer sausage isn't for you.

I've killed deer with the temps in the 80s several times. People down south have to handle meat in warm temps all the time. Some places around the world don't have winter and they still handle meat and fish and dont die because time test techniques.

Make your summer sausage...you will be fine if you follow a little common sense.

 

 

[exhaustedspark]

I just made a 25 pound batch of venison/pork summer sausage yesterday. The temp was in the 90s. If I was making it out in the hot sun them maybe I would be in trouble. It was ground inside at a very cold temp and the seasoning and "cure was put in. It was placed in the fridge overnight after I had stuffed it. Now the directions tell us to let it dry for an hour at 100 and then add smoke at 110 for four hours. Then up to 175 until the internal temp was 156. So if the meat is at 100 to 110 for up to five hours why would it matter if it was summer or winter? It doesn't. The meat just knows its at 100 and the temp outside the smoker means nothing. Now the "cure" is a MUST for this kind of sausage. It is cooked low and slow for a long time and thats why you must have cure in it. If you dont want to use cure then summer sausage isn't for you.

I've killed deer with the temps in the 80s several times. People down south have to handle meat in warm temps all the time. Some places around the world don't have winter and they still handle meat and fish and dont die because time test techniques.

Make your summer sausage...you will be fine if you follow a little common sense.

 

 

Amen X 3. The wife wanted her say also.  So far the only problem i have had with SS is i let the temp get to hot. FAT OUT CITY. Still made some great meatloaf.

Now i want the temps to cool down so i can butcher a couple of pigs. That for my comfort though not the pigs.

Happy smoken

Karl

 

[tsulcoski]

kielbasa kid..........

Just because you have been doing it that way for 50 years, doesnt make it right!!!!

Even bridges that were built 50 years ago are being built differently today, they were good for 50 years but not anymore.

Sodium nitrite and nitrate can be poisonous if you use too much. In moderation and according to instructions they are not any more harmful than eating a bag of chips.

Powdered Milk as a Filler ...............after 70 yrears of making sausage?

 

[deejaydebi]

One reason butchering and sausage making was done in the fall and early winter is because the outside temperatures are cooler making it easier to keep the meat from going bad. Outside temperatures in the fall in New England can be as low as 40 degrees at day break in the fall keeping the meat cold. Smokers were made of stone holding in the cold and insulating from the heat so even if the day time temperatures were in the 70's and 80's the smoker was still cool. Live stock was traditionally butched in late October or early November for this reason. Most non-commercial farmers here still holf to those old time traditions even if they don't know why they are doing it.

The second reason this is done is because the meat is more tender and marbled after a full summer of eatting fresh grasses verses corn and grains which are not fully diguested by most animals. Animals are cold and tense all winter loosing body fats and making the muscle tissue more dense. As the animals slowly relax and graise  through the summer season they gain weight and become softer and less stringy giving us a fattier, more tender tasty meat.

The third reason is because all the crops were harvested giving the farmers more time to spend processing the meat.

And now you know the rest of the story ....