Just an FYI

[Tenpoint5]

Just an FYI for anyone in the snausage making mode. Double check the type of salt your using in your formulations. I found out that I have been using the wrong type of salt in some of mine. I found it on accident but your supposed to use granulated salt in ALL of the recipes in the Rytek Kutas book Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing. If your looking it is under the section that he describes what each ingredtient is used for. The last paragraph under salt is where he tells you about the formulations using granular salt and why. Not that any of my sausages are bad, they all have cure in them. I might not be getting the best possible flavor out of the sausage. Like I told my wife, I have been making healthy LOW SALT sausage products!!

I had been using kosker salt with his recipes before I found that information. I made a mistake and am here to admit it.

[wetzel1977]

Me 2 i was using Kosher salt. You think it will be a game changer that much.

[Tenpoint5]

Me 2 i was using Kosher salt. You think it will be a game changer that much.

I made a 10 pound batch of kosher style salami, yesterday with granulated salt (canning/pickling) salt. When I tasted it this morning. The flavors really seemed to pop, more pronounced.

[3rensho]

That is precisely why I always use weight to measure solids (so does Len Poli).  Measuring solids by volume is not the way to go.  25g salt = 25 gram salt.  1 cup salt is not necessarily going to equal 1 cup of another type of salt.

[Tenpoint5]

That is precisely why I always use weight to measure solids (so does Len Poli).  Measuring solids by volume is not the way to go.  25g salt = 25 gram salt.  1 cup salt is not necessarily going to equal 1 cup of another type of salt.

When I use Poli's recipes I usually weigh those too. Just being lazy and not converting Kutas' recipes over to weight measurements.

[Habanero Smoker]

I feel you uses too much salt in his recipes anyway. I use pickling (pure salt) what he uses in his recipes, but I have always reduced the amount of salt he uses.

[ragweed]

Guilty.  Thx for the FYI.

[wetzel1977]

I will change all my recipes in my little blk book to granulated salt from here on in Thanks. 10.5

[iceman]

So what you guys are telling me is all these years I've been scraping up the salt left on the road from the winter sanding trucks is the wrong stuff  :o  ???
Dang!! There goes the neighborhood  ;D  ;)
Good info 10.5 Thanks.

[KyNola]

Good post Chris.  I typically use Kosher salt and the other day bought the Kroger brand kosher salt rather than the name brand kosher salt because the Kroger brand was cheaper.  When I opened the box the very first thing I noticed is that the Kroger brand was much much smaller granules than the name brand.  It's not quite as fine as the regular iodized table salt but is very very close.

[NePaSmoKer]

Chris

Weigh it in Grams

[pmmpete]

I agree that the best way to measure quantities of salt, and in fact quantities of all solids, is by weight, not by volume.  Because many sausage and brine recipes specify the quantity of salt by volume, you need to convert the volume in those recipes to weight.  The problem is that different sources suggest quite different volume to weight conversion factors for the same kind of salt, and they often provide a conversion factor for only one kind of salt.  Does anybody know of an authoritative volume-to-weight conversion chart for salt which covers a number of different kinds and brands of salt?  I've been looking, but haven't found one.  In the Bradley Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon thread, Reply #402, Habanero Smoker has a very good table provided by Morton for converting volumes of table salt, coarse kosher salt, fine sea salt, coarse sea salt, and canning & pickling salt to volumes of other kinds of salt, but I'm looking for a similar volume to weight conversion table for those kinds of salt.

[Habanero Smoker]

Does anybody know of an authoritative volume-to-weight conversion chart for salt which covers a number of different kinds and brands of salt?  I've been looking, but haven't found one. 

I have been collecting that information as I come across it and plan to post it on the recipe site when I get a fairly good data base. Right now I only have about 10 different salts by crystal size, manufactured by about 4 different companies. I'm using sources from the manufacturer, reliable books, and when I can I test the weight of the salt itself, to see how it compares to the information obtained by a source.

Kutas' book does not give the weight of the ingredients in his recipe, just the volume; at least in the edition I have. What I have found is that many books will indicate what salt they are using in their recipes somewhere at the beginning of the book. Michael Ruhlman states he uses Morton Kosher Salt, if you have any of the Bruce Aidells' books he states he uses Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, though in one of his books he states he uses Morton Kosher.