Braunschweiger

[viper125]

I have a  Braunschweiger recipe that calls for saltpeter and absorbic acid. I think that was used to cure before our modern cures right? If so how can i switch these out? Sounds like it might be what i'm looking for. Here is the recipe hope some one can help. I was going to just eliminate them and use cure #1 by weight of meat but not sure if it would be right.

Braunschweiger
Instructions:
Yield: 5 Pounds
2½   lb   Pork liver, trim and cube
2½   lb   Pork butt w/ fat, cubed
½   cups   Ice water
¼   cups    Dry milk powder
5   teaspoon   Salt
1   tablespoon   Sugar
2   tablespoon    Finely minced onion
2   teaspoon    Fine white pepper
1   teaspoon    Crushed mustard seed
½   teaspoon    Ground marjoram
¼   teaspoon    Ground allspice
¼   teaspoon    Ascorbic acid
12   teaspoon    Saltpeter
4        Feet medium hog casings

 


Grind liver and butt separately through the fine disk and then mix

together. Combine with remaining ingredients, chill in freezer 30

minutes then regrind through the fine disk. Prepare casings, stuff and

tie off into 6-8" lengths. Simmer in a 180-190 kettle of water for an

hour. Remove from water, dry thoroughly and smoke at 150 for two

hours.

[La Quinta]

I wish I could help? Salt pork? I don't know what is in salt peter...I just remember the war stuff about it...but I love braunschweiger...yummy...

[Habanero Smoker]

For your recipe you will need to use 1 teaspoon of cure #1. The standard measure for 5 pounds of sausage is 1 teaspoon. If you are going to weigh it you need .20 ounce per pound of meat and fat. You should also reduce the salt the recipe calls for by one teaspoon.

The following link has a table for the use of cure #1 for sausage.
Curing Salts

[viper125]

La Quinta Thanks I do to. This is an old original recipe. Should be good.  Salt peter and absorbic acid was in the days before the modern cures, My grand father used them. But I don't
  Thanks Habenaro, I thought so but wanted some more wisdom in this. So I just drop the absorbic acid and Salt Peter and cut but 1 tsp of salt. That allows for the salt in the cure right? I realize this sounds like repeating but I just want to make sure I know why not just how. I like to know the reasons simply so I can learn. So the new recipe will look like this?

Braunschweiger
Instructions:
Yield: 5 Pounds
2½   lb   Pork liver, trim and cube
2½   lb   Pork butt w/ fat, cubed
1 level teaspoon of insta cure #1
½   cups   Ice water
¼   cups    Dry milk powder
4   teaspoon   Salt
1   tablespoon   Sugar
2   tablespoon    Finely minced onion
2   teaspoon    Fine white pepper
1   teaspoon    Crushed mustard seed
½   teaspoon    Ground marjoram
¼   teaspoon    Ground allspice
4        Feet medium hog casings

 

[3rensho]

Habs has you covered.   The  sodium nitrite (NaNO₂) in cure no. 1 is fine for such processing.  As an aside though I find the use of that much pure potassium nitrate (salt peter)(KNO₃) in that amount of sausage just plain scary-  works out to 31293 ppm using a density of 5.92g/US tsp.  No wonder they croaked early.

[viper125]

Thanks 3 rensho, Well these old recipes always scare me. Seems they knew how to keep it but it was plain suicide in those days. They used this like a spice not  knowing the dangers.
Just figured if I could get it straight I have a lot of old recipes I could use. So if I understand right just using a modern cure in the amount recommended for meat weight and eliminating  their cures and lowering salts respectably is all i'll need to do.
I find some of these old recipes rather intriguing.

[3rensho]

Yes that is the ticket.  Use the appropriate amount (as Habs pointed out) of modern cures in the old recipes and you should have no problems.  I've got a number of hand written German recipes from the late 19th century using salt peter in ridiculous amounts.  I just use modern equivalents.  The penmanship in these old recipes is amazing to look at.

[Habanero Smoker]

The modern version of the recipe looks correct for the salt and cure. If you make it let us know how it taste.

As for the amount of saltpeter, that is tricky stuff to work with, and not as reliable. My thought is that not all of it would convert to potassium nitrite, but as pointed out 12 teaspoons is a lot.