Mastering the Craft of Making Sausage (14 page)

CHAPTER 6

Cooking Sausage

T
he last step in making a great sausage is cooking it properly. It is just as important as carefully grinding, seasoning, and mixing it.

Most sausage is cooked (dry-cured sausage is the main exception), and if the cooking is done improperly, it can ruin an otherwise perfect sausage. Sausage is delicate, and no matter what method of cooking is used, it must be slow and gentle if the best result is desired. Overcooking is the most common mistreatment of sausage; it must be avoided.

Any method of cooking will accomplish the primary goals: to change the raw meat to cooked meat, to prevent parasitic diseases, and to kill pathogenic microbes. However, in addition to the primary goals, we want to prevent, to the extent possible, the escape of juices and melted fats. These fluids make the sausage delicious and succulent, and careful cooking helps to keep them in the sausage.

Important Note:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), together with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), recommends that ground beef, pork, mutton, and similar ground meats be cooked until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 160° F (71° C).

For ground poultry, 165° F (74° C) is the recommended minimum internal temperature. In April 2006, the recommended minimum internal temperature for ground poultry was changed from 160° F (71° C) to 165° F (74° C) because of the high risk of salmonella contamination and because of salmonella’s acquisition of some resistance to being killed by heat.

If these recommended temperatures are reached for even one second, there is no risk of food poisoning. Actually, the temperatures could be 155° F (68° C) and 158° F (69° C), respectively, and there still would be no risk of food poisoning. (The recommended minimum temperatures have a safety factor of a few degrees for several reasons: thermometers are not always accurately calibrated; temperature measurements of one or two samples are not always representative of the entire lot; the thermometer is often not placed in the coolest part—usually the exact center—of the sausage.)

The recommended temperatures mentioned above are for the benefit of the average consumer like you and me. If we have a reasonably accurate thermometer and exercise care when measuring the internal temperature, the sausage should be safe to eat if heated to the recommended temperature.

Actually, the same level of pathogen kill can be accomplished at a lower temperature if that temperature is maintained for sufficient time; the microbes are not killed by temperature alone—they are killed by time and temperature working together. For example, the same level of safety can be accomplished by maintaining the internal temperature of the sausage at 145° F (63° C) for 4 minutes. The sausage will be just as safe to eat as sausage that has reached an internal temperature of 160° F (71° C). (The time that a certain temperature is maintained is called the “dwell time.”) Below,
for reference only,
is a list of dwell times approved by USDA/FSIS for meat products that do not contain poultry:

• 130° F (54.4° C)….. 121 minutes

• 135° F (57.2° C)….. 37 minutes

• 140° F (60.0° C)….. 12 minutes

• 145° F (62.8° C)….. 4 minutes

• 150° F (65.6° C)….. 72 seconds

• 155° F (68.3° C)….. 23 seconds

• 160° F (71.1° C)….. 0 seconds

Most commercial sausage processors use the lower temperatures with appropriate dwell times when “fully cooked” sausage (or solid meat, such as ham, for example) is being produced. Unfortunately, the expensive processing equipment required for this is not available to the person who makes sausage in the kitchen at home. You may see sausage recipes in books, magazines, and on the Internet that specify lower internal temperatures, but I believe food safety is paramount. Consequently, in this book, cooking instructions follow the USDA recommendations for the normal consumer preparing food in a common residential kitchen.

Sausage Cooking Technology 101

Let’s look at what is happening inside a sausage while it is cooking. This will help us to understand the best ways to cook it.

• Animal fats do not have a specific melting point. First, they soften as the temperature rises, and then they gradually turn to liquid. Poultry fats and wildfowl fats have low melting points, and if these fats are being used in the sausage, some of these bird fats will become semi-liquid when the internal temperature of the sausage reaches about 70° F (21° C). Medium hard fat, such as pork back fat, is more desirable because it melts at a higher temperature.

• The minced muscle-meat particles inside the sausage casing are coated with a protein called
myosin;
salt used in the sausage draws the
myosin
to the surface of each particle. When the temperature of the sausage mixture reaches 120° F (50° C), this protein begins to coagulate, causing these muscle-meat particles to stick together. This coagulation is complete at about 130° F (55° C), and the result is that the coagulated meat particles surround both fat particles and liquefied fat. When the fat continues to melt and juices are produced, the coagulated meat particles will help to retain them. This step is best accomplished slowly, with moderate heat.

• Pathogenic microbes, if any are present, will begin to be killed as the internal temperature rises above 130° F (55° C). The killing is faster as the temperature rises and the dwell time increases.

• If the sausage has been cured with a curing powder containing sodium nitrite, the pink or rosy color of the meat will be fixed when the sausage mixture reaches about 135° F (57° C).

• Trichinae in pork, and in meat from other susceptible animals, are killed when the sausage reaches 137° F (58° C).

• At 140° F (60° C), the sausage mixture begins to shrink, but it is unlikely that the juices and melted fats will be lost if there are no holes in the casing. If the sausage was not cured with a nitrite curing powder, the red meat in the mixture will begin to change to pink, and pink meat will begin to change to gray-brown.

• At 150° F (66° C), the meat in the sausage continues to shrink and a little fluid may be lost. Uncured meat that was originally red will begin to change from pink to gray-brown.

