How to handle fresh sausage
 

I am just getting into meat grinding and sausage stuffing. Second outing will be the below recipe.

Noob questions for such an endeavor:
1. How long do you rest the sausage in the fridge to dry?
2. Do you ever freeze for later use, or is that tabboo?
3. If you dont freeze, what is the shelf-life?





__________________

I haven't made Texas hots, but with other sausages I hang and dry in the refrigerator 3-4 hours until dry to the touch. A wet sausage will inhibit the smoking process of the sausage.

I Vac-seal my batches for use at later times or for other events and freeze, but they still do not last very long.

Although the recipe uses 2 Tablespoons of Morton's Tenerquick, which is a curing agent and a bacterial growth inhibitor, for 7 pounds of meat the shelf life will be very limited. Possibly four to five days...

.

If you mean fresh like Italian or brats then dry a few hours and vacuum pack and freeze unless you are using real soon.

For sausage headed to the smoker, 3-4 hours or overnight is ok in the fridge. You can hang in a smoke without smoke at 120-130 for an hour or so and then light up the smoke.

Tenderquick or other cures are not usually associated with "fresh" sausages but with those headed for the smoker. You wouldn't need the cure for sausage headed to the grill. YMMV! I just follow Ruhlmand and Rytek Kutas suggestions and haven't poisoned anyone yet.

Your question is slightly confusing. You ask about fresh sausage, yet your recipe is for smoked sausage.

For fresh, the fridge life is about 3 days max. I freeze my fresh sausage after letting it sit in the fridge for a few hours after stuffing. I try to limit the freezer life to 3-4 months. There is no need for Cure#1 or TenderQuick for fresh sausage.

Like others have said, you're recipe is for smoked sausage , not fresh. Also, I would re-verify the amount of cure. I believe that it normally is 1 tsp per 5lbs of meat. Shelf life for cured and smoked sausage could be a week or more? I routinely freeze my smoked sausages with no ill effects.
Last batch of smoked Anduille that I made, I let hand in florida room overnight where temps were in 30's to low 40's. after smoking the next day, I let it hang again overnight before packaging and freezing (vac seal).

Also, what type of smoker do you have and how low can you go on internal temps? It's very important to start out pretty low , like 120. I like to bump up temp slowly over several hours in 10 degree increments. I try not to let my smoker (electric) get over 170. You need to keep it low so you don't render the fat out of the sausage.

hope this helps and good luck!!

Yeah I agree the amount of Tender Quick seems high. I would check that if I were you.

You are gonna love that recipe, I made mine, stuffed it, then vacu sealed them in 1 pd packs. As i want to eat it, i take a pack or 2 out of the freezer, and smoke it when Im smokin a butt or ribs, or chicke (you get the idea). It usually only lasts a day or two in the fridge after that point. This may be wrong, and maybe I should smoke it before i freeze it, I'll let the more experienced chime in for that.

This is the answer I needed. I will make the recipe as is, hang the raw sausage for 4 hours then vacseal and freeze. Then defrost and smoke on my grill at low temp.

When I say "fresh" I guess I mean freshly stuffed before cooking. Once smoked I would serve immediately.

So I understand now that I can freeze the raw stuffed sausage, then use in parcels as I need and keep in the freezer for a month or two before cooking.

Sound right? Thanks for the advice.

LOL, I am confused and a noobie

That'll work but you are still confusing "smoked sausage" with grilling/bbq sausage. Smoked needs cure as it is smoked at low temps for many hours...well withing the 40-140 temp and 4 hour window.
What you are doing is making fresh sausage to grill or "hot smoke" for dinner. You do not need to use "cure" for this.
You don't normally make, stuff, freeze, and smoke sausage...smoking is part of the making process since the links are air dried to form a pelicle to hold the heavy smoke flavor.
I suggest you look at a copy of "Charcuterie" from Michael Ruhlman, available at Barnes & Nobel, Books-a-Million, and some libraries to give you a better picture of fresh and smoked sausage.
Doing it your way won't kill anybody but it'll never be what you really want in smoked sausage. YMMV!

OK, now I get it. I grind, stuff, dry then smoke the whole batch. Then I either eat or freeze. Then for the frozen links I just reheat in the grill. OK, cool.

I do want authentic smoked sausage.

Kewl! I still recommend a copy of Ruhlman's book become your sausage and charcuterie companion! Mine is less than a year old and already beat up!

I just ordered it - thanks

When you feel really adventurous, order "Salumi" - you'll need a curing cabinet with humidity and temp controls, etc. I was talking to CincHouse last night about a meat slicer and she was going "where are you going to put it?"...Like, I don't know - somewhere!!
Good luck. Sausage making and charcuterie in general is a lot of fun and the products are way better than you can usually buy.

You guys are awesome. OK, please advize:

1. I have my new smoker (Masterbuilt). I went a little cheap and I will upgrade when/if successful.
2. Smoker is seasoning now and will be ready in a few hours.
3. Sausage was ground and mixed last night. I will stuff in medium casings a little later
4. What temp and how long for smoking? 180 for 4 hours? Also note I am at 5200 ft and it is 40 degrees today.
5. Hickory chipps or other wood?