TYPE 2 -
Cooked n` Cured Sausages (Project B2 Continued)
Hi smoke addicts! It`s time to get back into the saddle again after celebrating the Holidays. I hope everyone has a very prosperous New Year. Are you folks grindin` and smilin`? It`s time to push on with our reading to further expand our understanding of "cooked and cured" sausages.
Our last task was to read the following. You may wish to go back a review the information before proceeding. Understanding this material is of prime importance to our Project B2. Some raw sausage types are dried to reduce bacteria - some are cooked. We MUST know the difference and understand how to prepare both if we are to be successful.
drying - http://www.meatsandsausag...e-making/drying
smoking - http://www.meatsandsausag...ng/smoking-meat
cooking - http://www.meatsandsausag...ng/cooking-meat - cooking the sausage for protection against the effects of pathogenic bacteria.
READING:
Next, please read the following pages by Stan Marianski, then let`s get a good discussion going about any questions that arise. Be sure to keep your notebook current and jot down any questions you have. Don`t miss the
"Check Yourself Up" quiz on these three chapters.
cooling meat -
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... oling-meat
storing meat -
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... oring-meat
freezing meat -
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... ezing-meat
thawing meat -
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... ezing-meat
DISCUSSION:
Freezing, thawing, and storing of meat and meat products. Those of you who would like to try the following Krakowska recipe, please take photos to post. Keep good notes and lets open a good discussion about the cooked-cured process.
PROJECT:
Krakowska
Let`s make some of Stan Marianski`s "Krakowska" found on page 237 of his book,
"Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages".
Stan`s recipe specifies:
900 grams (1.98 lb.) lean pork, (ham from rear leg), or butt
100 grams (0.22 lb.) fatty pork trimmings (or jowls)
18 grams (3 tspns) salt
2.5 grams (1/2 tspn) Cure #1
2.0 grams (1 tspn.) pepper
2.5 grams (1/2 tspn) sugar
1.0 grams (1/2 tspn) nutmeg
30 ml (2 Tblspns.)Cold water
Directions: Manually cut lean pork into 2" cubes. Grind fat pork through 1/8" plate. Keep meats separate. Emulsify ground pork adding cold water. Add remaining ingredients when emulsifying. Mix diced pork until gluey, then add emulsified mixture and mix everything well together. Stuff firmly into 75 mm (3") hog middles or synthetic fibrous casing. Stuff casings firmly and tie up both ends. Form 16-18" long sections. Prick any visible air pockets with a needle. Hang at room temperature for 2 hours.
Smoking-Cooking is done in three steps:
Dry sausages using thin smoke 113-131°F. for 20-30 minutes.
Smoke with a thick smoke 113-131°F. for 150 minutes.
Bake with a thin smoke 167-194° (oven or smoke house temp)
Total time about 3 hours until the internal meat temperature reaches 154°F and casing are dark brown. Shower with cold water for about 5 minutes and place sausages in refrigerator.
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Pathogenic Bacteria And Foodborne Infections
Let`s pause for a few minutes to learn about some very important toxic poisons sometimes occurring in sausages. The most commonly recognized foodborne infections are those caused by the bacteria species campylobacter, salmonella, and E.coli, along with a group of viruses called calicivirus also known as the Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses. Campylobacter remains the most common bacterial cause of diarrheal illness in the world and incredibly, most raw poultry meat has campylobacter on it. Salmonella is also a bacterium widespread in the intestines of birds, reptiles, and mammals. Its infection, known as samonellosis, typically includes fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. E.coli 0157:H7 is a bacterial pathogen infecting cattle and other similar animals. Human illness typically follows consumption of food or water that has been contaminated with microscopic amounts of cattle feces. The illness it causes is often a severe and bloody diarrhea with painful abdominal cramps, but without much fever. In 3% to 5% of cases, a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) can occur several weeks after the initial symptoms. This severe complication includes temporary anemia, profuse bleeding, and kidney failure.
Norwalk and Norwalk-like virus (
calicivirus) is an extremely common cause of foodborne illness, though it is rarely diagnosed, because its laboratory test is not widely available. It causes an acute gastrointestinal illness, usually with more vomiting than diarrhea, that resolves within two days. It is believed that Norwalk-like viruses spread primarily from one infected person to another. Infected kitchen workers can contaminate a salad or sandwich as they prepare it, if they have the virus on their hands. Infected fishermen have contaminated oysters as they harvested them. Sausagemakers, wash your hands!
