Help!!!

[LuckyDs]

I made Hot Links and Jalapeno & Chedder Sausage on Sunday. Got busy a forgot I had them in the Fridge. When I got them out today to to put them in the freezer so I can Vacuum Pack. The tops was Brown and the bottoms was red. Are they still good?

[Jonathon]

Sunday to Thursday without being vac sealed…were they cured and smoked or are these fresh sausages we are talking about? If they are fresh that’s pushing it for sure. I’d recommend you be safe and toss them. It is a valuable lesson. Hoping it was a small batch?

[LuckyDs]

They are 5 lbs batches . They was made with pork, following the package directions add cure and then I was just going to freeze them and smoke them later.

[Joe Hell]

LuckyDs If you already added the cure you would have wanted to smoke them within 24 hours. I’d toss them.

[LuckyDs]

Okay Thanks. If I don’t wanted to smoke them right away should I leave the cure out? Or is there a way I can make them, Vacuum pack , freeze and smoke them at a later date?

[Jonathon]

LuckyDs I’d suggest smoking them then freezing them. Thats what we do all the time and we’ve never had any complaints about how it comes out when they are reheated.

[LuckyDs]

Thanks I will start doing that. Still on the learning curve.

[Ozgrams]

Jonathon what if you dont want to smoke them later, is it ok to freeze with cure without smoking? We did this last year just to have some sausage that wasn’t pecan smoked. We had pulled a handful of links prior to smoking and vac packed em. They tasted fine to me… but dont want to do that IF its an issue, ie should we just vac pack and skip the cure ?

[Jonathon]

Ozgrams Yeah, as long as they are properly taken care of and vac sealed before freezing it shouldn’t be an issue. Certainly, don’t add a cure accelerator of any kind though. If you skip the cure then you need to cook them as a fresh sausage, cant use the same smoked schedule, you’d be in the danger zone for too long.