Cold smoke shop bought sausages.

[essexsmoker]

Hi all,

I'm planning on using my cold smoker tomorrow and have bought some shop made sausages just while I experiment. Is this OK? Will they smoke OK?

[Kiska95]

Hi

I poached mine first then cold smoked (like the old NE butchers do) as you don't want to be in any "Danger temp Zone" with pork. They would need to be cured if cold smoking raw I would think.

[essexsmoker]

I took them out after an hour. I assumed shop bought ones would be cured (like bacon) but then read they might not be.

As it turns out I had trouble keeping the chips alight at first. Then dried further in the oven and they burned ok after that for about an hour or so then I thinned the line out and it went out. Really need to practice with it first I think. Was hell getting it lit too. Got there eventually though. Little tinkering required.

[Kiska95]

Hi

Shop bought sausages are raw meat and not cured. Normally the types that are ready to eat have a cure but not always

Curing/brining converts pork to bacon/ham then it can be smoked even salmon is cured before being smoked.

When "cold smoking" you need the temperature low with clean cool smoke (no heat) therefore you are taking a huge risk with raw sausage as they will be definitely in the Danger temp zone for a couple of hours. I would bin them mate! Hot smoke and even then care needs to be taken or cook them first.

[Kiska95]

Hi again

I don't like jumping forums but the Smoking Meat Forum has a huge section on this topic. The Americans call it the "40 to 140 in 4 rule". Just type your query into their Search bar. They have a UK group too that will help loads.

Wade on this forum and SMF is a veritable expert on this subject so he may give you a few pointers or PM him.

Better to be safe!!!!!!

[wade]

It would depend on the temperature of your cold smoker. I can keep mine down to between 4-8 C and so that would not be a problem for smoking shop bought sausages for an hour or so - however if you cannot do this then you probably want to hot smoke them or poach them as Kiska suggests

However if you are making your own then add some nitrite (in the form of cure#1) to your meat/spice mix and you will be fine for smoking at longer periods at higher temperatures. You should be aiming for about 160 Ppm (mg/Kg) Nitrite.

[gavinbbq]

So if it was a cold winters day 2-3c I'm assuming you could cold smoke raw un cured sausages for hours?


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[Kiska95]

Hi

Yes because its the same temp or lower as your fridge where you would hold uncooked meats so no probs.
Pork Sausages are dodgy between 4.5c and 60c (40f to 140f)

[essexsmoker]

It was only about 20C for an hour and I then nuked them till they were about 80C plus inside. Not dead yet. Fingers crossed. lol.

I have been having a play today and managed to get it running for 5hrs.
However , I noticed that the burn was up the middle of the pile but didn't burn at the edge!
There was a fair amount of smoke but not a massive amount. How much do you need. I thought thin for longer might be better?

[wade]

It was only about 20C for an hour and I then nuked them till they were about 80C plus inside. Not dead yet. Fingers crossed. lol.

I have been having a play today and managed to get it running for 5hrs.
However , I noticed that the burn was up the middle of the pile but didn't burn at the edge!
There was a fair amount of smoke but not a massive amount. How much do you need. I thought thin for longer might be better?

It really depends on how smoky you want them. I use an AMNPS in a converted commercial fridge and the whole chamber fills up with good quality smoke within a few minutes. It will go for 16 hours between charges. Using something like a ProQ will generate less smoke. It sounds though as if you are using a mound of dust/chips so I guess the burn could be less predictable.
Temperature will also effect the degree to which the smoke is absorbed and it is easy to over smoke. What you may want to do is initially pull out a sausage after different periods of time and see what they taste like. If you are only smoking it for an hour then there should be little risk of it being over smoked.