Although other routes usually transmit them, some common diseases are occasionally produced by foodborne bacteria. These include infections caused by
shigella, hepatitis A, and the parasites
giardia lambia, and cryptosporidia. Even "strep throats" have been transmitted occasionally through food.
Indeed, we live in a microbial world with countless opportunities for food to become contaminated as it is produced and prepared. Many food borne microbes are present in healthy animals (usually in their intestines) raised for food. In the kitchen, microbes may be transferred from one food to another food by using the same knife, cutting board or other utensils to prepare both without washing the surface or utensil in between. Worse, a food that is fully cooked can become re-contaminated if it touches other raw foods or drippings from raw foods that contain pathogens.
A "
strain" is a sub-group within the species of a particular bacterium having unique characteristics distinguishing it from other strains. These differences are often detectable only at the molecular level; yet, they may result in changes to the physiology or lifecycle of the bacterium. Some strains develop pathogenic capacity becoming hostile to our food supply. Many bacterial microbes need to multiply before enough are present in food to cause disease. The way food is handled after it is contaminated can also make a difference in whether or not an outbreak occurs. Given warm moist conditions and an ample supply of nutrients, merely one reproducing bacterium dividing itself every half hour can produce 17 million progeny in only 12 hours! As a result, lightly contaminated food left out overnight can be highly infectious by the next day. If the food were refrigerated promptly, the bacteria would not multiply at all. In general, freezing prevents nearly all bacteria from growing but merely preserves them in a state of "suspended animation". However, this general rule has a few surprising exceptions. Two foodborne bacteria, l
isteria monocytogenes and
yersinia enterocolitica can actually grow at refrigerator temperatures! As we shall see, high salt, high sugar, or high acid levels keep bacteria from growing, which is why salted meats, sweetened jam, and pickled vegetables are traditionally preserved foods.
Staphylococcus Aureus
Staphylococcus aureus is a particularly infamous nasty strain of bacteria that thrives at 98° Fahrenheit, causes intense vomiting, and much like
clostridium botulinum, it is capable of producing toxins that remain in meat even after the microorganism is destroyed or removed. Most often found around the nose and throat or on sores, the foods most often contaminated with
staphylococcus are moist and high in protein, such as meats and cheeses. The bacteria are usually passed onto food by the hands. "
Staph" is even more dangerous because there is no tangible way to tell if meat is infected - taste, aroma, and appearance all seem normal. Moreover, it is highly resistant to drying and in the presence of oxygen, it can survive in Aw water levels down to an incredible 0.86. Worse, it can withstand a whopping 15% salt! Proper temperature management is essential - no, it is critical - in avoiding the spread of
staphylococcus microorganisms. Cooked foods that are not cooled quickly enough or that are allowed to stand at room temperature are susceptible to infection. In fermented (not cooked) sausage, a rapid drop to less than 5.3 pH is required for its demise. In fresh or smoked-cooked-cured sausage, normal cooking temperatures exterminate the bacterium.
E. coli
The rod-shaped, facultative anaerobic, E. coli (
escherichia coli) bacteria are comonly but not always confined to the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. Most are harmless and one strain in particular has been used in the development of probiotic medicine developed to treat gastrointestinal infection. However some strains, such as serotype 0157:H7, 0104:H21, and 0121, can cause potentially lethal toxins. The strain 0157:H7 especially may cause serious food poisoning in humans, as well as other life-threatening complications. The ability of
E.coli bacteria to survive for brief periods outside the body makes them ideal candidates for fecal contamination. The bacteria survive freezing and acidic environments down to 4.0 pH and a minimum drop in Aw water activity to 0.95. Untreated water, unwashed hands, flies, or vermin can then spread the bacteria. As plants are eaten, the cycle continues. As with
staphylococcus aureus, it is best destroyed using heat.
Salmonella
Salmonella bacteria do not produce spores, are not destroyed by freezing, and are facultative anaerobic, meaning they are active in oxygen but can survive without it. This is the nasty bug that causes Typhoid Fever! In food, it is the cause of
salmonellosis. The rod shaped bacteria live in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals and are passed in the excreta of an infected host. Untreated water, unwashed hands, flies, or vermin can then spread the bacteria.
Salmonella can survive for weeks outside a living body and have even been found in dried excrement after nearly three years. The foods most commonly infected with bacteria are poultry, eggs, and all kinds of meat. Thorough cooking of these foods at a temperature of at least 165°F. (74 °C) will destroy the
salmonella bacterium. Each year, about 40,000 Americans are infected with food borne
salmonella and develop
salmonellosis. Amazingly, another 142,000 are annually infected with
Salmonella enteritidis solely from consuming raw chicken eggs! About 30 die. In non-cooked fermented sausages, the microorganism must be destroyed using a combination of salt, a drop to less than 3.8 pH, and a minimum drop in Aw water activity to 0.94.
