Pickled sausages and eggs.

[rnmac]

Hello all.

I have some P.C. Original Smokies. They are a fully cooked pork sausage & pretty tasty on their own.
I am planning on smoking them along with some hard boiled eggs and then pickling them.

What I am wondering is if I should vac seal them for two to five days to let them bloom
before putting them in the brine or just put them in the jar right out of the smoker?
Once again, thanks in advance for any advice. Randy.

[Orion]

I think straight into the brine will give you the same results as waiting 2-5 days. I believe they are smoked at manufacture so your extra smoking will bump and liven it up a bit.

Perhaps you should try both methods and do a blind taste test with someone to see what they think.

Can you give us some idea what brine you are using?

I know many years ago I would use the pickle brine from my home canned dill pickles. It was basically vinegar, salt, sugar, pickling spices and garlic cloves with a red cayenne pepper for heat. It was well aged too as the pickles always sat for a year before opening. I remember slicing the sausage diagonally about 2" long and it developing a real "snap" after a month in the brine. I just bought sausage and put it straight into the brine without  additional smoking but I think yours is a great idea.

[rnmac]

The brine I am going to use was posted by Woodlawnsmoker and this is it.
18          extra large smoked eggs
4       C.    Apple Cider Vinegar
1       C.    Water
   ½    C.    White sugar
3          fresh, smoked jalapeno peppers
1          smoked large red onion
3          cloves smoked garlic, coarsely chopped
2          bay leaves
4          small red hot peppers from our garden
2       T.    Franks Red Hot sauce
1    ½   T.    Kosher Salt
1       t   Pickling Spice

I brought everything to a low boil, covered and let simmer for 10 minutes.  I cold-smoked the hard boiled eggs for 1 hour and 20 minutes, I used hickory.  I covered the eggs with the brine and into the fridge to get extra ripe for the boys.

I was thinking about mixing the eggs and sausages together. That's why I was wondering if I
needed to bloom either of them.

[Habanero Smoker]

When I pickle smoked foods, I now allow it to "bloom" for a few days. I don't think vacuum sealing is necessary. Just place the items in a sealable bag, and expel as much air as possible. If I don't allow it to bloom, it seems too much of the smoke that has adhered to the outside of the food dissolves into the brine, and is not drawn into the food. My theory is that this time may give the smoke more time to chemically change and provide a better bond with the food.

Don't throw the pickling juice out when the all the eggs and/or sausage is gone. You can use that pickling juice in a lot of recipes. Just taste it first. It may be too smoky to use as is, and may need to be mixed with other pickle juice to cut down on the strength of the smoke flavor. Use it in place of vinegar that is called for in recipes. As a marinade for vegetables and meats. Some people drink pickle juice. There is even a recipe for pickled chicken, in which you marinade the chicken in pickle juice, prior to cooking. I haven't done this recipe yet, but will try it; since I already use a recipe that brines chicken in a vinegar brine solution. Now that I'm writing this; I may try pickle juice the next time I grill some Cornell Chicken.