Hot Chicken Sausage

[warston]

Warston,

Take Paul's advice. He's been more gracious than I would.

DO NOT take one recipe and mix it with another, add cure, and think that it's a good idea...

...I'll say again:

DO NOT take one recipe and mix it with another, add cure, and think that it's a good idea...

...DO NOT...

...you get the idea!

You got me wrong here
I didn't mix 2 recipes. all what I did is calculating the allowed cure#1 needed for a certain meat weight and just added it ( in this case mistakenly i did cure #2 instead ) to the recipe of this thread
I would guess ( and correct me if i'm wrong ) that would be the same as going to the sausage calculator to see how much cure you need for some meat and then add some herbs to that. is not it ?

[wheels]

So what were you planning to do with it?

[NCPaul]

Cure # 1 is often added to sausage recipes that are intended to be smoked and / or cooked. The cure protects the sausage when it is at elevated temperatures (40-140F) in a lower oxygen environment. This recipe doesn't call for smoking or cooking (it is a fresh sausage), so cure #1 isn't necessary. Cure #1 can be added to sausage recipes but the color and flavor of the sausage will be changed. Curing the meat will give a "ham" like taste to the sausage, is this what you want?

[wheels]

If it is as Paul suggests and you intended to smoke it, then 3.9gm in 3lbs of meat is fine. I'm sorry for 'going of on one' but whilst I'm always ready to help, if you don't tell us the full story it's almost impossible to give good advice.

Phil

[warston]

Cure # 1 is often added to sausage recipes that are intended to be smoked and / or cooked. The cure protects the sausage when it is at elevated temperatures (40-140F) in a lower oxygen environment. This recipe doesn't call for smoking or cooking (it is a fresh sausage), so cure #1 isn't necessary. Cure #1 can be added to sausage recipes but the color and flavor of the sausage will be changed. Curing the meat will give a "ham" like taste to the sausage, is this what you want?

Thanks Paul for this thorough explanation for the use of cure#1 in sausage ! I thought that the cure is mainly to extend the life shelf of the meat only.
I always do my sausages on the grill. So I will post about the flavor of the sausage( hoping my chicken won't turn to hamlike taste )
I appreciate all the input that explain the the use of the cure and when, because it really helps to understand what is going on during the curing process

[warston]

If it is as Paul suggests and you intended to smoke it, then 3.9gm in 3lbs of meat is fine. I'm sorry for 'going of on one' but whilst I'm always ready to help, if you don't tell us the full story it's almost impossible to give good advice.

Phil

I didn't have a story to tell Phil. all what i wanted to know is whether mixing cure#2 instead of #1 will result in a bad meat or not because as I mentioned, the cure calculation was brought from the sausage calculator. and it is good to know that the cure is only for smoking intended meat ! So will boiling the sausage or grilling it on high temperature is not recommendable ?

[wheels]

Ah, I see.

[warston]

I'm sorry if i'm being a brat here, but I just want if grilling sausage that has cure#2 is safe or not ?
Appreciate your patience here with me

[DanMcG]

I wish I could answer your safety question but I can't. One thing I never understood about cures is what happens to nitrate once it's heated. I think at some temp its converted to nitrite and then to nitric oxide, but i've been wrong before.
I know small amounts of nitrates are found in the veggies we eat everyday so I'd probably be inclined try them myself. maybe poached to 160°f then grilled.
Maybe some of the more knowledgeable members can correct my errors and give us both some incite.

[gsevelle]

From the website;
"The famous Smitty's 2014 spice mix... plenty of heat, and a nice balance of Thai, Habanaro, Jalepeno and other peppers/spices combine to give a nice high heat AND flavor level"

I think it also has some Hungarian paprika too.. thats about all I can give ya Phil.

Can you post the Website URL for Smitty's I just did a search and could only find a company that does Bloody Mary mix and a ton of restaurants. Would like to try or find an appropriate substitute.

Thanks

[DanMcG]

Contact Rich at Mad Hunky Meats http://madhunkymeats.com . its a limited run and usually runs out fast every year..
Tell him I sent ya,

[gsevelle]

TKS

[gsevelle]

Made a batch of these yesterday and just cooked one for breakfast today. Since I did not have any Smitty's pepper I used a 1/2 tsp of dried ghost pepper. Given that chicken does not have a lot of natural flavor to begin with I must say that this is a very tasty sausage. I started with some skin on/bone in thighs (skin and bone are about half the weight) i.e. 10 lbs of thighs equal 5 lbs of boneless/skinless meat. I did leave some of the fat in that was under the skin. I'll use the bone and skin to make chicken stock. It is not to hot but does leave a good heat mouthfeel. I poached and then fried the sausage then ate it with a bit of applesauce. Based on the flavor profile these will be good as a substitute for Sweet/hot Italian sausage. I'll make a naked spaghetti with some butter and parmesan cheese then add some red/yellow/orange bell pepper (grilled) and a couple of grilled sausages.

Thanks for sharing this recipe.