Using frozen pork for dry cured sausages?

reddal · Post by **reddal** » Thu May 03, 2018 13:04

Hi,

Would you see any concerns with using frozen pork to make dry cured sausages?

I'm imagining taking completely fresh pork, adding the cure mix and curing it for 24 hours in the fridge, and then freezing it. A week or two later it would be partially defrosted (carefully in a meat rated fridge) before grinding/processing it into sausages and fermenting/drying etc as normal.

Would that affect the quality or safety of the end result do you think?

thanks - reddal

StefanS · Post by **StefanS** » Thu May 03, 2018 13:58

IMHO - If I will do that - not salt or cure should be added before freezing.
Most of meat in my freezer is vacuum packed in biggest pieces as possible.

reddal · Post by **reddal** » Thu May 03, 2018 16:10

StefanS wrote:IMHO - If I will do that - not salt or cure should be added before freezing.
Most of meat in my freezer is vacuum packed in biggest pieces as possible.

That's interesting - my thinking was that if the cure is applied afterwards the meat would need to be completely defrosted first - but if cured first it could be processed whilst still semi-frozen.

Agree about vac packing.

- reddal

StefanS · Post by **StefanS** » Thu May 03, 2018 17:19

reddal wrote: A week or two later

- IMO it is storage time not processing time. For processing freezing couple hours before grinding is enough time to put lean meat in semi-froze state. Completely frozen should be back fat.

reddal · Post by **reddal** » Fri May 04, 2018 09:05

StefanS wrote:
reddal wrote: A week or two later
- IMO it is storage time not processing time. For processing freezing couple hours before grinding is enough time to put lean meat in semi-froze state. Completely frozen should be back fat.

The motivation for freezing for extended periods is more about making logistics easier - i.e. we can separate the timing of slaughtering the pigs from the timing of producing the sausages, without compromising the freshness of the pork.

So is it better to freeze the uncured pork for this, meaning it has to be completely defrosted, cured then partially frozen again - or cure it first, freeze it and only partially defrost before production?

- reddal

StefanS · Post by **StefanS** » Sat May 05, 2018 13:20

Really I can not give you good advice on detailed subject. You should make decision for your way to get best results. If this will help you - a few facts:
meat freeze at temp. -1.2*C (29.5F), meat with salt and cure -4.1*C (24.5F), if you use frozen or partially frozen lean meat to process then it will have poor texture and slice coherency. Additionally - freezing salted meat in normal freezer will give a larger ice crystals inside meat so many cells will be destroyed giving less quality meat. Finally - in commercial salami production - salt and cure and spices are added during production process just before mincing/grinding.