Cold smoke with cure #1

[twilliams]

I have someone that is asking a question that i am not 100% positive on. He made some venison brats with cure #1 in it, someone else recommended just cold smoking. I believe that with the cure #1 in it it needs to go through the thermal process during smoking. Am i correct or does it not matter as long as it is cooked to temperature at time of cooking on the grill, stove or oven?

[ClaytonD]

Provides more shelf life in the fridge / helps with color / helps with low and slow smoking / cold smoking to keep the bacteria down…

[Jonathon]

twilliams what ClaytonD says is all correct and in addition, it is what imparts a “cured meat” flavor that is not identifiable but everyone knows what it is! Not adding cure to a brat is fine but then unless you can keep the brats out of the danger zone 40-140° F then I wouldn’t cold smoke. Cold smoked Brats. It’s an interesting idea but doesn’t seem needed, Brats are a fresh product. If you want some smoke on them then I would cook them on a pellet grill or add something like the Flip Professional to a gas grill.

[omega50]

Cold smoking is not just hitting product with low temp smoke in one exposure.
Because the product is cold and the smoke is slightly warmer there is a lot of moisture that is created and after one smoke the desired color and flavor simply cannot be developed.So after a smoke session the product needs to dry and age in a cool ventilated space.Then after a day or 2 it can enjoy another Cold Smoke session.
Generally cold smoking for me takes over a week cumulative to develop the best flavor and subdue the acrid overtones of a wet clammy smoke. Cold smoking takes much more time and because of that I would not attempt it without cure.

But do your Brats really need smoke?-Generally no as it was designed as a Fresh Sausage, but there are exceptions- Coburger Brats have traditionally been grilled over a Pine Cone Fire. This is how I like them.

[mrobisr]

twilliams bacon is a good example of cure #1 then cold smoking it once for flavor only not color, then it must be cooked to temp at a later date for consumption.

[ND Mike]

We put cure in our deer sausage for the red color. We also cold smoke in December or January when it is an ice box outside. We actually had to put a ceramic heater in our cold smoker to keep it from below zero. It was -27F outside. Loading a 100 lbs of sausage on sticks was not fun!

[processhead]

This post is deleted!

[processhead]

Jonathon said in Cold smoke with cure #1:

twilliams what ClaytonD says is all correct and in addition, it is what imparts a “cured meat” flavor that is not identifiable but everyone knows what it is! Not adding cure to a brat is fine but then unless you can keep the brats out of the danger zone 40-140° F then I wouldn’t cold smoke. Cold smoked Brats. It’s an interesting idea but doesn’t seem needed, Brats are a fresh product. If you want some smoke on them then I would cook them on a pellet grill or add something like the Flip Professional to a gas grill.

Many years ago our family business made both a smoked and unsmoked bratwurst, both of which were cured and fully cooked, ready to eat products. So to say all brats are fresh is not entirely accurate, although the fresh variety may be more common.

A quick internet search pulls up several brands of both cooked and cooked/smoked bratwurst sold commercially.

[twilliams]

For the life of me i cant even remember this post or who was asking about this since it was over a year ago. But good insight to reread all the comments

[processhead]

twilliams said in Cold smoke with cure #1:

For the life of me i cant even remember this post or who was asking about this since it was over a year ago. But good insight to reread all the comments

Yeah, I didn’t realize how far back it went until after I had read it and replied.

[ND Mike]

processhead me either!

[mrobisr]

Sorry didn’t mean to drag up old conversation, but I like to read old post because the wisdom you guys share is just incredible. I also like to make sure that if a little comment can shed a little more light onto the subject I like to post it because I know I am not the only one reading these older post.

[processhead]

mrobisr I think you are right.
Some old posts have good information, and being able to do a search on a topic or issue can reveal answers to question that have been asked before.

This also can bring new information or perspectives on the topic. This is a good thing!