How to Store Meat With Preservatives

Smoked and cured sausages are preserved with salts and nitrites.

Properly store meats with preservatives to retain color and texture while keeping the meat safe for consumption. Meat preservation and storage techniques, like dry aging and cold smoking, often leave meats in the dangerous temperature zone between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit where bacteria are able to thrive. Mixing preservatives into the raw meat protects the product from bacteria through the curing process and long into storage. You can prevent dangerous bacterial growth in meats with preservatives and careful storage.

Things You'll Need

• Preserve:
• 5 lbs meat
• Food processor or meat grinder
• Large plastic tub
• 1 tbsp sodium nitrite (Quick Cure, InstaCure or Speed Cure)
• Powderless latex gloves (optional)
• Smoke:
• Casings
• Sausage stuffer
• Paring knife
• Smoker
• Probe thermometer
• Vacuum sealer (optional)
• Can:
• Glass jars with new lids and rings
• Chopstick
• Pressure canner
• Jar tongs
• Towel

Instructions

Preserve

1. Chop the meat to the desired size using a food processor or meat grinder. Exposing more of the meat's surface will cause the cure to spread evenly throughout the preserved meat.

2. Add the ground meat to a large plastic tub, and sprinkle the sodium nitrite over the surface. The ratio of one tbsp. of sodium nitrite to five pounds of meat can be scaled up for larger batches.

3. Work the sodium nitrite into the meat quickly with clean or gloved hands to avoid heating it up and melting the small bits of fat.

Smoke

1. Prepare the natural or synthetic sausage casings according to the manufacturer's directions. Some casings require a cleaning and soak before they are stuffed.

2. Load the sausage stuffer with the preserved meat, and press it into the prepared casings. Prick each filled sausage three times with the tip of a paring knife to avoid large ruptures in the smoker.

3. Load the sausages into a preheated 120 degree Fahrenheit smoker, and allow them to cook for five to eight hours, increasing the temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit every hour. Test the flavor of the sausage when the internal temperature has risen above 165 degrees Fahrenheit to see if it needs more time to acquire more smoke flavor.

4. Hang the smoked sausages in a cool, dark and dry place, or vacuum seal them in plastic for refrigerator or moist environment storage.

Can

1. Load the preserved meat into a sterile jar until only an inch of empty space remains below the rim. Use a chopstick to compress the meat as you fill the jar and force out any trapped air bubbles.

2. Seal the filled jar of preserved meat with a new lid and ring before lowering it into a preheated pressure canner.

3. Seal the canner, and bring it up to 15 pounds of pressure for at least 75 minutes before turning off the heat source.

4. Remove the jars with tongs, and allow them to cool on a clean towel before moving them to a cool, dark and dry pantry for storage.

References

• Ask The Meatman: How and Why to Use Sodium Nitrite
• University of Minnesota Extension: Nitrite in Meat by Richard J. Epley, Paul B. Addis and Joseph J. Warthesen
• 3Men.com: All About Sausage