HOW IMPORTANT IS CURING??????????

[ARCHERYNUT]

Was going through the internet and found something that said "If it cant be cured then dont smoke it". How true is this. I have only cured the summer sausage every thing else(other than marinating for taste) was straight out of fridg , hot smoked then ate. Hope I havent been subjecting my family and freinds to any possible food poisonings. I will hold off making anything else till I find out something. Maybe library has something. Any good advice , books , vidoes , web pages?

[Regforte]

Curing is required when the product spends more than 3 hours in the food "danger zone" where
pathogens actively grow, which is 40 - 140 F. Cold smoking usually requires curing because
of the low temperatures involved. Hot smoking usually does not require a cure because the cooking
temperature is high enough that the product's internal temperature moves through the
40 - 140 F range within the 3 hour time limit.

This is not always true though. Hot smoking a very large turkey might still require a cure
to be completely safe because the large mass of the turkey cooked at for example, 200 F,
might mean that the time required to bring the internal temperature of the turkey above
140 F might be more than 3 hours. I've heard of people hot smoking a whole hog who end up
with spoiled meat because of the long cooking time.

As far as books, I would recommend "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" by Rytek
Kutas. It covers the subject in great depth.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/store/publish/cart/purchase1.asp?pid=619&XPR=056B0B7D066C0268026808056B0B7E06650265026D08

[Bassman]

I agree with Regforte, I also have that book and it is very informative.In fact the smoked venison sausage recipe I posted is a spin-off of one of his recipes.

<i><font color="blue"><b>Jack</i></font id="blue"></b>

[Chez Bubba]

Here's a third vote for the book!

Have you guys seen the video? What a scream! I think he shot it in his kitchen with his kid runing the videocam. If I recall correctly, you can tell that it was shot over several days because he has a different hat on.........but the same shirt![:D]

http://www.chezbubba.com

[Fuzzybear]

Thanks for that info Kirk...

Sounds like good old common sense...kill the bacteria by cooking; drying or drowning!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

[Kummok]

Does heavy use of Tabasco, jalipenos, cayenne, jabeneros, etc count as curing?!?!!?[:D][}:)][^]

Kummok @ Homer, AK USA

[Regforte]

I wish. That would sure solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it? [:)]

[MallardWacker]

Questions about curing??

This web site had alot of STUFF on the subject.  Anything on the toxicty of Nitrates, the differance between Nitrates and Nitrites, why you don't use just salt and so forth.  Plus other cocktain party banter.

http://www.askthemeatman.com/



SmokeOn,

mski

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[trout]

I really wish smoker manufacturers stressed curing more in the instructions that came with the smokers.  I gave myself food poisoning in my younger days with one of my first smokers.  I was smoking a turkey breast.  The cheapy smoker I had at the time had a nice picture, but said nothing about cooking safegaurds.  I smoked it over a long period of time.  It tasted good (on the way down, but not on the way up about 8hrs later). [xx(] Had I brined that turkey, as I would now with any larger piece of chicken or turkey, I'm sure I would have been fine. [:I]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

[Regforte]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by trout</i>
<br />I really wish smoker manufacturers stressed curing more in the instructions that came with the smokers.  
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I completely agree, trout. The subject of curing doesn't get the amount of coverage it deserves. It's even worse with dry cured processes'. There's precious little information, and what is available is not well organized.

And as your experience points out, it's a *very* important subject.