Morton Tender Quick for beef snack sticks and beef jerky?

[larnanc]

Hey there....
I just joined this site! Awesome website by the way! I have a question and am very confused. I just started making my own beef jerky and beef snack sticks. Most of the recipes call for pink curing salt.....can I use Morton Tender Quick instead, to make these two items? Pink curing salt calls for 1/4 teaspoon per pound of meat whereas Morton Tender Quick calls for one tablespoon per pound of meat. Does this sound right? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks in advance!

 

[chopsaw]

making my own beef jerky and beef snack sticks. Most of the recipes call for pink curing salt.....can I use Morton Tender Quick instead, to make these two items?

Yes .

Morton Tender Quick calls for one tablespoon per pound of meat. Does this sound right?

The correct amounts for Morton's Tender Quick are confusing , because they are not properly listed on the bag .

The 1 Tablespoon per pound amount is for Whole muscle meat .

The correct amount for curing ground meat is 1 1/2 tsp per pound .

It also includes the salt , so if following a recipe that uses cure one and lists salt , you would omit the salt .

Here's a link to some recipes using Tender Quick .

https://www.alliedkenco.com/pdf/mortons%20recipes.pdf

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I don't really understand who buys Morton Tender quick and who it's for. It makes so much more sense to use cure#1 to me. I've got a bag and I've cured bacon with it, but you have so much less control over the salt content. Now Morton doesn't recommend it for bacon. Also it's dangerous to try to substitute one product for the other. Morton's has a far less percentage of sodium nitrite compared to cure#1. Cure #1 used to be harder to find, but I see it at places like Academy now.

That said, Tenderquick is probably a safer product because before you got a toxic dose of sodium nitrite you'd have to injest way too much salt.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

TQ Is old school and at times much better product.

 

[chopsaw]

I don't really understand who buys Morton Tender quick

I do , because I cure meats and sausages and understand the different methods .

It makes so much more sense to use cure#1 to me.

Then that's what you should do .
The OP asked about using TQ .

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Not a thing wrong with TQ, just adjust your added salt.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I know I get annoyed when people ask something and then someone like myself chimes in not answering the question, but countering with why the OP would even want to do that. But I can't help myself here. Trying to substitute one product for the other in any recipe is dangerous. You need a spreadsheet to do it. Tenderquick comes with a lot of salt, sugar and sodium nitrate that won't be accounted for in that recipe. I get that you know how do it, but why steer anyone that is just starting out in that direction? Very few modern recipes if any call for Tenderquick. I'm glad they still make it, but you might as well start him out using Freeze-em Pickle.

 

[zwiller]

Bought TQ a long time ago before I knew what curing really was. I think it's mostly an old timers thing nowadays (Rick beat me) but it has it's place on certain things. Been playing around with it this year for the first time. It's dead simple and FAST. Below is a thick loin chop (aka gepockelte) cured in 4 HOURS.

L larnanc Welcome. Wish I knew this when first got started. Owens BBQ mixes. Total pro results. I would stick to well known proven mixes instead of rolling your own for now. Kits are for 5lbs and come with cure.

https://www.owensbbq.com/collections/jerky-mixes

 

[bill ace 350]

TQ is a very versatile and easy to use product....

Give it a try before dismissing it.

 

[bill ace 350]

I know I get annoyed when people ask something and then someone like myself chimes in not answering the question, but countering with why the OP would even want to do that. But I can't help myself here. Trying to substitute one product for the other in any recipe is dangerous. You need a spreadsheet to do it. Tenderquick comes with a lot of salt, sugar and sodium nitrate that won't be accounted for in that recipe. I get that you know how do it, but why steer anyone that is just starting out in that direction? Very few modern recipes if any call for Tenderquick. I'm glad they still make it, but you might as well start him out using Freeze-em Pickle.

Allied Kenco has many, many "modern" recipients using TQ.

