Bad Sausage Day

Started by JZ, November 25, 2012, 11:42:16 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

JZ

For the last 2 days I've been making some sausages. Only 10 lbs in total and I don't know why it takes me so long but after getting it all finished last night I pull them from the fridge this morning and cut into them only to find that my first attempt at weiners produced a rubbery texture and the flavor was kind of bland. Tasted much better when I did a test fry. And the SS doesn't look right. It is a pale pink in the middle and the outer parts look more like cooked meat than a cured sausage. Not sure what happened here and am reluctant to eat it. Here are some pics of the misadventure.

First the meat all mixed up for the weiners (didn't get a shot of the SS).


A test fry of the SS and it was very good. Ended up putting this patty between some lightly toasted rye bread with some mustard for lunch.


SS hanging after the stuff.


Everything stuffed and hanging for the dry.


Poaching the weiners after 1 1/2 hrs of smoke.


Weiners blooming while I wait for the SS to smoke a little longer (3 hrs total)


Shot of weiner and SS.


Shot of SS on its own - hard to see the color I am talking about though.


Anyone got suggestions about the SS - Not sure if I should eat it or toss it. Don't really want to toss it but don't want to make anyone sick either.

I also put a picnic in the smoker last night and plan on some pulled pork today. Hopefully that turns out better than the sausage mess. :) Here is a pic of it before it went into the smoker.

It's sitting at 172 now and I decided to add some more smoke and put another tray of Pecan in the AMAZNPS (one row) and stuck that into the smoker.

pikeman_95

#1
This is a difficult one. Looking at the pictures I am going to guess that the summer sausage is a little short on cure. First the fried chunk should have a pink color and it does not. It looks more like just fresh fried sausage. If you did not have enough heat the colors would be switched you would be raw looking sausage would be in the middle and pink on the outside. I have seen this before when sausage is not finished to a proper core temperature. On the other hand if you were short on cure and water bathed the SS the moisture in the bath that entered the casing diluted the cure a little on the outer meat and caused it to not switch or cure properly. The other thing I see is the inside is a rather pale pink. The color should be more intense. I would suggest that you take a 1 inch chunk of the sausage and put it into a microwave for a few seconds and heat it up above cure temperature. I would be curious if it changes color. It might not if there is not enough cure. How does the sausage taste? I do see a slight smoke ring just under the casing.

this is the color difference that I am referring to.

KC

JZ

Thanks Kirby.

I microwaved a chunk and it came out looking like cooked meat - zero pink color. So I am guessing there is not enough cure which I think would mean that I didn't put any cure in, since my printout (your spreadsheet says to use 6.24g of cure). If I put that amount in the 5.5 lb batch then I would not have this issue and the color would be right.  So I think there is no cure.

I didn't taste it because I am concerned about the nasties that could be in it if there wasn't enough cure and this stuff was in my smoker for about 5 or 6 hours at temps between 120 and 150. If I cook this stuff now will it be safe to eat or is it unsalvageable?

Habanero Smoker

#3
I have never seen anything like this; with the discolor being almost a ring on the outer edge. I agree with most of what Kirby stated, but once the chemical action takes place between the nitrite and myoglobin during the curing process, later contact with water will not have an effect, so the color will set. I can't tell from the patty if it was cured properly unless you cut it open. Was the meat reddish on the inside.

Having said that, not knowing any other possible cause I would have to agree that you either used to little cure, or maybe your cure in no longer good. If the cure was expose to high heat, strong sunlight, and/or too much moisture during storage it can go bad.

Try testing the cure on a 1" thick pork chop, but mixing a small amount of the Basic Dry Cure, and apply to the pork chop at a rate of 1 tablespoon per pound. Cure for at least 8 hours, rinse and fry. If the center remains pinkish inside, you cure should be good.

