not sure what I ended up with

[stircrazy]

Hi, I went to a german deli to see if they had prague #1 and they did. so I asked for two lbs of it and the lady went into the back and came out telling me it is premixed with salt. so the place was busy and I left.. on the way home I am thinking all my recipies call for instacure and salt, but how do I know how much of each is in this two LBs of premix she sold me, or how much of it do I use for that matter..

I called and I have to call back on monday when the guys are there that can tell me.

has anyone had this happen to them befor?

Steve

 

[DanMcG]

At a rate of an once of prague #1 per 25 pounds of sausage you'll be good for 800 pounds, but like ya said you really don't know what ya bought so ya better wait till ya talk to the sausage maker monday. Was it pink?

 

[bbally]

Prague #1 has salt in it. It is a 6.25 percent Sodium Nitrite mix.

Ingredients & Usage


Prague Powder No.1 Pink Curing Salt

Ingredients:
Salt, Sodium Nitrite, Red #3, less than 2% Sodium Silico Aluminate & Propylene Glycol added as flowing agent.
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Usage:
Use 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat. Mix cure with cold water.[/font]

 

[stircrazy]

no, no pink at all that I can see, she said she mixed it up with salt so not to use any salt in my recipies.. i wonder if they made it into a tenderquick type thing.. at anyrate I am going to have to take with the actualy curing guy to find out how its suposed to be used, which screws me up and I am still going to have to find some prague #1 so I can follow the recipies in the book I bought...

Steve

 

[stircrazy]

yup, I read that, the stuff I got is white and they mixed it up in the back.. what got me thinking is that she said they mixed it up, and not to use any other salt in my recipies.. so I think they mixed up prague with extra salt acording to the way they use it in the deli.. so now I have to find out how they use it

which sucks as I was going to make a batch of sausage tonight.. oh well next week I guess

Steve

 

[beer-b-q]

You can order Insta cure here at Butcher and Packer and know what you are getting...
http://www.butcher-packer.com/index....products_id=56

 

[bbally]

Damn that sucks.

 

[stircrazy]

there is another place here that sells 1lb packages of prague for about 12 bucks.. they just didn't have any till next month. unfortunatly ordering from the US sucks for us as you buy 5 bucks worth of something and pay 45 bucks in shipping and it take a week.

hopefully tomorros I can find out how much salt and how much cure they mixed to make the 2lbs then I should be fine as it would be like using tenderquick once I know the ratios.

Steve

 

[beer-b-q]

Where are you Located?

 

[stircrazy]

Added my location. north of the boarder close to the west side

Steve

 

[ringodad]

It's just odd - I've never heard of white colored Prague Powder! I thought it was always dyed so it could not be confused with regular salt.

 

[stircrazy]

ya, what I am wondering is, being they are an old german deli that makes all there own ham, bacon, pastrami, kelbassa, ect. that if they just buy the bulk Sodium Nitrite and mix it with salt themselves. if this is what they do then it could be the exact same ratio as Prague, or they could mix it up more like tenderquick. using this method it would not be pink as there has not been any coloring added.

but I won't know till tomorrow or monday

Steve

 

[mulepackin]

I'd be pretty careful til you know for sure what you got. I get an occasional seasoning mix from my butcher too, but they include pretty clear labeling and even some general instructions. Hand written and photo copied, but they are taking care of us. If I can mail you some Instacure from the states, I'd be glad to. I've got 2# of unopened from Butcher Packer. PM me if interested.

 

[stircrazy]

Ok, so I just got off the phone with the Curing guy at the deli, aparently it is ileagle for them to sell prague by its self so they have to premix it. I'll have to check into it some more, maybe it is because they are not buying resal packs just bulk?

they mix it at a rate of 4oz prague to 1 lb of salt, and he recomends using 3 oz of the mixture for 10lbs of meat when making sausage. or just use it as required by the salt called for in the recipe.

so looking at my recipe, it calls for 5 tbs, which is 10 oz of salt. since this is mixed 4 to 1, I would have 2.5 oz of prauge which acording to my book, I only need .6 oz of prague for 10lbs of meat. so his recomendations of 3oz per 10 lbs will give me the right amount of prague but I will have to add more salt.

this sound tight to you guys?

Steve

 

[mballi3011]

I'm with Dan on this one and I think I would call them on monday and find out what you have. Then you will know what you have and what you can do with it.I know it sucks but sometimes you have to pay the price and wait.

 

[stircrazy]

my post above is from calling them this morning, he told me exactly how they mixed it and it is a mix of prague and extra salt.

Steve

 

[grogger27]

Hey Steve,
I have a buddy of mine from the Barrier area and if I remember correctly he says there's a Wholesale Sports in Kamloops where he gets all his sausage making stuff from. Now I'm not sure if he just gets some premixed kit or if he buys the separate ingredients. Just wondering if you had checked there?
Good Luck
Greg

 

[stircrazy]

ya looked there, all premix stuff like summer sausage, beef jerkey, peperoni, not much of a selection there actualy.

I found tenderquick at safeways, so that will be good for bacon and such. and once I double check my math the stuff I got from the bucher should be good. going to actualy go and talk to him tomorrow in person and work out my concerns.

Steve

 

[stircrazy]

Ok, so I went back to the deli and talked to the sausage maker. what it boils down to is leave the salt and prague out of the recipe and use 3oz of his mix per every 10lbs of meat. we ended up talking about it for about 30 min so I will make a batch with this and see how it turns out salt wise, as he was quite confadent that if I added any more salt in adition to the 3oz of the mix it would be way to salty, and he gave me a hunk of the kelbassa he makes there using this mix and the salt was just right.

just want to thank the people who offered to send me some prague. Its good to be a member of a comunity with support like that. I should be able to buy it here next month and I have a lot of this mix to last a while, as I have enough to do about 100lbs of sausage.

I found tenderquick at a store here, is this good for making bacon, pastrami, ect? or should I just use Prage and salt for that?

Steve

 

[DanMcG]

Kool steve, I'll be looking forward to your smokes in the near future. Good luck.