AS-425 • 1976
animal sciences meats
Cooperative EXTENSION SERVICE PURDUE UNIVERSITY, WEST LAFAYETTE INDIANA 47907
Making Processed Meat Products Without a Smokehouse
H.R. Johnson, Animal Sciences Department, Purdue University
The manufacture of specialty cooked sausage products can be profitable for any meat processor. But many shy away from attempting to make these items because they think it requires elaborate, expensive equipment and a smokehouse.
This just isn’t so! In fact, millions of pounds of processed meats are produced annually in the United States without use of a smokehouse, including boiled hams, braunschweiger, liver sausage, souse, headcheese, panned loaves, and even franks and bologna.
Any processor who has a grinder and stuffer can make many of these items. Some don’t even require a stuffer but rather can be formed in molds or pans, such as boiled hams, souse, headcheese and Jaternice.
This publication describes four common methods of cooking manufactured meat products without use of a smokehouse. They are: (1) water cooking for hams, braunschweiger or bologna; (2) steam cooking for covered loaves or braunschweiger; (3) pre-cooking for souse, headcheese or liver sausage; and (4) dry-heat cooking for panned loaves or summer sausage. From the information provided, you can determine which procedure best fits your operation and what type of specialty processed meats would contribute to your profits.
WATER COOKING
Water cooking is a very popular method with many processors. Regardless of the size of your operation, a number of sausage products can be made by cooking in hot water.
Any cooking container in which water temperature can be controlled will work with this
method. Some small operators use portable roasting ovens (available from any hardware store), which can process about 25 pounds of product at a time. Jacketed lard cookers are also suitable if the temperature can be controlled. Processors with large production volumes generally use sausage tubs which have steam or electric heating coils installed.
Regardless of which container you choose, do not let your water exceed 165°F (74°C). At temperatures above 165°F, in the presence of water or steam, the collagen meat protein shrinks, causing the product to wrinkle and gelatin pockets to form.
Products stuffed into casings or covered molds (e.g., boiled hams, braunschweiger, olive loaf, pickle and pimento loaf, spiced loaf, pressed luncheon loaf, honey loaf, bologna and even franks) can be cooked to an internal temperature of 152°F (67°C) in from Vh to 5 hours, depending on diameter of the product (larger diameter items requiring more time). Simply place the products in your cooking container, cover with cold water and heat to 165°F. When internal temperature reaches 152°F, drain the water and remove the products.
STEAM COOKING
Steam cooking is usually limited to products that are in water-tight containers and that will shrink no more than 5 percent. Such items include olive loaf, pickle and pimento loaf, spiced loaf and honey loaf stuffed in stainless steel molds as well as braunschweiger and bologna stuffed in water-tight artificial casings. Natural casings or edible collagen casings should not be used for steam cooking because of the collagen shrinkage problem discussed above.