Slight curing mistake?

[SmokinEdge]

No right or wrong way to do it, but as mentioned, old school fermented sausages that used potassium nitrate needed the hold time to color formation from the bacteria.

Hold time in the 50’s, not at refrigeration temps of 30’s. Bacteria that interact with nitrate go dormant in the 40’s and below. They need 50’s or higher.

 

[chopsaw]

I have always been on the fence whether to pre-cure prior to final grind, or just grind, stuff and cure in the casing.

It's just something I wanted to try . I'm sitting here now thinking I'll just go ahead and grind it . I have 9 pounds of chunks I need to grind for fresh .
I will say when I make Italian sausage from chicken thighs I always debone and cut into chunks , season ( cure 1 added ) , mix and store overnight . Grind the next day . Seems to have a good effect on the texture .
I agree this is an extra step . We'll see what happens .

 

[boykjo]

I was just wondering why the 2 inch chunks were in the instructions. If 1 inch chunks were said that would be a more reasonable to allow the cure and salt to penetrate to the center of the cubes and reduce curing time. You would also take into minor consideration how the salt and cure is evenly distributed during the curing process using larger chunks. Guess they been doing it for years and stayed around to write about it....lol
My 2 cents

 

[indaswamp]

Hold time in the 50’s, not at refrigeration temps of 30’s. Bacteria that interact with nitrate go dormant in the 40’s and below. They need 50’s or higher.

I had not considered the temp. range...good catch.

 

[Fueling Around]

A few years ago I read a post by Pops (RIP) that relayed info from his family about the meat quality on short cure versus long cure. Long was much better.
Is this a wet cure thing only or does it also apply to a dry cure?

 

[indaswamp]

Good read....with meat pics....
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making/curing/sausages

 

[chopsaw]

I've been reading through that for the last week or so . Read it 3 or more times . That's why I wanted to try it out . When the op made this Thread I knew what he was talking about .

 

[SmokinEdge]

A few years ago I read a post by Pops (RIP) that relayed info from his family about the meat quality on short cure versus long cure. Long was much better.
Is this a wet cure thing only or does it also apply to a dry cure?

This rings true with all curing, but some borders need to be layed down.
1) wet curing with high salt and cure #1 concentration are ment for faster curing and the meat can only sit in that cure a specified amount of time or it can get over salty and to much meat proteins can be broken down. The stronger the cure solution, the safer the product is in variable temperature. Cool temps but not necessarily refrigerated temps. This is old methods.
2) equilibrium curing where we balance the salt and nitrite to meat weight takes longer to produce a finished product but gives us a more flavorful and balanced product, but we need refrigeration for food safety because our salt concentration is not high enough, but this produces a better tasting product but also takes more time.
3) Salt concentration is the driver of curing time. In a brine, 26% salt is the highest salt concentration obtained. Any additional salt added will fall to the bottom of the tub and sit as salt crystals. However in a dry rub, the amount of salt applied is 100% salt acting on the meat. So dry curing is faster than brining, however, brining adds moisture to the meat in uptake, and dry cure draws moisture out of the meat and dries it concentrating the meat flavor.

In both methods, more time is better if we are in equilibrium or there abouts. If we are high salt concentration in brine or rub, a time limit is needed as to not over salt the meat and make it unpalatable. one method needs more time to tenderize the meat and balance flavor while curing, the other method is faster but more harsh and time must be controlled.