drying kielbasa

[bagbeard]

Hi All, 

long time since i posted on here

I have a question about kielbasa.  I normally make it with the standard amount of cure #1 and then cold smoke for a couple of hours and then raise the chamber temp in stages until it reaches 180F and the sausages have an internal temp of 150F.  I then plunge into ice bath until cooled and hang for a few hours or overnight.  Everything works great and i love the results.  

I was wondering if I could cool sausages and put back into smoker with a chamber temp of 140F or less to dry the sausages for a few days like i do with jerky.  I dont want to totally dry age them like salami so i dont want to use cure 2.  

unlike jerky , the meat is cooked so was wondering if the cooking effects the sodium nitrite.

2015-04-03 15.54.07.jpg

• bagbeard
• Apr 4, 2015

 

[chef jimmyj]

I have never tried drying at 140. I have successfully dried 19mm sticks at 35-40°F outside in the smoker with the door cracked. Do you have a cold airy cellar or other area in this temp range?. I don't see a safety issue doing what you want or even going lower to 120-130°F. I just don't know how the texture and quality will be...JJ

 

[bagbeard]

Thanks Chef

I live in Southern Ontario and temps outside are pretty cold right now.  you figure 35-40 is best temp? i could set my PID for that temp.  as long as weather cooperates. what about humidity?

 

[ak1]

I'm confused? 

So, you've made these sausages, cured & cooked. Perfect, they're good to go. Now, you want to re cook them?

Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[boykjo]

You can dry them in the refrigerator. They will lose moisture with the low humidity and air flow the fridge has . Lay them criss cross to get good air flow around them. Here's some dried kabanos I made. you can see the difference two weeks made. The larger sausage may take a little more time.....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/134705/kabanos-dried-and-finished/20

Boykjo

 

[chef jimmyj]

The refer can work. Mine just stays too moist and I got mold on the batch I had in there. Doing them in the 35-40 smoker there was more air and less humidity. The Kabanosy came out great in 3-4 days...JJ

 

[bagbeard]

thanks for all the info. i will try drying in my smoker with pid keeping temp like fridge temp.  

 

[bagbeard]

AK-1 i dont want to recook, just dry them out a little. want a little more chew to them

 

[ak1]

OK, I see. Do what Boyko says. Just leave them in the fridge for a few weeks or more depending on how hard you want them.

I'm actually doing the same thing with some dry smoked sausage.