Brat help!!!!

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dwaytkus

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Apr 9, 2013
136
42
Hudson Falls, NY
Okay.  I am going to try making some wild turkey/pork shoulder brats.  I will be using a pre-packaged Brat seasoning (Legg's Old Plantation). 

I plan on freezing for future meals. 

Should I

Boil the links till they are 165?  And do I add pink salt?

Hot smoke them with cure?

Cold smoke them?  And do they get cure?

I guess the problem I have is I dont' fully understand when it should have pink curing salt.  Can someone help me?

Dan
 
That is a good mix ... the turkey is pretty lean so you might want to add an extra touch of fat.  The wild turkey has an off flavor so you might just want to make a pound the first go to taste it.  I also add about 5% more mix than the package says and I add 2 Tbs of NFPM per pound for a binder.  Stuff in 32-25mm casings.

I like to grill and or cook my brats with kraut and other things.  So I generally do not process them too far and treat them as a fresh sausage.

However, as a matter of personal policy, I always add #1 cure because sometimes I forget what's what when I'm making 4-5 things at the same time.  It will not hurt you at all but it may save you bacon.

I add the cure (1 tsp/5 lb) and then I cold smoke them about 4 hours to get some good color.  From there you can freeze them for future use or I sometime poach them in 160° water to an internal temp of 152 degrees and then package/freeze.  Since I always cook them before eating it is not important that I process them further than the smoke.

I would not hot smoke them ever.

If you cold smoke cure is a MUST.
 
Last edited:
Why would you never hot smoke them?

Ok so you can't get hurt adding the cure #1 whether you are gonna freeze as fresh sausage, cold smoke , boil , or hot.  Correct?

I am just trying to get the does and don't about cure #1. 

Thanks for your response. 

Dan
 
Okay.  I am going to try making some wild turkey/pork shoulder brats.  I will be using a pre-packaged Brat seasoning (Legg's Old Plantation). 

I plan on freezing for future meals. 

Should I

Boil the links till they are 165?  And do I add pink salt?

Hot smoke them with cure?

Cold smoke them?  And do they get cure?

I guess the problem I have is I dont' fully understand when it should have pink curing salt.  Can someone help me?

Dan
Are you wanting the sausages cooked then frozen so you can just thaw, heat and eat or do you want to freeze raw sausage and later thaw cook/smoke and serve.
 
I want frozen brats i can thaw and throw on the grill to heat up. so im gonna go with boiling them to 160. I might cold smoke then boil
 
Then all you need to do is freeze them immediately ... do not need cure or poaching.  Thaw and throw on the grill .. serve with a lot of good BEER!
 
frozen raw brats or frozen cooked brats? If you cold smoke you need cure... Sausage without cure is fresh sausage and can be frozen and thawed, grilled, hot smoked or boiled. hot smoking is between 180 to 250 for sausage. If you add cure it becomes cured sausage and can be cooked at lower temps for longer periods of time and can be cold smoked but I would not add cure to raw sausage and freeze to be cold smoked or smoked over a long period of time at a later time..... From what I have read cure will dissipate over time......
 
As indicated above, if you smoke them add cure #1. If you want to immediately freeze them to use for fresh sausage to thaw and grill, no need to add cure. Anytime you want to smoke them then add cure. 40° to 140° within four hours is the rule or add cure. to be safe, add cure to any sausage you plan to smoke. Period. That is the best plan in my opinion...RTB
 
CURES - Cures are used in sausage products for color and flavor development as well as retarding the development of bacteria in
the low temperature environment of smoked meats.
Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word "cure" refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.
The primary and most important reason to use cures is to prevent BOTULISM POISONING (Food poisoning). It is very important that any kind of meat or sausage that will be cooked and smoked at low temperature be cured. To trigger botulism poisoning, the requirements are quite simple - lack of oxygen, the presence of moisture, and temperatures in range of 40-140° F. When smoking meats, the heat and smoke eliminates the oxygen. The meats have moisture and are traditionally smoked and cooked in the low ranges of 90 to 185° F. As you can see, these are ideal conditions for food poisoning if you don't use cures. There are two types of commercially used cures.

Prague Powder #1
Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. Cures are used to prevent meats from spoiling when being cooked or smoked at low temperatures (under 200 degrees F). This cure is 1 part sodium nitrite (6.25%) and 16 parts salt (93.75%) and are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to ‘gas out’ at about 130 degrees F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20% of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Mix with cold water, then mix into meat like you would mix seasonings into meat.
 
 
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