3.5 oz pickling salt
1.5 oz sugar
.05 oz cure #1

EDITED:
Our post crossed pathes. You should still test your cure.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

devo

Hey JZ if your not going to taste it than ship it my way.............my half husky shepherd will make it disappear

pikeman_95

#5
I am guessing that you had some cure in it but not enough. You might have miss weighed it. I think that if there was no cure in it, the center would not have had any pink in it at all. As to say if it is safe to eat I think I will defer that question to Habs or Rick. I checked your cure amount that you intended to use and it is correct.
Habs
what I was thinking that if he did not approach curing temperature in the smoker and suffered some dilution in the water bath It might not have been as effective. This one has me a little stumped.
KC

JZ

By "curing process" do you mean the time that the cure and meat mixture sit in the fridge overnight or does the meat / cure mix have to reach a certain temperature before the process takes place. If the latter applies then maybe I took it out of the smoker too early.

As far as the cure being bad, I don't think that is the case since the weiners I made the same day with the same cure all came out bright pink. I also store the cure in the opaque resealable bag that it came in and store it in my beer fridge. Just to be sure I will test it as suggested.

If the meat had no cure and was only cooked to 155 would the beef still be grey or would it possibly still be pink (like med rare). That might explain the pink in the middle and brown on the outside where it was cooked more?

Habanero Smoker

Quote from: pikeman_95 on November 25, 2012, 01:40:06 PM
I am guessing that you had some cure in it but not enough. You might have miss weighed it. I think that if there was no cure in it, the center would not have had any pink in it at all. As to say if it is safe to eat I think I will defer that question to Habs or Rick. I checked your cure amount that you intended to use and it is correct.
Habs
what I was thinking that if he did not approach curing temperature in the smoker and suffered some dilution in the water bath It might not have been as effective. This one has me a little stumped.
KC

I can't answer for sure if it is safe. If it were my sausage I would throw it out.

The chemical reaction between the myoglobin and nitrite; that chemical bond, I believe, is not soluble, so it will not dilute. So it should not matter whether the color was set in the smoker or during the poaching. I do not smoke, but only poach hot dogs they are cured with sodium nitrite, and never had anything like this occur.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

Habanero Smoker

Quote from: JZ on November 25, 2012, 01:54:01 PM
By "curing process" do you mean the time that the cure and meat mixture sit in the fridge overnight or does the meat / cure mix have to reach a certain temperature before the process takes place. If the latter applies then maybe I took it out of the smoker too early.

As far as the cure being bad, I don't think that is the case since the weiners I made the same day with the same cure all came out bright pink. I also store the cure in the opaque resealable bag that it came in and store it in my beer fridge. Just to be sure I will test it as suggested.

If the meat had no cure and was only cooked to 155 would the beef still be grey or would it possibly still be pink (like med rare). That might explain the pink in the middle and brown on the outside where it was cooked more?

You are looking at two chemical reactions. The curing action is when the nitrite has a chemical reaction with the myoglobin (I believe the chemical that is formed at this stage is nitric oxide, I'm having a memory fade at this point  :) ). This takes place, in your case during the time it is in the refrigerator overnight. But generally with sausage, this take place very quickly, and by the time you are finishing stuffing the sausage should be cured. The second chemical reaction that take place,  which I believe is at 140°F, is when the reddish color appears, if you don't bring the meat up to that temperature, the meat is cure but you won't notice the change in color.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

NePaSmoKer

What mix did you use? Or was it a recipe from a book.

I use Ascorbate when i make SS from scratch. Most pre mixes have acorbate in them already thus making SS safe to mix, stuff and smoke.

Ascorbates
A. Speed the curing reaction by faster color development
through more rapid reduction of nitrates and nitrites
to nitrous acid and ultimately nitric oxide that
combines with myoglobin (a muscle pigment) to fix
the cured color.
B . Reduce oxidation and subsequent off flavor and color.

JZ

Thanks Rick and all.

