Smoking sausages is a way of preparing sausages for consumption. However, some people keep asking if when you smoke sausages they are cooked and ready for consumption. The answer to this question is yes, smoked sausages are fully cooked and so delicious. After smoking sausages, ensure they are safe and then you are good to eat them.
The only difference between smoked sausages and cured sausages is the safety since cured sausages use the curing salt that prevents contamination of the sausages from harmful bacteria that can lead to food poisoning. The other factor to check with smoked sausages as if they were hotly smoked, is that if it is the case then they are fully cooked, unlike cold smoking which is not safe for consumption.
The article below provides the tips to follow when you are making smoked sausages at home and if you are purchasing consider checking the labels with it before eating.
Can you cook smoked sausages?
Generally, if the sausages were smoked, you don’t need to cook them again so long as they are cured. Curing involves adding salt like sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite, therefore, if you have cured your sausages by salting them and drying them on air then it is ready for use. The type of sausages for the curing includes charcuterie sausages like chorizo, summer sausage, salami, prosciutto and others.
Smoking sausages is the same as curing since both are methods of protecting and preserving meat but curing is more effective since the safety measures are high. There are two better methods of smoking sausages which are hot smoking and cold smoking. Hot smoking sausages is putting sausages at higher temperatures until the meat is cooked while cold smoking is smoking the sausages with lower temperatures that you need to cook them again before eating.
For people who prefer buying the sausages, before eating them, consider reading their labels like cook before eating and other labels since most of the foods from the store are undercooked or are still raw that you need to fully cook before eating them.
Therefore, when you have sausages that are hot smoked then they are fully cooked and ready to eat but when they are cold smoked then you need to cook them again since the preparation was under low temperatures that are not safe with most foods.
How can one cook smoked sausages?
The best way to cook smoked sausages is to grill them. Grilling sausages involves putting the smoked sausages in a grill pan and exposing them to high temperatures for the cooking process that you will notice when they are ready for consumption. High temperatures of heat when cooking sausages makes them juicy and moist and it can take less time to fully cook them.
What you need to do is cover the sausages in aluminium foil for good results and keep the sausages moist. After that, you can choose to score the sausages or cut it butterfly style which means you cut the length of the sausages only but not the whole sausage. Cutting ensures that the meat cooks evenly on the inner side too.
The other good method to use when cooking smoked sausages is to fry them in a pan using the stovetop. With this method, ensure you use a thick pan that will cook the sausages evenly unlike the light pans which will not make good charring of the sausages. Slicing the sausages when cooking helps increase the speed at which the sausages will cook and to increase the greatness with them you can choose to add it to an omelette or meat pasta.
The only factor to consider when cooking sausages is that it is not a must for you to add cooking oil or butter to the sausages since the sausages have plenty of fats with them that it realizes the moment it gets in contact with high heat temperatures.
What shows if the smoked sausages are fully cooked?
To know if the meat is fully cooked you need to use a meat thermometer to measure where you aim at the center of the link which is the safe zone for the meat. For some delicate sausages like smoked turkey or chicken sausages, you need to cook the sausages until the temperatures are 165 degrees F.
Checking on the exact time you need to take when cooking is important too. When you are grilling sausages it will only take from 6 minutes to twelve minutes so long as the grills cooking zone is hot. On the other hand, when you are baking them, sausages only take twenty to twenty-five minutes to cook.
When you try preparing your food you will learn the different tips on cooking your sausages such as that the exterior of the sausage needs slight charring and not burning them while slicing off the sausages must show a pink and a steamy core. And again avoid depending on your sight or sense of smell to check if the food is ready for consumption or not. The good thing with sausages is that most of them are a result of curing or pre-cooking that you need to cook again to taste.
Storing smoked sausages
When you have the smoked sausages, you can choose to store them in an open place for less time but choose to store them in a fridge for a longer period. Remember if the sausages are dry they can only stay in the fridge for long if you do not open them but if you keep opening it can last for only three weeks.
Scientists advise people to cook and consume uncooked raw sausages for between one and two days if you store them in a fridge. And if the sausages are cooked you can keep them in a fridge for about three to four days. If you need to store the sausages for long you need to freeze them to stay for more than a month.
Frequently asked question:
- Can one refrigerate smoked sausages?
According to the scientific studies, they are that if the sausages are dry-cured they are good to stay at room temperature for six weeks without opening them but when they are in the fridge they can stay for an uncountable number of days so long as you do not open but if you open they can stay for like three weeks. For fresh sausages then they are perishable and you should store them in the refrigerator.
- How long can smoked sausages stay out?
Smoked sausages can stay out only if they are dry-cured and they can only last for about six weeks at most. However, for the other sausages that are in the fridge, you need to get them out for about two hours at room temperature to avoid them from getting into danger.
Conclusion
Smoked sausages are very delicious since they are fat and juicy. Smoked sausages are the tastiest types of meats in the world even if you prepare with different types of sausages that you can keep eating without seizing. The article above shows how you can cook smoked sausages and answers the question of whether the smoked sausage is fully cooked.
With smoked sausages the only measure is to check if they are safe or not since the smoking process is different and some sausages are raw, salt-cured, dried or fully cooked meats. With the new technologies of bacteria and how to handle it, it is good to use common knowledge to handle smoked sausages to avoid consuming sausages that will upset your stomach.