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Summer Sausage Smoking- Is Cure Necessary?

by LARRY
(CHATTAROY,WA)

We are new to smoking..We just got an electric smoker..We hunt and have some elk and deer scraps that we want to grind and turn into summer sausage, approx. 3-4" thick..About 10-12 inches long..
Is it totally necessary to use the cure when mixing spices or can we just use some sea salt and make our 0wn spice mixture? We heard that without the cure we could be asking for illness..even with the proper internal temp..(150?)
Can you let us know anything in this subject- We are hoping for success to ship these sausages for holiday gifts..
Thanks-
Larry Fields

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Summer Sausage Smoking- Is Cure Necessary?

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starstarstarstarstar 		Summer Sausage or Meatloaf
by: ExhaustedSpark

In my opionen if you do not cure it all you are doing is making Meatloaf. Good tasting meatloaf but meatloaf just the same.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Curing Summer Sausage
by: SmokerBill

You're right about the fact that curing the sausage makes it safer. The chemicals in the curing salt prevent bacterial growth, which is especially important when smoking ground meat products at the low temp sausages need to be smoked at.

Smoking whole meats isn't as much of a problem, since the bacteria, if any present, is on the surface and is exposed directly to the heat. However, when the meat is ground and packed into casings, the bacteria is distributed throughout the sausage. When smoked, the internal temperature rises slowly, during which it's at the prime temp for bacterial growth.

Another factor is that any bacteria within the sausage is in an oxygen free environment. The worst of the bacteria, Clostridium Botulinum (source of the deadly botulism toxin) thrives in a moist, warm, oxygen free environment.

And even when the sausage reaches its safe, done temperature and the botulin bacteria is killed, the poisons the bacteria produced while multiplying is still present. Heat doesn't remove the toxins, even though it kills the bacteria.

So yes, I feel strongly that you should use the cure, and follow the recipe just as it's written.

Also, besides the safety issue, the cure affects the final flavor and texture of the sausage.




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