I used Kirby's recipe and this is my first time using it. It tasted great on the test fry and I will be using this again. Thanks again Kirby the recipe and the spreadsheet are excellent. :) The only thing I can think of is that I just forgot to put the cure in.  :-[

I will throw this stuff out because I don't know if it is safe to eat. So Don don't expect to get this stuff in the mail for your dog. If I won't eat it I am surely not going to feed to my dog or yours. ;)

devo

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D   Oh come on he has ate worst that you can send to me.... they have a stomach better than ours. why don't you think you never see any of my fail project,s  ;)

pikeman_95

JZ
A simple thing to remember is, after the mixing. If the sausage does not stiffen and turn a more brown color then the original pink you have forgotten the cure.

JZ

Quote;D ;D ;D ;D ;D   Oh come on he has ate worst that you can send to me.... they have a stomach better than ours. why don't you think you never see any of my fail project,s  ;)

I don't know if they have better stomachs .......... my dog eats grass and pukes way more than I do. ::) If it was just a matter of not tasting good I would probably give it to the dog and I know he would really appreciate it. Maybe that is why they are mans best friend. :o

QuoteA simple thing to remember is, after the mixing. If the sausage does not stiffen and turn a more brown color then the original pink you have forgotten the cure.

Thanks Kirby that's a great tip. I thought I was getting smarter because I started crossing off each of the spices on the list as I added them to the mix. When I checked the mix sheet for the SS I noticed that the cure was circled (I did this to make sure I didn't forget it) but it was not crossed off. So with that in mind and the results of the SS it appears that I DID forget it and now need a better Idea or a cure for CRAFTs disease. ;D

Habanero Smoker

Quote from: pikeman_95 on November 25, 2012, 12:08:28 PM
This is a difficult one. Looking at the pictures I am going to guess that the summer sausage is a little short on cure. First the fried chunk should have a pink color and it does not. It looks more like just fresh fried sausage. If you did not have enough heat the colors would be switched you would be raw looking sausage would be in the middle and pink on the outside. I have seen this before when sausage is not finished to a proper core temperature. On the other hand if you were short on cure and water bathed the SS the moisture in the bath that entered the casing diluted the cure a little on the outer meat and caused it to not switch or cure properly. The other thing I see is the inside is a rather pale pink. The color should be more intense. I would suggest that you take a 1 inch chunk of the sausage and put it into a microwave for a few seconds and heat it up above cure temperature. I would be curious if it changes color. It might not if there is not enough cure. How does the sausage taste? I do see a slight smoke ring just under the casing.

This was really bugging me. After going through some books and searching the internet Kirby's original answer may be the closest to finding the solution.

I'll try to keep this short, but just incase get the popcorn!  :)

When you add sodium nitrite one of the chemicals it produces is nitric oxide. Some of the nitric oxide combines with the myoglobin (the protein that makes meat red) to form nitric oxide myoglobin. This makes the myoglobin more stable but it can still be susceptible to oxidation (browing). I was wrong in my first post, in that both of this compounds are water soluble. The nitric oxide myoglobin becomes more stable after exposed to heat, and according to the Wedlyn Dowme site, the color sets (stabilizes) at temperatures is between 140°F - 161°F.

Since it is clearly a brown ring around that sausage at about the same depth. It is very possible that you either did not use enough cure, or if you did use enough cure, your cure is bad, and has been weaken by improper storage. Looking at Kirby's recipe, I don't think you couldn't have forgotten the cure, because your sausage is reddish towards the center. In either case, due to not enough nitrites not all of the myoglobin was stable enough. And as Kirby stated some may have broken down by water before the color set.

One other thing; it is not the cure that stiffens up the sausage, it is the salt. I mainly make fresh sausage, and it will stiffen. Another thing, just because your sausage is red, does not necessarily means it is protected. Nitrites can add color to your meat, but not be at ppm to provide protection. So it is alway important to measure twice to be sure.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)