First time to use pink salt

[okiesmokiesam]

Should i use both #1 and #2 in a formula? I am wanting to do wet curing. About 25 years ago i had a meat market and smoked turkeys was a money maker during Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would do 40 a day starting a weak before Thanksgiving through Christmas. the finished product was like eating cured ham. I live in Oklahoma the oil country and a lot would be bought by oil company's as gifts for their employes or customers.Here is is the deal. I had an electric pump and before i would close at night i would pump or inject (i think is what is called now) those 40 turkeys and go in the next morning and give them a bath and put them in my smoke house and i remember they had to be brought up to 140 degree internal  temp. That short time (less than 12 hours is unheard of now).
Now my question to you guys!!! i forget what the cure was but i know it done a hell of a job (never had one to come back and know that's unbelievable). would  any of you guys know how i might duplicate that cure?
Thanks

 

[mdboatbum]

Hello and welcome aboard! For that short amount of time, I'd guess it was probably Morton's Tender quick in their recommended solution for their "pickling cure". It's a high ratio of Morton's Tender quick to water, something like 1 cup per quart, and is pretty fast acting. Pink salt (cure #1) will be a slower acting cure, but will work. Cure #2 as far as I know is for long cure times such as country ham, where the nitrates will break down into nitrites over time. I really don't think you should use both #1 and #2 at the same time, but hopefully one of the more experienced guys can chime in. 

I cured a turkey last Thanksgiving using a brine of 2 gallons water and 4TB cure #1 for 4 days and it was really good. The dark meat was quite hammy. the white meat was definitely cured, but didn't have quite as much of the ham flavor and texture.

There are a lot of folks on here who will be glad to help you out and get you the right info. 40 years is a long time, and no doubt the details have gotten foggy. Hell, most days the details of what I had for breakfast escape me!!

 

[daveomak]

I would use cure #1 because you can adjust the salt.... Pops has a recipe for cure/brining... you can inject the cure/brine at 10% w/w brine to bird weight.... then place in the remaining brine for several days to finish the process......

 

[alelover]

Cure #2 is used for long curing like when you make salami. I would do what DaveO says.