Sous Vide bath for finishing sausage?

[DWard51]

I'm posting this in the Charcuterie section as it's about sausage making but it does involve sous vide.

As my smoke of some 2 3/4" thick summer sausage ran longer than expected, it dawned on me about 2AM that I may have had other options.  Is there any reason a smoked sausage (and summer sausage in fibrous casings) cannot be finished in a vacuum packed bag in the sous vide bath at 154*?   Most sausage get's X time to dry the casings, Y time with smoke added and medium temp, and then bump to a higher temp until internal temp of 152 to 154* is reached to cook.  So after the smoke segment, it's all about heat and finishing the cook without having the sausage fat out.  I'm wondering about once the smoke is applied, why not just finish in sous vide?  No worry about over cooking.  Just toss it in the hot tub and let it run.   Sure would have let me get some sleep instead of being up until 4AM this morning on that summer sausage cook.

Or am I missing something?  Will the meat texture suffer if I let it run too long?  Or is the sausage also drying as it cooks so sealing it in a bag might not be good?

Any thoughts on this?   Might also work for snack sticks or pretty much any sausage.

[tailfeathers]

I finish sausage in the SV all the time. No chance of fat out.


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[TentHunteR]

I've finished sausages in a hot water poach using a sous vide controller set to 152° a few times.  It works perfectly.  In fact that's the main reason I  got a sous vide controller. 

No need to vacuum seal them. Just put them directly in the hot water bath.  And I like the 152° setting which is perfect for most any smoked sausage.  It's very gentle, yet still quick.

Don't go leaving the sausages in the bath for hours. As soon as the temp of the water comes back to 152° start checking the sausages. Once they reach 152° plunge them into an ice water bath to get them cooled back down, pull them out, dry them off and you're good to go. No fat-outs so far doing it this way.


Here's the hot dogs that I posted about back in July that I finished using the sous vide controiller:  http://www.letstalkbbq.com/index.php?topic=14440.msg194528#msg194528

[DWard51]

Guess I'll try this next time. 

One plus on vacuum packing them was once they cool, the extra is already packaged for the freezer.  I've seen sausages poached to finish in posts for years now.  Just never thought about making it part of the cook right after the smoke instead of that last little bit to get them to 152*.

[TentHunteR]

Just never thought about making it part of the cook right after the smoke instead of that last little bit to get them to 152*.

Yeah, I should've mentioned above when I do poach the sausages, I usually pull them off the smoker when they reach anywhere between 135° - 145°, then put them into the 152° water bath (using the sous-vide controller).


With the Dorkfood controller, after I add the sausages, the water temperature drops a little. I just gently stir the water every few minutes or so, and watch the temperature gauge on the controller. When the controller shows the water is back to 152°, I start probing the sausages to check their temp.

It really works like a charm!

[CANNON-MAN]

You can run your water temperature up to 160F with out any issues of fat out. That starts happening in the low 170's. I run mine there all the time and have never had an issue with fat out. The extra few degrees helps get the job done sooner. I water bath my natural and cellulose casings all the time just in the water with out being in bags and it works out fine. Nice moist flavorful sausage.
KC