As much as possible we preach and follow USDA guidelines for our members and ESPECIALLY non-members benefit. Is it thumping the USDA Gospel? Yes. Members, new and old, come here to learn and eventually teach. Most Newbies are very interested in smoking and curing meat and Sausage but have no clue where to begin. If I had a $1 for every time I bailed out a guy or gal, whose post started, " I found this cured sausage recipe online. It called for X Tablespoons of Cure #1. Is that right? " We teach measuring Cure by weight and even show how to figure the USDA Part Per Million recommendations for safety. The same goes for other USDA guidlines on smoking Temperature, on cooking Turkey safely and in this case, the safest method for preparing Jerky.
To get back to non-members, there are hundreds of Lurkers on SMF at any given time. If all they ever saw was " Grandma did it this way and nobody died. "Or, " Uncle Bob only used Salt and nobody got sick, " the lurkers would never see what is CURRENTLY the safest method. Example, in Grandma's day she and the family worked for their food. They had hands in the dirt of the garden, they raised the animals including mucking out the stalls, hands on moving the animals around and slaughtering these animals. Those past generations were strong, healthy and exposed to a huge variety of bacteria. They developed strong immune systems and rarely got food borne illnesses. The modern 2+ generations, buy Groceries and Packaged Meat at a store. They get and take Antibiotics for every Sniffle or mild Cough they get. Then add Presevatives, Antibacterial Soap and practically Bathing in Purell after any public contact, and you have a million people with weak immune systems, food allergies and Super Bugs that are killing children and older folks and the rest of the family spends weeks in the hospital from eating....Freakin Lettuce or a Medium Hamburger!
Yes, we can be fanatical about USDA guidelines, temperatures, and measuring Cure #'s 1 and 2 but it is for good reason. We don't ever want to hear a recipe or tutorial of our's made your family sick!
Yes, there are Heritage methods of cooking and curing. Yes, those of us that know exactly what we are doing and the risks envolved don't follow every guideline to the letter. We are happy to discuss such things, but you will always see one or more veterans of SMF lay down the currently safest method for getting things done based on USDA guidelines and modern practices...JJ