Smoking Sausage & Cure Question

[freakincage]

Hello Gurus,

I've been smoking fresh meats and brined meats that require cure #1 for quite some time and now have decided I'd like to try my hand at making sausage...but I need some clarification. This will probably sound like a silly question to many of you and I think I'm probably just looking too much into it.

To start my journey, I want to make sausage that is raw and freeze it until I'm ready to smoke or grill it...I guess this is referred to as "fresh sausage". Every article and post that I have read says that if you smoke sausage, it needs to have cure in the spice mix. I'm thinking that this is meant to apply to cured sausages like kielbasa and similar, but not to sausage that is being made to eat for dinner the eve it was cooked, like a hamburger patty on the grill.

If my sausage (without cure) was put in the smoker at something like 230F and cooked to an internal temp of 165F, it should be fine right, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

 

[indaswamp]

If my sausage (without cure) was put in the smoker at something like 230F and cooked to an internal temp of 165F, it should be fine right, or am I missing something?

Correct. You can hot smoke a fresh sausage without cure as long as you exit the danger zone between 40-140*F within 4 hours of cooking. Minimum smoker/grill temp. of 225*F recommended.

 

[freakincage]

Correct. You can hot smoke a fresh sausage without cure as long as you exit the danger zone between 40-140*F within 4 hours of cooking. Minimum smoker/grill temp. of 225*F recommended.

That's what I thought. But like I said, everything I read said cure with sausage, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

Thanks again.

 

[tallbm]

Hello Gurus,

I've been smoking fresh meats and brined meats that require cure #1 for quite some time and now have decided I'd like to try my hand at making sausage...but I need some clarification. This will probably sound like a silly question to many of you and I think I'm probably just looking too much into it.

To start my journey, I want to make sausage that is raw and freeze it until I'm ready to smoke or grill it...I guess this is referred to as "fresh sausage". Every article and post that I have read says that if you smoke sausage, it needs to have cure in the spice mix. I'm thinking that this is meant to apply to cured sausages like kielbasa and similar, but not to sausage that is being made to eat for dinner the eve it was cooked, like a hamburger patty on the grill.

If my sausage (without cure) was put in the smoker at something like 230F and cooked to an internal temp of 165F, it should be fine right, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

Hi there and welcome!

indaswamp has your answer.

Also, you can add cure to sausage and freeze and then later grill it up like a burger (no slow smoked) or pop it in the smoker and smoke it like a cured smoked sausage (start low, ramp up temp over many hours, until gradually hitting like 152F Internal Temp [IT] ).

I have cured pork frank sausage that I grill up like fresh uncured sausage all the time. On rare occasion I will smoke it into smoked franks. Works both ways for me.

I also have Fresh brats vac sealed and in the freezer. I make them with no cure, link, cut, vac seal, and freeze. I defrost and grill them up hot like a burger and eat them all the time. I don't ever smoke them like a cured sausage because they have no cure in them.

I hope this extra bit of info explains all the options you have even when cured but not slow smoked :)

 

[crazymoon]

Fc, The boys have you covered on your question . I just want to wish you a great time on your journey into sausage making !

 

[DougE]

They got you covered. The only time you need cure is in sausages that are to be smoked at low temps and remain in the danger zone longer than is safe without it.

 

[freakincage]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I still mostly lurk here, but when I need help, everyone is awesome. Thanks again.