Dry sausage

[robertswan]

I’m looking to start a dry sausage I’ll ferment before hanging to dry what’s the best ratio for salt I’ve heard 3% of total wieght? How about insta cure cure? Anyone have a set amount of salt and insta cure they have had success with

 

[SmokinEdge]

2.5-3.0% salt to meat weight and .25% cure #1 to meat weight. Not much wiggle room there. But tell us more about what exactly you want to do.

 

[Simi Kay]

Good luck with it, Smoking Edge gave some good percentages, I just want to add, that you have to follow someone that you trust, do your own research, and not just give it a go after watching one vid. Happy Salami making!

 

[JckDanls 07]

But tell us more about what exactly you want to do

As SmokinEdge said... Give us more details... It sounds like you want to dry cure and that's a whole different animal.. It requires the use of cure #2 and much more understanding of the process

 

[BGKYSmoker]

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.

 

[robertswan]

Thanks guys you all gave some great advice. I have a recipe from a gentleman I used to work with it’s basically a soppressata. The original recipe was all in tablespoons etc and was based off 5lbs. As I wanted to make a bigger batch and be more precise I wanted to convert everything to grams and get my salt and insta cure 2 spot on. (Thanks again for the advice) I used safe pro box-007 and fermented the sausage for twenty four hours at 65 degrees and 80% humidity. This morning I just brought them into my basement which stays at 50 degrees and currently 60% to 70% humidity. I will check today and if the humidity is closer to 60% I plan on putting a humidifier under the sa usage. I’m hoping it goes well I am in a new house and have never dried sausage in this basement before. Also whenever I have done this before I’ve used hog casings this time I used beef middles for larger diameter sausage. Time will tell I’m sure it will take considerably longer with the size of the sausage.