How to Cure Summer Sausage?

If you serve homemade summer sausage, a charcuterie board is a fantastic way to impress your guests.

The key to curing summer sausage is to keep the meat as cold as possible during the smoking process. 

Cold meat has a higher smoke point and will not break down as quickly as hot meat. 

It is important to cure summer sausage at least three weeks before smoking to allow the curing salt time to fully penetrate the meat.

To be a big hit, your summer sausage needs to be adequately cured. As long as you know what you are doing, curing summer sausage is a rewarding hobby.

The goal of curing any meat is to remove the moisture and give it new textural properties.

In this article, I will provide you with everything you need to know about curing and making summer sausage.

Does Summer Sausage Needs Curing?

It can take a long time to make homemade summer sausages. Even with a smoker, it can take anywhere from half a day to three days to smoke the summer sausage.

If you are going to eat the summer sausage right away, you might be tempted to shorten the process by skipping the curing part.

This would be a big mistake if it happened.

It’s important to cure your sausage during the summer. It will prevent botulism, which has a high risk of occurrence because you’ll cook the sausage at a very low temperature.

A potentially deadly disease is caused by toxins from Clostridium botulinum.

If you are making fresh sausage, such as breakfast sausage, which will be cooked straight away at high temperatures, you don’t have to add a cure.

Making homemade summer sausage requires you to use a curing salt to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria that could harm your health.

How To Cure Summer Sausage?

Curing salt is needed for summer sausage. Curing salt is needed for summer sausage. You have to let it cure for a while before you mix the salt and seasonings into the meat.

The entire process needs to be reviewed. You have to choose the meat you want to use in your sausage.

You need around 30% of fat to get the best results, so it’s better to choose fattier meats. Adding pork or beef fat to leaner meat will make it better.

Some non-fat dry milk will bind the sausages and prevent them from clumping the fat. You need to add some seasonings to your summer sausage.

Mustard seed, ground pepper, cayenne, chili, garlic, thyme, and cloves are the usual choices, but you can season them to your liking.

If you would like, you could also add cheese. You can mix everything by adding the curing salt. You should get the sticky feeling of the meat if you mix it thoroughly.

It may not be the most pleasant option, but using your hands for mixing is the best option.

When everything is blended well, place the sausage mix in a bowl or a freezer bag and place it in the fridge to cure for a long time.

You can cook your summer sausage in a smoker or grill after the cured meat has been stuffed into sausage casings.

If you want to get the desired color, you need to set the temperature between 115 and 130 degrees.

The temperature should be gradually increased to 150-170F. Go up to 190F after a while, but never higher than that.

If you don’t have a grill or a smoker, you can make sausages in the oven. First, stick to the lowest temperature you can find, usually 170F, and then slowly increase to 190F.

It could take anywhere from six hours to three days to complete the process. Once you have smoked the sausage, you need to allow it to sit for a while and dry slightly.

It can take from several days to a week. It is only then that you should taste it.

How Much Curing Salt to Use for Summer Sausage?

It is possible to experiment with seasonings and types of meat when you make your summer sausage.

One area where following the rules is essential is when it comes to curing.

If you are new to sausage making, you don’t need to measure every ounce of meat or cure salt to make sure the meat is cured correctly.

If you want to know the amount of cure you need for summer sausage, you should use a rule about how much curing salt you need.

For some, it might seem like it’s too much, and for others, it’s not enough, but this is the correct ratio, make sure to stick to it for the best results.

If you have cured meat, it’s better to dismiss anything that doesn’t seem right.

It is best to not consume summer sausage if it does not taste as it should after it has been cured.

How Long to Cure Summer Sausage?

After curing salt is added to the meat, it needs to be kept in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The curing salts will work at that time.

During the curing time, make sure to knead the meat. When it is fully cured, your summer sausage will lose a third of its original weight.

The amount of time depends on the cooking temperature and the size of the sausage links.

Best Curing Salt for Summer Sausage

You don’t have to mix the ingredients yourself for curing salts for meats and sausages. You must buy them already mixed in the correct proportions.

There are two different categories for curing salts, Curing Salt #1 and Curing Salt #2. If you want to make summer sausage, you need Curing Salt #1.

Curing Salt #1 is also known as Prague Powder #1, pink curing salt, and Insta Cure #1. It is often used for semi-dry meats and sausages, like summer sausage, for short-term cures.

The term Curing Salt #2 is also used for Prague Powder #2, Insta Cure #2, and slow cure.

It is not suitable for sausages because it is used for cures that take weeks and even months.

It is important to note that curing salt for sausages should not be confused with pink Himalayan salt, which also has a pink hue.

Conclusion

It takes less time to make homemade summer sausage than it does to make other cured meats. It is possible to have your sausage ready in a couple of days.

The process of curing summer sausage should not be rushed.

Make sure you stick to the recommended amount of curing salts and allow the meat to cure for an appropriate amount of time.

The instructions on how to use the blends are usually provided by the commercial blends. It’s a good idea to tread cautiously and discard anything that tastes funny.

The curing process is important for your health as well as your taste.