Stinky sausage

Phew-eee! The other day we picked up my MIL at her sister's house to take her shopping and then home. She'd spent several days there and they'd made many, many pounds of Italian sausage, something they do two or three times a year. As soon as we opened the fridge and transferred the sausage to our freezer bag filled with ice, Mr Views could smell an odd smell. He didn't say anything, however, because he wasn't sure if it was indeed the sausage or something in the fridge.

By the time we got to her house (we'd done a few other errands), the sausage truly was awful smelling. Mr Views noticed it each time we got into the car; I noticed it once when we were adding fresh ice. But, here's the part I need help with: it didn't smell bad as in rotting meat...it smelled like sulfur! It reminded me of my grandmother's well-water and reminded Mr Views of rotten eggs. But, there was no sour smell I associate with pork that is less than fresh.

But, my question is: what the heck could cause this???????

There are two things that were different from other times: first, the casings had been around for awhile. How long you ask? I am not sure, but they did say the sister couldn't find casings in the last year, so they'd been using my MIL's "old" casings. They were stored in salt in the fridge, but I don't think the salt was changed. I've read varying info on the internet (to be expected) and some say as little as 1 year, while others say they last up to 5 years if salted and stored below 40 degrees.

Second, MIL asked for extra fat from the butcher where they bought the pork shoulder. She didn't get fatback like I usually have (and she's started to enjoy), but some other fat. She didn't know what it was. I have no idea of why this would cause the problem, but other than the casings, nothing was different than any of the other many times they've made sausage in the last 60 years.

Any ideas?

I've always stored salted casings in the freezer, so my guess is, that's your culprit.

But this might be a good question for the International Natural Sausage Casing Association! I'll contact someone and see if they have an answer.

crrush wrote:I've always stored salted casings in the freezer, so my guess is, that's your culprit.

But this might be a good question for the International Natural Sausage Casing Association! I'll contact someone and see if they have an answer.

This made me smile. There is an association for everything!

lougord99 wrote:This made me smile. There is an association for everything!

I had almost exactly the same reaction when I discovered INSCA after singing the praises of pre-tubed casings in Consider the Pig: Adventures in Sausage-Making. Better yet, someone from INSCA contacted me after reading the post.

Hi,

While there may be a bad odor perhaps from the casings. Is this something you just cook and enjoy anyway? Or will the sausage need to be slipped out of the casing before cooking? Will the sausage stored in these casings just absorb this off-odor/taste?

To much time, money and materials to be tossed. I wonder if the casings needed extra long soaking with several changes of water. Crrush, can't wait to find out what you learn.

Regards,

If it's a sulfurous 'rotten-egg' smell, then I don't think it would be anything poisonous. Another possibility is that it's sulfurous 'burned matchhead' smell, which could come from a preservative in the 'skins. Again, not poisonous.

It might be useful to skin one of the sausages, and find out what is smelling, skin or meat.

Geo

FYI, I did read that casings should NOT be stored in the freezer - only in the fridge at less than 40 degrees F. Not sure if that is true - but did read it on more than one site.

Oh, I so wish my in-laws were as thoughtful as the folks here. As soon as they smelled it, they threw it away!

I kept saying, "Hey, this isn't a rotten meat smell. Let's find out about it first." But, alas, that isn't their nature. So, a full afternoon's labor, $30 of meat, and 6 months of yummy meals for the family down the garbage chute.

I really don't know if it's the casings or not. I've been to several sites and haven't yet found anything about this. The closest I found was one site that said when they are shipped to you they can get smelly - they described it "Kind of like a crowded room of bean farmers after a bean banquet." They went on to describe how to remove the smell. But, none of the three women making it noticed a smell the day they made it - Wednesday. By Friday, when we picked it up, it was starting. By Saturday night (it was frozen by then), it was overwhelming.

I'm not sure if this is how I would describe it (as bean farmers, etc.), but maybe that's what it was. I wasn't there and the three 75-85 year-old women don't remember who had what casings how long and from where, lol. I heard today that my MIL thought that some of the casings were only 2 months old and that her sister's sausage was made in that. My MIL's was made in the older casings (we think). From what we know, her sister has not noticed a smell at all. She froze hers immediately and hasn't taken it out yet. My MIL won't tell her sister about it or ask and has made us promise not to tell.

I am also looking forward to the research with the sausage folks. Thanks for checking.

Yes, there is an International Natural Sausage Casings Association... you can't beat a sausage made in all natural casings. However, can't blame the casings here folks. Casings are good up to 2 years or more as long as they're salted and refrigerated properly.
INSCA

INSCA, so glad to see you here. A few questions if you don't mind?

First, what does refrigerated properly mean? Under 40F and above 32F, in salt?

Second, per the salt, I saw one site that said you had to change the salt every so often. How often?

Third, what does happen if they do go bad? For example, let's say my MIL bought casings that were already a year old and sitting in some grocery store (no FIFO, for example). So, they she keeps them for 2 years. Now, they could be OK, but they might not. How would we tell the difference?

Last, have you ever heard of a sulfurous smell from any sausage? It truly didn't smell like meat that went bad. We are at a loss....

Any thing you can add to our knowledge would be appreciated tremendously.

Well....Let's see

Refrigeration for the casings should be at about 5C which is 41F
There's no standard measure for changing the salt, but if the goods will be stored a very long time and we see the casings starting to turn red then yes the salt should be changed. This means the casings have to be washed from the salt and resalted.

If the casings are bad then they would smell bad and be very, very dry and tear up as soon as handled. If they are well salted, meaning salt is on every strand and every side of the casing and refrigerated, then there is no reason for the casing to go bad.

Last, ...The casing would never be the cause of a sulfurous smell.

Hope I helped
INSCA

Thank you very much.

I am thankful for the info. I wish I had some clue as to what could have happened.

Has anyone ever smelled a sulfurous smell from pork?????

The other interesting component is that there were bones from the pork shoulder that my MIL had. These do NOT smell in any way, but were the same age, refrigerated the same time, etc.

The only other difference is that when there were at some store she asked for fat - wanting to duplicate what I do with fatback. Maybe something was wrong with it.