I'm thinking of trying to make some sausages on Sunday. On a whim I stopped at a butcher shop near my house and asked if they had any cure's & casings and looks like I got lucky. I was able to pick up the following:-
1. Dry & Semi Dry Sausage Cure, Ingredients Salt, Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Bicarbonate (mfg aid), vegetable oil (mfg aid)
instructions say - Use 5oz of cure for 100lbs of meat or 310 grams of cure for 100kg of meat
2. Natural pork casings. these are in a container that was refrigerated and packed in salt. The butcher said these are for a standard diameter sausage so I'm guessing 1" - 1.5" diameter.
Now, my questions are - did I buy the correct cure? Is this the stuff that I can use when the recipe calls for 'pink salt' or 'curing salt'?
Also, can I use natural pork casings like this for smoking and not have issues? It will bloom?
And finally, would this be a good newbie recipe to test with? http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?436-Smoked-Polish-Sausage-aka-Kielbasa
I'll take any suggestions on other recipes.
A friend owns a sausage stuffing pistol (thats how they described it, I havn't seen it) and this I was going to borrow for the task.
Thanks!
Calis
It is hard to determine what you have by the description that is on the label. If you can post the brand name it would be better. Or better yet go back to the place your purchased the cure and ask if the cure you purchased can be used for smoked/cooked sausage.
At first I thought it might be a copycat of Morton's Tender Quick, but by the way it is measured it seems to be very close to what is called Cure #2; with this cure mix having more additives. Because of the higher amounts of nitrates Cure #2 has, then say Morton's Tender Quick; it is not safe to use for sausages that will be cooked. Also I would say it should not be safe for Semi Dry sausage, which is also cooked sausage. So if your cure is an off shoot of Cure #2, do not use it in the recipe you posted.
Natural pork casings are what I generally use, make sure you soak them well in tepid water for at least 30 minutes (I generally change the water half way through), and then rinse them inside and out. This serves two purposes; it re-hydrates the casing, and secondly it gets rid of the salt so you don't end up with sausage that is too salty. Natural casings bloom very well.
On the cure I fully agree with Habs. It sounds a lot like cure no. 2. That is the usage rate for prague no. 2 for air dried sausages and meats like coppa.
The casings you got should be fine. I use sheep casings for breakfast sausages and some middle eastern mutton sausages. Pig for most Bratwurst sized sausages and beef middles for larger sausages. Pig and sheep bladders are used here too for something like Schwartenmagen.
so what is cure#2 used for?
Can you recommend a recipe using Cure 2 and the natural casings I have? Looking for something nice and easy that I can make tomorrow....
The cure #2 is used in dry curing where you don't heat the product to cook it, you let cure in controlled temp and humidity
That's why it has both Sodium Nitrite and Nitrate which protects it from going bad during the dry curing which can be months.
Cure #1 only has Sodium Nitrite to protect the meat for a short period of time, while you smoke and cook it at a low temps.
My first few sausage making project I purchased some of the High Mountain kits, which come with everything you need except the meat.
The casings, seasonings and cure. There great kits and you learn lots, then I moved to making sausage from different recipes.
Most hunting fishing stores carry High Mountain products.
It is lots of fun making your own sausage, really rewarding.
Mike
OK, I'll try LeBaron and Bass Pro.
Here is a quick guide of curing salts and their general use in sausage making.
Curing Salts (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?736-Curing-Salts)
great resource thank you.
IMHO
Just starting out i would do sausage that needs cure #1.
Cure #2 is a whole nuther animal for a beginner.
Got to agree with Nepas.
Do youself a favor and pick up the book "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing (4th Edition) by Rytek Kutas"