Have you ever seen someone open a package of frankfurters from the market and eat them without further cooking? True, they have been prep-cooked, but is this really a wise practice? Prep-cooked sausages (including the ones you make and heat to 148°F during processing) are made to be re-heated later to a sufficient temperature as to destroy pathogens. These include frankfurters and "brown and serve" sausage. Perhaps you remember an outbreak of
Listeria monocytogenes affecting pregnant women who were eating franks right from the package inside the refrigerator. Indeed, expectant mothers are twenty times more likely to contract listeriosis than other healthy adults and account for a third of all reported cases. In October 2002, a major poultry producer in Franconia, Pennsylvania, recalled more than twenty-seven and a half million pounds of turkey and chicken "ready to eat" products they had already placed on the market. Following an outbreak of listeriosis, several other meat companies voluntarily shut down operations until the source could be identified. Unfortunately, listeria infection (
listeriosis) in several northeastern states had taken its toll, initiating several deaths, sicknesses, miscarriages, and stillbirths.
Each year in the United States, an estimated 2,500 persons become seriously ill with
listeriosis. Another 500 die, causing
listeriosis to be the leading cause of death from food borne bacterial pathogens! Twenty to thirty percent of infections result in death! The rod-shaped Listeria monocytogenes bacteria do not produce spores and are found in soil and water. Most often, the bacteria get into food using manure as a fertilizer from animals having the infection yet displaying no ill symptoms. Again,
Listeriosis infection is simply caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium
Listeria monocytogenes and the elderly and persons with weakened immune systems due to cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, and other diseases, are especially at risk. The bacterium is destroyed by heat while cooking or preparing food. Uncooked meats and vegetables and unpasteurized (raw) milk or foods made from unpasteurized milk may contain the
listeria monocytogenes bacteria. Foods to be concerned about include soft cheeses and cold cuts at the deli counter, and many ready-to-eat foods such as hot dogs and raw vegetables. These items must be thoroughly cooked until they are steaming hot! Check the labels on Feta, Brie, and Camembert, any blue-veined cheeses, and Mexican cheeses such as Queso Blanco, Queso Fresco, and Panela. Unless labels clearly state they are made from pasteurized milk, avoid them. It is always a good idea to eat smoked seafood only in cooked dishes such as casseroles.
Whenever making fresh sausage from any raw meat, protection from
listeria monocytogenes is dependent upon cooking the meat until the recommended internal meat temperature of at least 152°F. (66.6°C.) is reached. In non-cooked fermented sausages, the microorganism must be destroyed using a combination of salt, a drop to less than 4.4 pH, and a minimum drop in Aw water activity to 0.92. Sausage making is completely safe only when the rules are stringently followed. To help control the growth of
Listeria monocytogenes, a ready-to-eat (dry-cured) product should not be stored for more than 7 days if held at 41° F, or 4 days at 45° F.
More Pathogenic Bacteria
Of the three microorganisms affecting food (bacteria, yeasts, and molds), pathogenic bacteria, existing virtually everywhere in our environment, remain the greatest cause of food poisoning. Sausage makers and food handlers must be aware of the strains of millions of microbes found everywhere on unwashed hands and dirty utensils. Under the right conditions, they multiply at an alarmingly incredible rate.
Clostridia
Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is a spore-forming gram-positive bacterium found in the intestines of humans and animals as well as many environmental sources. It is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness in the United States and causes an estimated one-million cases of foodborne illness each year. It is commonly found on raw meat and poultry and some strains of C. perfringens produce a toxin in the intestine that causes serious illness. A few of the species of this class of clostridia affecting us include:
Clostridium perfringens (Gangrene, Food poisoning)
Clostridium difficile (Pseudomembranous colitis)
Clostridium tetani (Tetanus)
Clostridium botulinum (Botulism)
Clostridium acetobutylicum
Clostridium haemolyticum
Clostridium novyi
Clostridium oedematiens
What causes
Clostridium perfringens food poisoning? Although
C. perfringens may live normally in the human intestine, illness is caused by eating food contaminated with large numbers of
C. perfringens bacteria producing enough toxin in the intestines to cause illness.
Clostridium perfringens spores can survive high temperatures and grows very rapidly between moderate temperatures of 109°F to 117°F (43°C --47°C). Note that During cooling (and holding of food at temperatures from 54°F-140°F (12°C -- 60°C), its spores germinate and then the bacteria grow.
