First try at summer sausage... what did I do wrong?

[bulldogg]

I don't have a smoker yet but wanted to take a try at some summer sausage so I used this recipe http://southern.food.com/recipe/summer-sausage-15833 except for instead of putting bare logs in the oven, I stuffed them into hog casings. 8 hours at 150 and then 1 hour at 160, ice water for 10 minutes and they're blooming now. Except, one link had cracked its casing so I cut it off to have an early taste and while the outside looks great, the inside has the look and texture of raw meat still. Did I do something wrong? Will the bloom harden it up to the firmness of summer sausage or is there something I can do to salvage this batch? A few more hours at a higher temp? Thanks for any tips.

 

[DanMcG]

You need to go by internal temperature of the sausage. I'd guess it's undercooked. You want to cook it till you get an IT of 150°-160° and at your posted temps, that could take a real long time.

 

[africanmeat]

Hi Bulldogg

the temp that you give on the post is it the temp of the oven or the IT temp 

you have to bring it to 155'-160' f IT  i think that your sausage was not cooked ( i mean your summer sausage was not cooked

)

 

[SmokinAl]

Did you check the internal temp of the sausage, when you took it out of the smoker?

 

[fpnmf]

A picture would be real helpful.

Did you make it exactly as the recipe is posted??

  Craig

 

[bulldogg]

Ah, no I didn't check the internal temp, I guess I figured 9 hours at 150 must be enough time to bring the meat up to 150 too, and since the recipe said 9 hours I figured that was that. Could I finish them off now by say kicking it up to 250 until I get the IT of 160? Or what would be a proper temp to raise it to to get my desired IT? Sorry I don't have pics right now, I used up the last of my cameras battery on the "before" pics and those wont be much help. Thanks for the quick help though. That recipe has good reviews too, I cant imagine how it turned out well for them if they followed it to the letter like I did, 150 for 9 hours, wouldn't they end up with uncooked sausage too, but none of the reviews mention having that problem. Oh well, we'll see if I can salvage it.

 

[mballi3011]

Pictures would be better but it sounds like you need a trip to the store for a couple of things. Maybe a good digital thermometer oh yea and a smoker to. But it is good that your are trying new stuff and sausage is a great thing but it will get addictive soon. So run out and get a smoker and start making more sausage.

 

[africanmeat]

Ah, no I didn't check the internal temp, I guess I figured 9 hours at 150 must be enough time to bring the meat up to 150 too, and since the recipe said 9 hours I figured that was that. Could I finish them off now by say kicking it up to 250 until I get the IT of 160? Or what would be a proper temp to raise it to to get my desired IT? Sorry I don't have pics right now, I used up the last of my cameras battery on the "before" pics and those wont be much help. Thanks for the quick help though. That recipe has good reviews too, I cant imagine how it turned out well for them if they followed it to the letter like I did, 150 for 9 hours, wouldn't they end up with uncooked sausage too, but none of the reviews mention having that problem. Oh well, we'll see if I can salvage it.

  I will do 6 hours 150 and raise it to 185 till  it is  155-160 IT
But you need a good thermometer and like mballi3011 said  it is addictive, 

 

[boykjo]

your oven seems to have been the problem....... the oven tries to regulate 150 degrees and trying to keep such a low temp in your oven it couldn't maintain the recommended 150 degrees. your temps probably dropped out of the 150 degree range for half of the cooking time........ just a thought.................

Joe

 

[BGKYSmoker]

You used hog casing.

You could have put them in 160* hot water to bring the IT up and not have a fat out.

I believe jo has the mark for you.