Your advice needed.. again

[wischermit]

I made another batch of the cheddar polish..Taste is much better & is much juicier thanks the suggestion of the 50/50 pork. Now my only question is.... When you buy smoked polish (store bought/butchershop), they are sort of a reddish color on the outside & a pinkish color inside..  How do they get that color?? Mine are just a browned color, like a fried burger would look.. I know it's cosmetic, but still wonder?? I preheated the Bradley to 170, then smoked (4 bisquettes), then cooked until internal temp was 155..Then I put them in the ice water bath..Whole process was only about 3 to 3-1/2 hours..Did I do something wrong? Thanks again for our advice!!

[NePaSmoKer]

I made another batch of the cheddar polish..Taste is much better & is much juicier thanks the suggestion of the 50/50 pork. Now my only question is.... When you buy smoked polish (store bought/butchershop), they are sort of a reddish color on the outside & a pinkish color inside..  How do they get that color?? Mine are just a browned color, like a fried burger would look.. I know it's cosmetic, but still wonder?? I preheated the Bradley to 170, then smoked (4 bisquettes), then cooked until internal temp was 155..Then I put them in the ice water bath..Whole process was only about 3 to 3-1/2 hours..Did I do something wrong? Thanks again for our advice!!

When smoking sausage you need to add cure which is normally cure #1. This will retain the pinkish/red color of the meat and aid to keep nasty micro yuck out that can make you sick.

Try starting your smoke at 130-140* for an hour  to dry the casings. Bump the heat to 150* for your smoke (4-6 pucks) and then +10* after until you reach a smoker temp of 170-180* until the IT of the meat is between 152-156*

If you go higher than 180* you run the chance of a fat-out in the sausage which will make it dry and crumbly

When i smoke polish it can take 6 to 10 hrs depending on outside air temps.

[Habanero Smoker]

I just want to reemphasize NePas point, in that you HAVE to add a cure when smoking sausage at a low temperatures. Skipping that part you risk the chance of botulism.