I made some summer sausage and around the area I inserted my thermometer probe the meat was a grey color. The rest of the sausage looked fine. Did the probe affect the meat somehow?
I am no way a sausage expert but my guess would be the probe was warmer due to being metal and actually cooked the sausage more.
I could be completely wrong and someone much smarter than me with the real answer will respond shortly ;)
The only expertise I have in sausage is eating it ;D. Now I think one of the experts here said one time that when you do that, it will act as a heat sink. Ditto on the yield back to the more learned members ;) ;D
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Just like putting a large nail. in the middle of your baked potato. It'll get done faster cooking from the inside, but it'll be cooked brown in the nail hole from the heat
Quote from: drunknimortal on September 29, 2012, 04:36:09 AM
I made some summer sausage and around the area I inserted my thermometer probe the meat was a grey color. The rest of the sausage looked fine. Did the probe affect the meat somehow?
I've never had this happen. It does seem that the probe had cause this condition, but it would not be due to the temperature in that area being higher. Using a cure, the color does not set to a rosey red until you get above a certain temperature (I believe it is 140°F). After the color sets, it doesn't matter how high the internal temperature gets, the reddish color will remain.
It may be a chemical reaction, but with stainless steel probe that is not likely. What was the final internal temperature? Was the grayish color the length of the probe, or was it towards the bottom or top only? Are you sure there are no other grey meat areas in your sausage?
I cooked it to 152. This was a small sausage that I put the probe in first and cooked to 152. Then I moved it to a larger one and finished cooking it. The last one was not grey. I gave the small one to a friend and he told me it was grey around the hole where the probe was. He just cut it off and eat the rest of it.
Just doesnt make sense to me, I cleaned the probe before putting it in the meat, maybe I left some soap on it that affected the cure.
Quote from: drunknimortal on September 30, 2012, 04:18:55 AM
...I cleaned the probe before putting it in the meat, maybe I left some soap on it that affected the cure.
Your explaination could very well be right.