• Salmonella,
E. coli
O157, and all other pathogenic microbes are killed by the time the sausage reaches 155° F (68° C). At this point, the sausage is fully cooked and safe to eat. However, to provide an extra margin of safety, cooking should continue until an internal temperature of 160° F (71° C) is reached. However, the USDA recommends 165° F (74° C) for all sausage containing ground poultry. (Please use this temperature as the target temperature if the sausage contains fowl and you wish to follow the USDA recommendation.) There will be more shrinking, and there will be some loss of juices and melted fats.

• At 160° F (71° C)—or at 165° F (74° C) if the sausage contains bird meat—cooking should stop. Cooking beyond this point will cause the sausage to become increasingly dry and mealy. If excessive heat builds up in the casing, the casing might split open.

The information above provides a wealth of hints about the proper techniques for cooking. We can see, for example, that an important concern is the shrinkage of the meat that occurs from 140° F (60° C) until the cooking is finished; shrinkage is the primary cause of fluid loss. We can also see that overcooking will make the sausage dry and mealy, and may even cause the casing to split.

Another point that is perhaps less obvious is that the cooking heat surrounding the sausage should be as low as possible (just a little above the target temperature) to prevent overcooking of the sausage mixture just under the casing.

There is an important phenomenon related to the temperature of the cooking heat: The temperature at the center of the sausage will continue to rise even after it is removed from the heat source. This is caused by the fact (mentioned above) that the temperature of the sausage mixture just under the casing is higher than that at the center, and some of this heat will migrate to the center after the sausage is removed from the heat source.

The culinary jargon for this phenomenon is
afterheat.
What this means to us is that the sausage should be removed from the heat source
before
the internal temperature reaches the target temperature of 160° F (71° C)—or 165° F (74° C). The temperature at which the sausage should be removed from the heat source is dictated by many factors, so there is no formula to help make this decision. Two of the important factors are the temperature of the cooking heat and the diameter of the sausage. The higher the cooking heat temperature and the larger the diameter of the sausage, the greater the afterheat will be. For small-diameter sausages cooked with low heat, afterheat is so slight that it may be ignored.

Experience with your preferred cooking method and your favorite casing diameter for a particular sausage will allow you to make accurate predictions of the afterheat effect. In the beginning, record the sausage diameter. When the cooking temperature is known (when poaching, steaming, or roasting), record that as well. Remove the sausage from the heat when the internal temperature is between 155° F (68° C) and 160° F (71° C)—if your target is 160° F (71° C). The afterheat will likely bring the internal temperature to at least 160° F (71° C). If it is a little less than this target temperature, it is still safe to eat. If it begins to exceed the target temperature, try to arrest the afterheat with ice water if the casing is water resistant (unless it is to be eaten right away). The ice water helps to arrest afterheat, but it will not stop it immediately. The next time you cook the same diameter of sausage in the same way, you will be able to get closer to the target temperature.

Even if sausages are to be eaten soon after cooking, it is best to wait a few minutes after they are removed from the heat. When the sausages cool a few degrees, the muscle meat in the casing will begin to absorb some of the juices that had been squeezed out of the meat, but remain in the casing. As you probably know, roasted chickens, for example, should cool for 15 minutes or more before carving so that more juices will be retained; it is the same principle.

The method of cooking any specific kind of sausage is largely based on custom and personal preference. The various sausage-cooking methods are explained below. Cooking sausage by hot smoking will be discussed in Chapter 7.

Note: Sausage casings should never be pierced with a fork, or the like, before cooking.

COOKING BULK SAUSAGE

Bulk sausage is often used as an ingredient for pasta, rice, and potato dishes. It is also used in soups, stews, and sauces.

Place the bulk sausage in a frying pan, and break it up with a spatula or wooden spoon as it is cooking slowly. Continue to stir and cook the sausage until most of it has been browned. Place the cooked sausage in a wire mesh basket to drain the melted fat. Alternatively, place about two layers of paper towels on top of about four layers of newspaper, and drain the cooked meat on the paper. I use paper towels and newspaper; it is much easier to discard greasy paper placed in a plastic bag than it is to find a way to discard grease.

SAUTÉING PATTIES

The best and easiest way to cook sausage patties—either fresh or cured—is to sauté (fry) them. Any kind of frying pan will do. Preheat the frying pan and apply a thin film of cooking oil; this helps to prevent sticking. Usually, a medium-low setting is best, but the exact setting will depend on your kitchen range; use a setting that will cook the patties slowly. If they are about
inch (1 cm) thick, they will not dry out excessively when cooked with a medium-low setting, and the cooking time will be reasonable.

Turn them over frequently. Many kinds of patties contain some form of sugar (it may be common sucrose, or dextrose, or the lactose that is in powdered milk). When foods containing sugar are sautéed, the surface will caramelize: First, the surface will become an attractive reddish-brown, and then— if it is cooked too long—it will char and become black. Obviously, the goal is a reddish-brown surface. By turning patties over frequently, accidental charring will be avoided and the cooking will be uniform. The patties are done when they become this color on both sides. If you want to check for doneness, it is most easily accomplished by cutting a patty in half to make sure that the juices are clear and have no trace of pink coloration.

If the patties are covered with a lid while they are cooking, they may cook too fast and become fully cooked before the attractive reddish-brown color has developed. It is best to cook patties slowly, without a lid.

When the patties are first put in the frying pan, they may be pushed down gently with a spatula so that the meat makes good contact with the pan. However, after cooking is well underway, pushing down on the patties with a spatula will result in precious juices being wastefully squeezed out of the sausage.