The Best Way to Chill Sausage After Smoking

Smoking sausage helps preserve meat longer.

Sausage can be made from beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and wild game. The meats are ground up, mixed with spices and seasonings and then cooked by a smoking process. Smoking involves cooking the sausage in a smoker. Commercial and homemade smokers emit heated smoke which helps flavor and cure the sausage for consumption. Once the sausage has been smoked, it has to be chilled. Rapid chilling is the best way to chill smoked sausage

Things You'll Need

• Ice cooler
• Crushed ice
• Fish Aquarium thermometer
• Cooking thermometer
• Fridge

Instructions

1. Fill an ice cooler with crushed ice and then add cold water to attain a slush-like consistency. Place a fish aquarium thermometer in the ice to ensure the temperature is between 30 and 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Remove the sausage from the smoker and immediately submerge it into the ice for chilling. Chill the sausage until the internal temperature reaches 100 degrees F. Use a cooking thermometer to test the internal temperature by stabbing a piece of sausage with the thermometer.

3. Set the chilled sausage out to dry for one to two hours. Store it a fridge set between 34 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit until consuming.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't rely on the fridges settings for a reliable temperature. Use a calibrated thermometer to ensure the temperature.

• The improper handling and cooking of raw meat can cause food-borne illness.

References

• North Dakota State University Extension Service; Martin Marchello et al.; 2004