 

[larnanc]

Bought TQ a long time ago before I knew what curing really was. I think it's mostly an old timers thing nowadays (Rick beat me) but it has it's place on certain things. Been playing around with it this year for the first time. It's dead simple and FAST. Below is a thick loin chop (aka gepockelte) cured in 4 HOURS.

L larnanc Welcome. Wish I knew this when first got started. Owens BBQ mixes. Total pro results. I would stick to well known proven mixes instead of rolling your own for now. Kits are for 5lbs and come with cure.

https://www.owensbbq.com/collections/jerky-mixes

View attachment 706006

That looks sooo good! I can almost smell it and taste it...LOL!

 

[larnanc]

I don't really understand who buys Morton Tender quick and who it's for. It makes so much more sense to use cure#1 to me. I've got a bag and I've cured bacon with it, but you have so much less control over the salt content. Now Morton doesn't recommend it for bacon. Also it's dangerous to try to substitute one product for the other. Morton's has a far less percentage of sodium nitrite compared to cure#1. Cure #1 used to be harder to find, but I see it at places like Academy now.

That said, Tenderquick is probably a safer product because before you got a toxic dose of sodium nitrite you'd have to injest way too much salt.

Hi Dustin! Thanks for your info! I bought my Ninja grill and was anxious to get started making jerky and beef sticks. I did one batch of jerky using Worcester and soy sauce, etc, but no curing salt. I also did one batch of beef sticks using the Backwoods mix that came with my Jerky Cannon. I haven't even tried the Jerky Cannon yet. I was very disappointed with the lack of flavor from the backwoods seasoning. Then I started researching and saw where people were saying that we had to use pink curing salt. We looked everywhere in our area for it and nothing. I went on Ebay and saw the MTQ and pink curing salt (PCS henceforth). At my age and pure ignorance concerning both of them, I saw 4 ounces of pink curing salt for $9.99 and the MTQ at 2 pounds for $8.27, sooooo. I can't believe that none of the stores around us, sell the pink curing salt, especially the stores that sell grilling and smoking equipment, seasonings and such. I guess, if and when I want PCS in the future, I'll have to go online and order it........

 

[chopsaw]

why steer anyone that is just starting out in that direction?

Dustin , he asked the question . Lets don't turn this into a back and forth .

"modern" recipients using TQ.

I have many mixes that come with TQ or that type of maple sugar cure .
Owens , AC Leggs . That's why they say 1 1/2 tsp per pound .

 

[texomakid]

I've probably made half a dozen batches of jerky using TQ in my recipe. The jerky was great and I didn't encounter any issues due to the TQ.

 

[boykjo]

I'm a tender quick guy. Been using it for years and prefer it over cure #1. IMO it makes a better tasting product. I use it 99% of the time and I'm still here. Chop hit the nail on the head in his post. Easy to convert and make sure you don't mix the two different cures together. Also you cant add TQ to a pre packaged seasoning as it has salt in it already.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I'm a tender quick guy. Been using it for years and prefer it over cure #1. IMO it makes a better tasting product. I use it 99% of the time and I'm still here. Chop hit the nail on the head in his post. Easy to convert and make sure you don't mix the two different cures together. Also you cant add TQ to a pre packaged seasoning as it has salt in it already.

I've used both... started out with TQ, use mostly cure 1 now... but for no particular reason. Biggest thing to remember is they both can cure meat... but not at the same rates.
Best thing about this site is you can find good advice from people who can teach you how to use either one safely!

Ryan

 

[SmokinEdge]

If TQ is applied to meat at 1 1/2tsp per pound, that’s right at 7.5g which is just all of 1.5% salt in basic speak. This would roughly be 15g/Kg and if you ran that up to 20g/Kg you would have 2% salt,,,,, nitrite and nitrate ppm will be 75ppm and 100ppm respectively. This works perfectly.

 

[Steve H]

As chopsaw said. With TQ. There are two amounts according to the meat used. Being either whole muscle or ground. I had my measurements goofed with my last batch of SS. It still came out great. But the salt was a tad bit more noticeable.