will this work and be safe?

[SmokinDuramax]

20lb ground pork
1/2 cup salt (table salt)
1/4 cup pepper
1/2 tablespoon of sage

I would like to smoke this!Would this be safe 2 try?
Just got a bradley 6 rack for christmas!
Thanks for any help

[Tenpoint5]

I wouldn't because it doesn't have any cure in it to be safe during the cook which will have the meat in the danger zone too long. I need to look I cant remember how much you need for that amount of pork right now

[Mr Walleye]

Hi SmokinDuramax and welcome to the forum.

It depends what you are doing with it and how you plan to smoke it. Like 10.5 said, if you are making sausage and smoking it at around 165 degrees to an internal temp of around 152 degrees you want to make sure you have cure #1 in it. The correct amount of cure #1 for 20 lbs would be 4 tsp.

However, if you intent was to mix this up and form casingless logs, then smoke it at 225 degrees you may be alright.

The general rule of thumb with sausage is... If your smokin it... put cure in it to be safe.

If you give us an idea of what you are trying to produce we can probably give a little more information.

Mike

[SmokinDuramax]

I would like 2 put in a natural hog casing! then smoke it!!Any info is greatly appreicated!Like  i said its my 1st try at it!Thanks again!Kevin

[SmokinDuramax]

Oh yea was going 2 try hot smoke with this!

[NePaSmoKer]

Your recipe looks like a fresh breakfast sausage. This will not require cure if you dont smoke it.

However if you smoke it you will need cure #1 and use non-iodized salt. For 20 pounds of meat you will need 4 level tsp of cure.

[Mr Walleye]

Kevin

If you are going to stuff into hog casings and smoke it to a finished internal temp of 152 degrees you will have to put Cure #1 in it. By doing it this way it would be a finished, slice & eat cold type of sausage. You will have to maintain a tower temp of 165 to 170 degrees. The reason for this temp and not higher is so that you don't render the fat out of the sausage. It does take some time to get the internal temp of the sausage up to 152 degrees when the cabinet temp is only 165 or 170 but the wait is worth it.

I'm not sure if this will help but here is a post I did a while back on a Kielbasa that I do on a regular basis.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=8890.0

Mike

[SmokinDuramax]

Cure#1 is that the same as tenderquick?

Just thought of this could i do a cold smoke 4 like 2-3 hrs then freeze it? Then fry it when we would like 2 eat it? Or the hot smoke better?

[Mr Walleye]

I've never "cold smoked" sausage, then freeze, for later cooking/cooking. I've always fully cooked mine, vac packaged it and freeze it so that it can be sliced and eaten cold.

Morton TenderQuick is a cure but is not the same as cure #1. If using cure #1 you use 1 tsp per 5 lbs. For Morton TQ you use 1.5 tsp per 1 lb. Because of the high salt content of Morton TQ your will probably want to take the equivalent amount of salt out of the recipe, otherwise your sausage will be very salty.

For an example, based on your recipe of 20 lbs, you require 30 tsp of Morton TQ. 30 tsp of Morton TQ translates to 10 TBS....

Your recipe calls for 1/2 cup of salt (I would use Kosher Salt instead of table sale), 1/2 cup = 8 Tbs.

As you can see you could completely remove the salt from the recipe and still end up with a similar (slightly more) salt content. This is why most people prefer to use Cure #1 instead because they can better control the amount of salt in their sausage.

Mike

[Tenpoint5]

Sorry got sidetracked and didn't make it back in time but it looks like Mike and Rick have you headed in the right direction.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi SmokinDuramax;

Welcome to the forum.

The way you describe that you will be cold smoking, is not safe without using cure #1. Freezing does not kill harmful bacteria or destroy the toxic wasted that can develop in the time frame you are cold smoking. Freezing just stops the growth, and when thawed the bacteria will continue to reproduce.

It's always best to measure salt. I typically use salt as follows; 1/3 ounce per pound per pound; or 1 ½ ounces per five pounds of meat and fat. For example in volume that is equal to 3 tablespoons of Morton Kosher salt per five pounds, or 12 tablespoons for 20 pound. For 20 pounds that would be 6 ounces of salt, and 1/2 cup of canning salt (purified table salt) will be about 5.60 ounces, so your salt looks good. If you add cure #1 reduce the salt by the same amount.

[SmokinDuramax]

ok thanks guys ill give it try!!

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm rereading my earlier post and the first sentence in the second paragraph should be:

It's always best to measure salt by weight.