Want it to be safe

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gearjammer

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Apr 6, 2015
1,472
173
Central New York
Did I buy the wrong stuff?

OK, I wanted to make some of Reinhard's ground and formed bacon.

However what I've got is the Sausage Makers ham and bacon cure.

I need to know if I can use this or I'll just go and buy some Curley's

                     
                   
                  
   If I can use this, how much would I have to use per pound?

   I don't want to do anything that might cause harm.

   My intention was to make five pounds, just to try it.

   I'm thinking it would be .6 pounds of this cure.

   I'm worried because that is for a brine type cure. 

   Your help is greatly appreciated.

       Ed
 
i'm not familiar with this product, but i would not use it in any other way than as a brine and following the same ratio of water to cure... it doesn't seem to say how much nitrite or nitrate it has in it, but i would assume it has the correct amount to put the proper amount of nitrates and nitrites into a ham.

also do you fry your formed bacon in a pan? if so you may not want to use this stuff anyways because nitrates and pan frying temps turn into some nasty stuff and is why you can't use nitrates in commercial bacon in the US.

hopefully someone is more familiar with this product and can better advise, but if it were me, i would be very cautious of using it for anything other than the directions indicate since it doesn't reference the amount of nitrate and nitrite

just to throw it out there... cure#1 is like 3.50 a pound at butcher and packer. and as long as you use the correct amount, you can season more or less however you'd like with the other seasonings. a pound of cure#1 is good for like 480 pds of meat so it will last a long time
 
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That is a Brine Mix and based on the recommended amount to water, there is no way to tell how much nitrite cure you would get using some random dry weight or volume of product. Save that stuff for making a Christmas Ham and get some Cure #1 for everything else you want to try...JJ
 
I want to thank you gentlemen.

I sorta figured that it wasn't going to fly.

That's why I posed the question.

I have a bag of cure #1 and also have TQ.

I will try another way.

Again I want to thank all three of you for your expertise 

and sharing of information.

   Ed
 
I'm sure you are well read on the topic... but avoid TQ on things like bacon... it contains nitrates as well
 
C farmer... obviously as a moderator of a forum like this, I assume your knowledge greatly surpasses my own. I see a few people on here using TQ for bacon but it does contain sodium nitrate which is barred from commercial bacon production because the temps at which bacon is pan fried can create nitrosamines which is a known carcinogen.

If my understanding and therefore advice is incorrect, please correct me.
 
C farmer... obviously as a moderator of a forum like this, I assume your knowledge greatly surpasses my own. I see a few people on here using TQ for bacon but it does contain sodium nitrate which is barred from commercial bacon production because the temps at which bacon is pan fried can create nitrosamines which is a known carcinogen.

If my understanding and therefore advice is incorrect, please correct me.

You are correct. There is many posts about this. I use TQ without worry.

One member contacted the USDA and they said not to worry about using TQ for home use for bacon.
 
Two things stand out on the Nitrosamine and Bacon issue...1) Even eating 1/2 pound, raw weight, a day, which nobody who wishes to see their Grandkids does, the amounts ingested are tiny. 2) Few adults eat Bacon for breakfast without Coffee and/or OJ, both loaded with Nitrosamine destroying Antioxidants. Same with the Tomato on the BLT...There is just nothing to worry about...JJ
yahoo.gif
 
 
Thank you, C Farmer, Uzi and Chef JJ.

I do appreciate you gents taking your time to answer my questions.

I will be posting my new plan in the next few hours, for everyone

to check out and make sure I'm not making bad things.

   Ed
 
I completely understand your concern as I am at the same place...until yesterday when my confusion was relieved in this thread: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/252062/pink-salt-question#post_1612011

Everyone's advice there is great but scroll down to Dave O's advice to me that turned on the lights in my dense mind. I am looking forward to trying something this weekend. Likely will be Canadian bacon with the pork loin that is 99 cents a pound at HEB.
 
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