garlic sausage question

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nozzleman

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Aug 13, 2009
331
14
Texas-near Dallas
I found a reicpe I want to try that is a cured garlic sausage that I plan on stuffing into natural casings. My question is if I am not going to eat them right away do I mix it all up and stuff the casings and freeze them or go ahead and put them in the MES and cook them to a temp of ? and properly cool them then freeze?
 
I'm more than a little confused here. The ONLY reason to put cure into a sausage is to make sure it stays safe during the long rise in temperature from 38 degrees to over 140 degrees. Most sausages are smoked at somewhat low temperatures, hence the need for a cure.

If you're not going to smoke it, but are going to cook it right away or freeze it, there is really no need to put any cure in at all. Just make a fresh sausage would be my advice. Why put the nitrites into the sausage (and your body) if it isn't absolutely necessary?

Just my $.02
 
If this is gonna be smoked, add the cure, stuff an then smoke ta about 155° internal. Give em the cold shower then let them rest in the fridge overnight. Know vac bag an freeze. They ya just thaw out what ya wanna eat.

If yer not ever gonna smoke em, leave out the cure. Then yall have ta cook em after ya thaw them out IE: in the oven er on the grill, not low an slow.
 
I think the confusion is coming from the word "cook", then mentioning an MES smoker.

I think to most of us here, "cooking" a sausage implies a fresh sausage (such as a brat) that you are going to pan fry, or grill over high heat (e.g. over 250F). For this case, you don't need cure and you can stuff it, freeze it, thaw when needed and cook. No matter how you cook it, the internal temp should reach 165F.

By mentioning both cure and using a MES, I think by "cook", you mean smoke. For this case, you would use cure and you would smoke for several hours over relatively low heat (e.g. start around 100-120 with no smoke to dry the casings, then increase to 130-145 and apply smoke for a few hours, then increase to 165-175 and continue until internal temp of sausage reaches 152). At this point, they are fully cooked. If you don't plan to eat them immediately, you should cool them in an ice water bath, refrigerate overnight, then you can package, freeze, and re-heat them as desired.
 
Well if the recipe you found calls for a cure, then the recipe was intended to be smoked. However, if you want to make them fresh, you can leave the cure out. You will not smoke them then, but rather cook them, at higher temps, like a braut on the grill. Just make the recipe as it is, following the instructions, but leave out the cure, package in serving size portions and freeze.
 
There you go Bubba....there's an answer to just about any question you might have on here. That's why I love this place so much.
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