@cdub2007 Few things, I am a fan of working with super cold meat as well but I normally keep it almost frozen before I grind it and then go right to mixing. By that time the meat has thawed a little and it has been completely broken down by the grinder. In fact, the few times I have frozen it too much and then ground it anyway the meat almost shaves or flakes and I think that makes protein extraction a lot easier, this is JUST A THEORY that I am working on so it might not be accurate.
As far as your situation I think you have hit the nail on the head for the issues you might see. The frozen pieces that we stuffed into a casing are not going to be bound properly to the meat around it, so you might have some leaking/rendering during the smoking process. But that’s not a big deal, the bigger deal is that they probably didn’t get the cure evenly distributed throughout all of the meat and then by smoking them you created the perfect environment for nasty little things to grow in it. How bad is it? Honestly, probably nothing to worry about, its possible but all the meat around it was cured and there will be some transference during the cooking process. For food poisoning (just like anything else) the amount of harmful stuff you take in is almost as important as what it is you take in. Most of us could deal with a strand or two of ebola and fight it off, it’s when the viral load is excessive that it becomes a problem. I know this from my extensive time spent in the congo fighting infectious diseases. Or, at least I listened to a Warren Zevon song called Roalnd the Headless Thompson Gunner and he mentioned the congo. Obviously I am kidding, I probably read that in a Tom Clancy book or something, so don’t take it too seriously!
For the last one I would say if you run into the same issue either yes let it thaw more or use your grinder to break it all up again!
Good post/question/answers
