Cure Question

[Homers1951]

I am about to try a new venison salami recipe. It calls for 5 lbs of venison, 600 grams of pork back fat and 2 tsp of cure. Does not specify type of cure. Instructions say to hang the sausage for a week in a cool place then cold smoke under 70 degrees for 3 days. Hang 4 weeks in a cool place. I dont think cure #1 would work. Also, 2 tsp seems too much. Am I correct? What do you think? Thanks. Barry

 

[BandCollector]

H Homers1951

There a lot of smart experienced members here who will be able to answer all of your questions.

I'm sure they will be by soon to do so,

John

 

[tx smoker]

A year or year and a half ago I was doing a LOT of cured and dry aged sausages. Been a while so the specifics may be a bit vague but I'll chime in. Sounds like with your process you'll use Cure #2 versus Cure #1. If memory serves me correctly the ratios of the two are the same: 1 teaspoon per 5# of meat. Based on that, you are correct in your assessment that the amount you noted is too high. You're probably also going to need some sort of s starter culture along the lines of Bactoferm T-SPX. I may have my letters mixed up...did that a couple of days ago. Maybe our good friend Rick BGKYSmoker will see this and chime in. He knows WAY more about sausage making than I do. Matter of fact, most of what I learned came from him. At present I don't have any of the starter culture. It had been around too long so I tossed it. I do however have more Cure #2 than I'll most likely ever need. If this is an experiment, or just a trial run, and you need the Cure #2 to get started, shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send you some...quite a bit. That will save you from doing what I did and buying a bunch of it A 2# bag of that stuff goes a LONG way!!

Robert

 

[SmokinAl]

As Robert said you will need cure#2 , at 1tsp per 5lbs., & a starter culture. Rick, BGKYSmoker would be able to help you. Just PM him & you will get the right directions.
Al

 

[dernektambura]

Use grams instead of spoons...
5 lb = 2270 grams... plus 600 grams total 2870 grams...
0.25% cure #2 = 7.17 grams...
2% salt @ 35 % loss after sausages drying done equals to 30 grams...

 

[Homers1951]

Use grams instead of spoons...
5 lb = 2270 grams... plus 600 grams total 2870 grams...
0.25% cure #2 = 7.17 grams...
2% salt @ 35 % loss after sausages drying done equals to 30 grams...

Would I have to use starter culture?

 

[dernektambura]

I never use starter culture... I guess it's personal preference... starter culture will alter final taste to some degree and it will act as protection from listeria...

 

[bill1]

...5 lb = 2270 grams... plus 600 grams total 2870 grams...
0.25% cure #2 = 7.17 grams...

Homers,
Note 7 grams of Cure #2 is a tsp. I think your recipe is about 2x a little heavy on the cure, as you note. Use 1 tsp or 6-7 g.

Even .25% of Cure #2 is about 240ppm sodium nitrite, since the 4% sodium nitrate can be assumed to become 3.25% nitrite after 4 weeks of curing. That's more than is currently legal for the meat industry, but what counts is what goes into a human as a fraction of their weight. I can see a young adolescent male putting away 2 pounds of ham in a sitting, but I think just a pound of venison sausage will be plenty for him! So I think Dernek's .25% of cure is a good and safe number to use here.

 

[rtbbq2]

I am about to try a new venison salami recipe. It calls for 5 lbs of venison, 600 grams of pork back fat and 2 tsp of cure. Does not specify type of cure. Instructions say to hang the sausage for a week in a cool place then cold smoke under 70 degrees for 3 days. Hang 4 weeks in a cool place. I dont think cure #1 would work. Also, 2 tsp seems too much. Am I correct? What do you think? Thanks. Barry

Yup, cure #2 at 1/4 teaspoon per 1-1/4 pound. The main difference is cure#1 is salt and sodium nitrite. Cure #2 is salt, sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate. Cure #1 is used when you are going to be cooking the meat, and cure #2 is used for dry cured meats. Think of cure #2 as a time released cure.

 

[dernektambura]

It is very important to weight cures in grams... with cure measures you want to be dead on... for example:
1 tsp of sugar = 4.2 gr
1 tsp of flour = 2.6 gr
1 tsp of salt = 6 gr...
even different types of salt will have different amount in weight if measured with tsp...
In this case measuring everything else by tsp, tbsp is not a big deal but if you're measuring nitrite and nitrate you want to be dead on by weight, not by volume... by measuring in grams you will make sure you have right weight even if your cure may, by accident pull moisture and become wet... on gram scale 7 grams will always be 7 grams, dry or wet, compacted or fluffy...
If you mix by mistake extra salt you can always de-salt in cold water... If you mix extra cure, damage is done and there's no fix...

 

[BGKYSmoker]

I am about to try a new venison salami recipe. It calls for 5 lbs of venison, 600 grams of pork back fat and 2 tsp of cure. Does not specify type of cure. Instructions say to hang the sausage for a week in a cool place then cold smoke under 70 degrees for 3 days. Hang 4 weeks in a cool place. I dont think cure #1 would work. Also, 2 tsp seems too much. Am I correct? What do you think? Thanks. Barry

600 grams is about 1.3 pounds so you will have 6.3 pounds of meat. 2 tps of either cure 1 or 2 is too much. This looks like a semi dry/dry cure type sausage. do you have the recipe?

Get familiar with the cure you need. Dont guess. You dont have to weigh in grams to make great sausage.

CURES - Cures are used in sausage products for color and flavor development as well as retarding the development of bacteria in the low temperature environment of smoked meats. Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word "cure" refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.

The primary and most important reason to use cures is to prevent BOTULISM POISONING (Food poisoning). It is very important that any kind of meat or sausage that will be cooked and smoked at low temperature be cured. To trigger botulism poisoning, the requirements are quite simple - lack of oxygen, the presence of moisture, and temperatures in range of 40-140° F. When smoking meats, the heat and smoke eliminates the oxygen. The meats have moisture and are traditionally smoked and cooked in the low ranges of 90 to 185° F. As you can see, these are ideal conditions for food poisoning if you don't use cures. There are two types of commercially used cures.

Prague Powder #1
Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. Cures are used to prevent meats from spoiling when being cooked or smoked at low temperatures (under 200 degrees F). This cure is 1 part sodium nitrite (6.25%) and 16 parts salt (93.75%) and are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to ‘gas out’ at about 130 degrees F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20% of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Mix with cold water, then mix into meat like you would mix seasonings into meat.

Prague Powder #2
Used to dry-cure products. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. (1 oz. of sodium nitrite with .64 oz. of sodium nitrate to each lb. of salt.) It is primarily used in dry-curing Use with products that do not require cooking, smoking, or refrigeration. This cure, which is sodium nitrate, acts like a time release, slowly breaking down into sodium nitrite, then into nitric oxide. This allows you to dry cure products that take much longer to cure. A cure with sodium nitrite would dissipate too quickly. Use 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat when mixing with meat. When using a cure in a brine solution, follow a recipe

 

[indaswamp]

Rule of thumb...
if the sausages will dry for less than 30 days= cure#1
if the sausages will dry for longer than that = cure#2

 

[Homers1951]

Rule of thumb...
if the sausages will dry for less than 30 days= cure#1
if the sausages will dry for longer than that = cure#2

Some great info and I thank everyone. Once I get this project done I will post pics. Barry