Brats turning color

[nicholls47]

So I’ve been roasting garlic and adding it to the garlic/onion brat mix along with chopped green onions. They are really good, but the meat starts to turn color within a couple hours. Anyone know/have any tricks to keep the meat from turning? Thanks!

[Jonathon]

nicholls47 couple of things:
What color is it turning?
How did you roast the garlic? Garlic has enzymes in it that should have been inactivated by roasting it. but those enzymes can change the color of the finished product. (fairly sure you know this as you heat treated the garlic first)
Is it turning color whether the sausage is cooked or not?

[nicholls47]

Roasted whole garlic in oven, wrapped in foil. The brats (uncooked) start turning color almost immediately-grayish.

[nicholls47]

I did not cook the onion-could that be it?

[Jonathon]

nicholls47 I don’t “think” so (could be wrong), the enzymes present in garlic I don’t believe to be present in Onion So, the meat starts turning great right away. The greyish color is metmyoglobin, which is created when myoglobin is oxidized, so some interaction with the garlic is oxidizing the meat. @Regular-Contributors @Power-User has anyone seen this before? It sounds insane but I want to point to the foil for some reason but I have no good scientific reason to back it up. Departing Contestant ever heard of this?

[salmonmaster]

Jonathon don’t even have a guess. Is the meat turning gray from around the garlic and onions outwards, or all the meat at once?

[Departing Contestant]

is it only this batch. Have you made other batches using this process

[salmonmaster]

Jonathon it almost seems like it would be a reaction between the garlic and onion with the seasoning.

[nicholls47]

It is turning around the garlic and onions. I have made before and have had the same issue-although this is the first time I used roasted garlic-in the past, have used the minced garlic from a jar

[salmonmaster]

nicholls47 I’ve had the same thing happen around some hi temp cheese that I added to some summer sausage. Only happened once, and just around cheese. Don’t know why, never figured it out.

[salmonmaster]

salmonmaster here’s a picture from another post. Mine wasn’t that bad, but similar.

[Departing Contestant]

lets go way out on a limb here. what is the fat to lean ratio and are you using phosphates
could be oxidizing

[digidwain]

Did you put cure or celery powder in the mix? If you did, it is supposed to turn grey prior to the cook - it means the cure is working. However, when you cook it will turn red. If it is a fresh sausage with no cure - it shouldn’t do that - check your ingredients to see if any have nitrites or nitrates in them.

[nicholls47]

80/20. Fresh brats. No phosphate, nitrite, or celery powder. Using Excalibur garlic and onion seasoning and adding the additional garlic and green onion. I’m sure it’s the addition of those two items, just not sure of the why? And would be nice to figure out how to fix it, because they are darn tasty, but nobody wants a brat that looks like that.

[Craig Rice]

salmonmaster i have had the same problem i thought it was an interaction with the binder

[salmonmaster]

Craig Rice I used soya protien in the sausages that turned gray around cheese. What kind of sausage did it happen to you in?

[Dave in AZ]

nicholls47 I really want to see a pic now, my brats are all pretty much grey inside when cooked up, so you have me trying to imagine what color you’re getting. Is it just precook? Or are they messed up after cooking? Pics pls!

[Craig Rice]

salmonmaster i used soy protein in summer sausage

[salmonmaster]

Craig Rice did you have cheese in it?

[Ron Grisar]

salmonmaster Same thing for me, happened on one batch with high temp cheddar. Didn’t notice any off taste but very unappealing. Ended up tossing batch. Hesitant to use cheese again.