Cold smoking

[blackbetty61]

I wanna make some breakfast ring sausage this fall and would like to smoke it but not cook it all the way has anyone done this and what is needed? I would use seasoning a cure pack but how long should I smoke it and at what temp?(120* an hour?) what would be the best seasoning? I would then freeze, and cook in a bit of water in a pan… hope this all makes sense

[pauliedmondsjr]

Hi Betty,
Cold smoking is defined as smoking items at <100° F. (Less than 100° F) I prefer it for much of what I make, then finish it when it is cooked.
I cold smoke Bacon, Salmon, Nuts, salt, butter, etc.
I use Prague Powder in weighed amounts. 1.1 grams per pound of meat.
For my tastes, I typically smoke my cured bacon for 6 hours, with Apple Wood sawdust. I use an Amazen tray that works for Pellets or Sawdust. (I like dual use out of items I buy.)
If I want a stronger smokiness, I just use pellets.
But dissolving the pellets with a little water, then drying out the sawdust, gives me a milder tastier smoking result.

Cold smoking can be done in any appropriate sized container, even a cardboard box. But I use one of my Masterbuilt smokers. (One I was given. One I bought)

Things I cold smoke I generally vacuum bag and freeze, for later use, after cooking.
As long as you use cure, and always use it in the recommended amounts, everything should work fine. Cooking cured meats and meat products renders cure neutral.
I enjoy some of Walton’s seasonings, especially Willie’s Snack Stick mix. But I also use my own season’s and combinations as well.

I’d like to see what you make.

[pauliedmondsjr]

Well, I don’t know what happened here. But my lengthy post got wrecked.
Cold Smoking is described as smoking items at less than 100° F. I cold smoke a lot of what I make, Bacon’s, Salmon, Nuts, Salt, Butter, etc.
My bacon, snack sticks, and sausages, all have cure added to be sure they are done properly. I feel cure and it’s use if fine when the finish product is finally cooked to the point the cure remaining is neutralized by the heat.
I haven’t found any complaint with Walton’s Seasonings, and suggest you begin here. I also have a shelf of other seasonings I like to employ to make my own variations on seasonings. I did that with Meat Snack Sticks, but came back to enjoying Willie’s Snack Stick Mix.
I don’t know what a Breakfast ring sausage is supposed to taste like. So cannot recommend there. Austin or Jonathon should be able to help you.

I use an Amazen Tray to burn pellets or sawdust in for all my smoking. I’ve come to prefer using sawdust in the tray, and get 6 hours of smoke from a full tray of sawdust. I dissolve wood pellets with a bit of water, then dry them back out into sawdust for my smoking fuel.
To me, pellets have a stronger flavor, maybe a more bitter end result. I don’t taste that with sawdust.
My current favorite is Apple Wood Pellets. That is after using Hickory wood for ~ 50 years. So it’s a big change for me.
I used a Bradley Smoke generator for about 12 years, but Bradley priced their fuel out of my realm of “reasonably priced.”
So I’ve transpired into pelleted wood for my fuel. Available everywhere, and cheap.

Cold smoking can be done in any of a variety of ways, from a cardboard box, to a BBQ, or any sort of thing. (But not in the house!) I use one of two Masterbuilt Electric Smokers I have modified to do my smoking in. (Modified because they did not work for my type of smoking)

I smoke cured bacon for 6 hours with Apple Wood Sawdust. Everybody seems to love the bacon I make. And everybody is still alive. So I count that as a success. LOL!

[Jonathon]

blackbetty61 (ban ba lam) I would add to it but I don’t think I could add any more useful information than pauliedmondsjr gave. It sounds like you have a good plan and as long as when you eventually cook it it gets to 160 or 165 for poultry you should be all good to proceed as planned.

The amazen tubes or maze are good, so is the Flip Professional Smoke Box. As for seasoning I would start out with the Holly Regular Pss

[blackbetty61]

Jonathon pauliedmondsjr
Thanks guys…it would be a mixture of deer/pork butts or 90/10 burger/pork butts should I still use the holly seasoning or would you use a ring bologna or a polish flavor I’m thinking of using my pellet smoker and maybe my smoke pistol or my smoke tube @ 150* since that’s as low as it goes for an hour or so… I just want it to get some smoke but not cook it since sometimes when we make ring sausage the casing tends to get too hard and not very appealing… is that from cooking it too fast too hot?? Again thanks for the response
Forgot to add it would be a 50/50 butts to deer or butts to burger

[Jonathon]

blackbetty61 Yes, my assumption is that you are running into case hardening if the casing is getting too hard, try lowering temps and that should be better! Good luck!