venison sausages and smoking

[mary and gary]

Hi;  not only are we new to forums, but new to smoking anything.
I had my deer made by the butcher into sausages - they are great.  We are thinking about trying to smoke some as well.
So.. do you need to put them into a brine or something first ...  or do we just take them out of the packages, air dry them ( I read that somewhere ) .. then smoke them.  I also read somewhere where they have to air dry for a couple of days after being smoked.
So... I am just confused.    thanks for any help
mary

[GusRobin]

Welcome
Here is a link to a number of recipes
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?180-Our-Time-Tested-and-Proven-Recipes

What you want to dry is the casing.If you bought them, I think that they should be dry enough by now.

Now the issue you are going to have is if they have cure in them or not. Most fresh sausage doesn't. Uncured meat runs in the danger zone if it stays too long at between 40* and 140*. SO I would not smoke for more than an hour.

Some better experts will be along soon to give you a better answer.

[mikecorn.1]

Welcome to the forum!


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[viper125]

Well no expert! But if you r going to smoke id add cure#1 to it before stuffing.

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[Habanero Smoker]

Hi mary and gary;

Welcome to the forum.

If the sausage is already stuffed, you may be limited on what you can do with them. To smoke sausage safely, your butcher should have added sodium nitrite to the meat. You need to check with him, and ask when he seasoned the sausage did he include sodium nitrite.

If he didn't the only safe way for you to add some smoke flavor to your sausage is to smoke them at 225°F or higher, when you prepare to serve them right away.

[viper125]

Hab! If i add it has no cure, and is still cold, why couldn't you add it.

[Mr Walleye]

Hab! If i add it has no cure, and is still cold, why couldn't you add it.

Your right Viper but by the post it sounds like it has already been stuffed and likely in the freezer (although it doesn't really say). I guess you could still take all the meat out of the casings, mix cure in and re-stuff but that would be a lot of work.

I would talk to the butcher. Who knows maybe it's in there. Otherwise I would do them like Habs said and smoke them at 225 and chow down.  ;)

Oh Ya! Welcome to the forum Mary and Gary!  ;)

Mike

[BAM1]

If you had any of the deer made made into ground meat like hamburger you could make your own sausage from recipes here on the forum.  If it is already stuffed/cased by your butcher it's better to just enjoy it like he made it.

[viper125]

If you had any of the deer made made into ground meat like hamburger you could make your own sausage from recipes here on the forum.  If it is already stuffed/cased by your butcher it's better to just enjoy it like he made it.

Ok sorry. seen he said saugages but thought he just meant fresh, didnt see any thing about the stuffing thats why i asked.