Rendered fat, rookie mistake.

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pit 4 brains

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Dec 16, 2009
2,557
618
Summerville, SC
Well I mixed up a batch of beef kielbasa today. I had 5 lb of 93% lean ground beef and was told that is too lean so I mixed in a little over a pound of ground pork fat. Mixed all ingredients and even a little cayenne and some crushed red pepper. Sausage was stuffed and into the smokehouse at about 150 or so for 45 minutes, then smoke put on the hotplate. Temp up to about 160 then 165 and finnaly it went up around 175ish. I'm having a hard time keeping temps down when the smoke wood gets red hot. My sausage temp steadily climbed then plateaued at 141 and it stayed put! I let it roll for a while while the house went to about 185 and then it dawned on me.. fat breaking down! I hopped on here to confirm my beliefs and I did. My smokehouse had  gotten too hot and my sausage was rendering out. I stopped everything at 141. My sausage looks good, It tastes good, but is it safe having only been to 141?? I could use it for gumbos, jambalayas and other cooked dishes I guess or brown and serve for breakfast?? Thoughts?
 
You didn't mention whether or not you used a cure or the length of time between stuffing and pulling from the smoker. 
 
Usda says the ground beef is safe when cooked to 160 to kill ecoli...But yours is cured im assuming. I bet your ok.But habg on more people will be along.
 
If I am smoking sausage I always use cure.

Start at 100 no smoke for an hour.

Then smoke for an hour, raising the temp 15-20 every couple hours.

Once the amazen burns out I crank it to 170 til it it hits 152/155 IT.

 Good luck!!!

  Craig
 
You didn't mention whether or not you used a cure or the length of time between stuffing and pulling from the smoker. 
Sorry.. I used 3 Tbls TQ for 6 lbs of mix. The sausage is definately cured. I put it in the smoker at about 1315 and pulled it out 1645. It was at 141 degrees for about 45 minutes. It hung in the kitchen for about 15 minutes before going into the smokehouse..

 
 
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Any Pics....................definatly cured........... you might want to let the meat cure over night or at least 4 hrs in the fridge
 
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pete, i have not made any smoked /cured sausage yet so i can't speak on this, was there melted fat coming out? couldn't you have opened the door to vent a little heat out of your smoke house? if it was cured the time frame is not an issue.....you could have even went longer, the final internal temp is what i don't think is o.k.
 
We're just gonna treat it like my cold smoked bacon. I told the wife to heat it up till it renders out the fat again before serving. I had some yesterday and i'm not twitching yet.
 
We use to smoke our sausage like that all the time. Just smoked it enough to give it a smokey flavor but you treat it like a raw brat meaning that you will cook it again before you eat it. We either boil it or my favorite way is on the grill. Ours were cured then smoked at around 150 degrees for 1-2 hours depending on what we had for time and then they would get packaged and then put in the freezer until we wanted to eat them.
 
We use to smoke our sausage like that all the time. Just smoked it enough to give it a smokey flavor but you treat it like a raw brat meaning that you will cook it again before you eat it. We either boil it or my favorite way is on the grill. Ours were cured then smoked at around 150 degrees for 1-2 hours depending on what we had for time and then they would get packaged and then put in the freezer until we wanted to eat them.
that's a good idea..........
 
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