# possibly not enough cure??



## dbmmorin (Sep 7, 2021)

I bought a couple spice packs by LEM.  I made hand rolled andouille sausage.  Came out good. smoked it about 3 hours and finished it in the oven.  Got the internal temp to about 180.  The spice packet was for 5lbs of meat but mixed it with 6 1/2 pounds of meat.  This morning I realized i never compensated for the extra meat with the cure and only used what was in the packet.  I vacuum seal and store all my smoked meats in the freezer.  When I take stuff out, it is usually gone within a day or 2.  Is there anything I need to worry about with this?  It wasnt too salty but you could taste the salt in it.

Thanks
Mike


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## mike243 (Sep 7, 2021)

I dont see anything wrong with it, long as you didn’t do a long low temp smoke


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## dbmmorin (Sep 7, 2021)

I did a smoke at around 200 until I hit 160 on the inside. Around 4 hours., then put in the oven and brought to 180.  Maybe I should put bak in the oven and bring to 225.


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## SmokinEdge (Sep 7, 2021)

Was there cure #1 (nitrite) in the mix?


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## thirdeye (Sep 7, 2021)

By 'hand rolled' you mean without casings?  Ground meat without cure needs an internal of 160° and many of us will hot smoke it in an hour or so.  Even my meatloaves will cook in 2.5 hours or so.   If I'm reading your time line correctly, somewhere between hour 3 and hour 4 your sausages would have been 160°. And even though your cure percentage was a hair light, this will work in your favor, and the 180° internal would have killed bacteria.


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## dbmmorin (Sep 7, 2021)

Yes it had a separate cure package in with the spices and It was added in with the spices.  It was at 160 after 3 or so hours of smoking then I brought it up to 180 internal in the oven.  Thank you guys so much for your responses


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## smokerjim (Sep 7, 2021)

you'll be fine!


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## dbmmorin (Sep 7, 2021)

Thank you Jim


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## SmokinEdge (Sep 7, 2021)

dbmmorin said:


> Yes it had a separate cure package in with the spices and It was added in with the spices.  It was at 160 after 3 or so hours of smoking then I brought it up to 180 internal in the oven.  Thank you guys so much for your responses


You are good to go all around.


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## dbmmorin (Sep 8, 2021)

Thank you!


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## chopsaw (Sep 8, 2021)

dbmmorin said:


> I bought a couple spice packs by LEM.


You have the answer to your question , and I agree that you're safe . 
Remember , 
When using pre packaged spice mixes that come with cure , use them as directed . They are a set , and go together . Keep them together , and use them together . You can make smaller batches , just don't add to or cross over to another type of sausage .


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## Bearcarver (Sep 8, 2021)

dbmmorin said:


> I did a smoke at around 200 until I hit 160 on the inside. Around 4 hours., then put in the oven and brought to 180.  Maybe I should put bak in the oven and bring to 225.




If you took it to 160° in 4 hours, you didn't need *ANY *cure at all.
From 40° to only 140° IT in 4 hours doesn't even need ANY cure.

Bear


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## SmokinAl (Sep 8, 2021)

Good to go!
Al


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## dbmmorin (Sep 8, 2021)

Bearcarver said:


> If you took it to 160° in 4 hours, you didn't need *ANY *cure at all.
> From 40° to only 140° IT in 4 hours doesn't even need ANY cure.
> 
> Bear


Wow,  I did not know that.  Being a new member and fairly new to smoking, I am going to learn a lot from this forum.  Thanks


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## dbmmorin (Sep 8, 2021)

SmokinAl said:


> Good to go!
> Al


Thanks Al!


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## chopsaw (Sep 8, 2021)

dbmmorin said:


> Wow, I did not know that


Don't be confused . 

I feel like it's worth repeating . 


chopsaw said:


> When using pre packaged spice mixes that come with cure , use them as directed . They are a set , and go together . Keep them together , and use them together .


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## chef jimmyj (Sep 8, 2021)

You were also completely safe at 160. Going to 180 will just dry it out and render fat. No need to go that high...JJ


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## dbmmorin (Sep 9, 2021)

chef jimmyj said:


> You were also completely safe at 160. Going to 180 will just dry it out and render fat. No need to go that high...JJ


Thanks, I did some more sausages last night and stopped smoking them when they hit 160.  

I did some Bacon and stopped that at around125- 130 after s 3 hour smoke at 225, since that gets sliced and fried in a pan.  I was afraid it would be overcooked after frying if I brought to 160.  Stored in the freezer.


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## dbmmorin (Sep 9, 2021)

chopsaw said:


> Don't be confused .
> 
> I feel like it's worth repeating .


I followed the directions (almost) except for the addition of 1.5 extra pounds of meat.  I had extra cure to compensate, but forgot to put it in.  I have used spice packs before and found them to be too salty so I added meat and it worked out well flavor wise.


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## SmokinEdge (Sep 9, 2021)

dbmmorin said:


> I bought a couple spice packs by LEM.  I made hand rolled andouille sausage.  Came out good. smoked it about 3 hours and finished it in the oven.  Got the internal temp to about 180.  The spice packet was for 5lbs of meat but mixed it with 6 1/2 pounds of meat.  This morning I realized i never compensated for the extra meat with the cure and only used what was in the packet.  I vacuum seal and store all my smoked meats in the freezer.  When I take stuff out, it is usually gone within a day or 2.  Is there anything I need to worry about with this?  It wasnt too salty but you could taste the salt in it.
> 
> Thanks
> Mike


I don’t use many pre-mix spice kits, so I don’t know how much cure#1 they use without reading the package but 156ppm is maximum in going on nitrite to sausage. We apply cure#1 at a rate of 1.1 grams per pound of meat or 1 level teaspoon per 5# meat To give us the 156ppm. 
Im only guessing in your case, but assuming the mix was applying the 156ppm, you ended up in the 120ppm range which is still enough to do the job. In this case you were better off a little light on cure than to much cure.


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## dbmmorin (Sep 9, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> I don’t use many pre-mix spice kits, so I don’t know how much cure#1 they use without reading the package but 156ppm is maximum in going on nitrite to sausage. We apply cure#1 at a rate of 1.1 grams per pound of meat or 1 level teaspoon per 5# meat To give us the 156ppm.
> Im only guessing in your case, but assuming the mix was applying the 156ppm, you ended up in the 120ppm range which is still enough to do the job. In this case you were better off a little light on cure than to much cure.


As I get a little better, I will be getting away from the kits and hunting down some recipes.  They bacon kit came out good, but I am sure it could be better.  I added diced Jalapenos,  aged kerrygold cheddar chees and crushed red chilis to the sausages and those came out nice.  

Thank you


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## dbmmorin (Sep 9, 2021)

I am really impressed with the information and amount of responses on this forum.  Probably the best forum I have been on.  Lots of information here.


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