If food is served without reheating to kill the bacteria, live bacteria may be eaten and that bacteria produce a toxin inside the intestine that causes illness. Pre-cooked foods are common sources of
C. perfringens infections.
Now, sausage-makers... get this... In non-cooked fermented sausages, the bacteria must be destroyed using a combination of salt, a drop to a point less than 5.5 pH, and a minimum drop in Aw water activity to 0.93.
How may we prevent the growth of these toxins? Allow me to quote the F.S.I.S. "To prevent the growth of
C. perfringens spores that might be in food after cooking, foods such as beef, poultry, gravies, and other foods commonly associated with C. perfringens infections should be cooked thoroughly to recommended temperatures, and then kept at a temperature that is either warmer than 140°F (60°C) or cooler than 41°F (5°C); these temperatures prevent the growth of
C. perfringens spores that might have survived the initial cooking process."
Refrigerate leftover foods as soon as possible and within two hours of preparation. It is okay to put hot foods directly into the refrigerator at 40°F or below. Large cuts of meats like roasts or whole poultry should be divided into small quantities for refrigeration. Cover the food to retain moisture and prevent them from picking up odors from other foods. Remember, foods that have dangerous bacteria in them may not taste, smell, or look different from any other food, so always heat leftovers to at least 165°F (74°C) before serving them.
All uncooked meats or sausages should be refrigerated and treated as fresh meat. We can keep an amount on hand that will be consumed within a few days. The rest should be frozen solid.
Checkup
T F 1. Clostridia is plural for clostridium. Meat exposed to excessive time in the range of 130°F to 80°F is especially hazardous, as this is the range of most rapid growth for the clostridia.
T F 2. Chilling should begin within 90 minutes after the cooking cycle is completed.
T F 3. Clostridia are distinguished from Bacilli by lacking aerobic respiration. This means that Clostridia are obligate anaerobes and oxygen is toxic to them.
T F 4. New FSIS regulations specify two distinct cooling steps. All products must now be chilled from 120°F (48°C) to 55°F (12.7°C) in no more than six hours. During the second step, chilling then continues until the product reaches 40°F (4.4°C).
T F 5. Commercially, meat products should not be shipped until they reach 40°F (4.4°C).
T F 6. Adding nitrate eliminates the need for cooling.
T F 7. Cafeteria buffets featuring cooked foods held at 140° F (60° C) or higher completely eliminate the need for further attention following about six hours of this elevated temperature. Holding foods at such temperature has no detrimental effects on their quality.
T F 8. Certain members of the Clostridium genus are among the most dangerous known. Examples include the tetanus toxin.
T F 9. If a sausage was smoked, showering it with cold water not only cleans the surface from any remaining smoke particles, it also prevents shrivelling.
T F 10. Heat-resistant food-poisoning bacteria can grow from 38°F up to approximately 125° F. The range of the most rapid growth is from approximately 80°F to 125° F.
T F 11. Traditionally - cured products containing high amounts of salt and nitrite, together with low moisture content, are less resistant to bacterial growth than meat treated with potassium sorbate.
T F 12. Clostridium perfringens is the bacterium causing gangrene in a wound although it may be introduced into the human body by food poisoning.
T F 13. Cooked sausages such as liver, blood or head cheese will last a few days longer in the refrigerator than "fresh sausages".
T F 14. Rancid meat is noticeable more with frozen meat than chilled meat because bacteria can spoil meat in a refrigerator well before rancidity begins.
T F 15. Meat is about 95% water.
T F 16. When frozen, the water inside meat will become ice and will expand, doing damage to the meat protein, resulting in a loss of elasticity and ability to hold water.
T F 17. Frozen meat loses flavor over a long period because the fat oxidizes among other reasons.
T F 18. Fish contains less water than other meats so its cells are more susceptible to damage by ice crystals. This means that it is wiser to freeze fish
T F 19. Fast freezing creates small ice crystals leaving meat looking opaque and pale due to light dissipation.
T F 20. The exudates from thawing meat should never be added back to the meat to make sausage.
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Answers:
1.T 2.T 3.T 4.T 5.T 6.F 7.F 8.T 9.T 10.T 11.F 12.T 13.T 14.T 15.F 16.T 17.T 18.F 19.T 20.F
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Should I be adding a single element electric burner to get these lower temps?
