Smoked Sausage Temp Question

[Panthur]

Hey guys, since I usually have some fairly silly questions, here is possibly another one. If I am smoking (cured) sausage to be frozen for consumption at a later time, do you suggest cold smoking at 80 to 100 degrees. or smoke to my planned IT of 155 degrees and call it done ?
I have limited experience but have done both ways.....it seems that smoking till cooked then freezing is less hassle and possibly the better way. Any pros and cons of both methods is appreciated. Thanks, as always, in advance.

[Fishawn]

I just smoke til IT 152-155, cool, vac pack and freeze. Just my way.

[Richtee]

I suggest completely finishing then freeze. You can't be sure what amount of cure would be left for smoking after thawing in the other case.

[Panthur]

Sounds good. I just wasn't sure if freezing fully cooked smoked sausage was in any way inferior to freezing uncooked cold smoked sausage.... It wouldn't have a shorter freezer life by chance do you think ??

[Bearcarver]

You could cold smoke it, as long as you're gonna hot smoke it to 160˚, or fry it, or whatever at a later date.

But I would do as all of the above suggested---Finish it on the first smoke.
152˚ is probably OK, but I take mine to 160˚.

Just My 2 Piasters,
Bear

[curious aardvark]

Sounds good. I just wasn't sure if freezing fully cooked smoked sausage was in any way inferior to freezing uncooked cold smoked sausage.... It wouldn't have a shorter freezer life by chance do you think ??

It's actually the other way round. Freezing uncooked stuffed sausage will effect the final cooked sausage. Not by much, but enough to make a difference.
As the water freezes in the sausage it expands as ice crystals. when you defrost the sausage the ice vanishes leaving a small void. so the sausage texture ends up much looser.

If you freeze loose sausage meat, defrost, mix for a bit, stuff and cook - that's absoultely fine. You've eliminated the ice pockets with the mixing. But without the mixing before cooking it's not as good as cooking then freezing.

The cooking removes a certain amount of the water plus the cooking binds the proteins together and makes a much tighter bond which is lesseffected by the ice. So the freezing really doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect on cooked sausage.

I don't even vacpack mine. Just cut into approx 8oz chunks, wrap with several tight layers of clingfilm and store in ziplock bags in the freezer.
Defrosts overnight in the fridge good as it was before freezing.
Even after 12 months in the freezer (lost some and found it the year after) it defrosts good as fresh cooked

Temp wise pretty much anything between 150-160 is good. The official recommendations are for any ground pork product to go to 160.

It makes no difference to the texture of the sausage - so might as well play safe and got with 160 :-)

[Panthur]

Thanks guys.