newb ?

Snoopy · July 22, 2013, 01:48:56 PM

So i threw some beef strips in a brine last night, and then have been reading all about how i need to use cure #1. i've got the meat pulled out of the liquid and on racks in the fridge drying a little bit currently. if i am able to get ahold of cure1 or some kind of kit like hi mtn or lem can i still use it or is this batch a wash? the brine was a mix of teryaki sea salt and some other non salt stuff that i honestly don't remember(which is how i usually cook) thanks for the help.

KyNola · July 22, 2013, 02:20:17 PM

You can definitely still use it. Cure #1 does not need to set on the meat for any length of time nor overnight for the Cure to do its job. Just make sure to use the correct amount.

Snoopy · July 22, 2013, 02:30:53 PM

ok, so mix it with water and give all the meat a quick soak? or rub?

KyNola · July 22, 2013, 07:47:26 PM

That is a good question. I will yield to others more experienced than me. Part of me says just rub it as long as it is evenly distributed.

Snoopy · July 22, 2013, 11:32:46 PM

Ended up with some hi man pepper from ace, sprinkled, it's sittin, will smoke tomorrow

Snoopy · July 23, 2013, 09:00:47 PM

Hi mtn* so not to bad for my first try, had some neighbors test it out and said it was good. Will be tweaking some stuff for personal taste, but that's the joy of smoking I guess.

Saber 4 · July 24, 2013, 06:16:57 AM

looks good, bet it tastes good also.

rveal23 · July 24, 2013, 09:14:04 AM

Every experience is a good experience, and every time you smoke you learn something new. I still have to try my hand in jerky smoking. So enjoy your first and certainly not last time making jerky.

Snoopy · July 24, 2013, 02:43:05 PM

it was pretty good, little saltier then i planned but everyone that has tried it loved it. always bring my experiments into work.

on another note, popped into a local restaurant that makes jerky, smoked salmon and everything inbetween. asked him about the cure#1 and where to get it, he said i can get some from him but we talked for about 30 minutes or so on how i don't actually need it. he said as long as you get the meet up to i think it was 135º for 36 minutes that kills everything. they smoke all their stuff at 184º for like 4 hours and he said he only uses #1 in one of his recipes and thats just to help keep the color of the meat. Told me to check out USDA appendix A. So sounds like doing it at lower temps i'm gonna need it, but i'm gonna try my next batch around the 180º mark and see how it turns out.

Sailor · July 25, 2013, 11:06:13 AM

Quote from: Snoopy on July 24, 2013, 02:43:05 PM
it was pretty good, little saltier then i planned but everyone that has tried it loved it. always bring my experiments into work.

on another note, popped into a local restaurant that makes jerky, smoked salmon and everything inbetween. asked him about the cure#1 and where to get it, he said i can get some from him but we talked for about 30 minutes or so on how i don't actually need it. he said as long as you get the meet up to i think it was 135º for 36 minutes that kills everything. they smoke all their stuff at 184º for like 4 hours and he said he only uses #1 in one of his recipes and thats just to help keep the color of the meat. Told me to check out USDA appendix A. So sounds like doing it at lower temps i'm gonna need it, but i'm gonna try my next batch around the 180º mark and see how it turns out.

I am not so sure I would trust what the restaurant owner told you and after knowing how he smokes his meats I don't think I would be purchasing any thing from him.

Meat needs to be kept below 40 degrees. Nasty things start to grow between 40 degrees and 140 degrees. Doing whole muscle jerky you are going to be smoking and drying at 150 to 160 degrees which is a low temp however you may get by without using cure but personally I use a cure at those temps to be safe. If you are smoking meats at 200-and above like a brisket or pork butt you are fine with out cure. If you are running the smoker at 180 to do jerky you are cooking it and not smoking or dehydrating it. My jerky is smoked and dried at 150 degrees and not cooked at 180 degrees. If you are making ground beef jerky then you should be using cure no mater what temp you are smoking. If you make sausage then you need to use cure if you are smoking. You can take fresh sausage and put it in a smoker above 220 degrees and be safe but if you try to smoke it at a lower temp you are asking for trouble and may get sick. Cure is not to just to keep the color of the meat, it is to keep nasty stuff from growing and killing you. A side effect of the cure is that it makes the meat a pink color.

I am not trying to create an argument I am trying to keep you from getting sick and getting the people that eat your stuff from getting sick. You can buy cure 1 from lots of places on the internet. Butcher and Packer, Allied Kenco are just a few.

There are a lot of sausage makers on this forum as well as jerky makers and I am sure they chime in about the cure issue.

Snoopy · July 25, 2013, 11:17:01 AM

completely understand, just wanted to throw info out that i had gotten. i will be getting cure, but was thinking about trying something different and having him test it with his water thingy lol that he was talking about. in the end though after doing more and more reading on here about it, did some searches and what not, it sounds like the safer bet. the company on the other hand has been around for years and never had any health issues. i think the brine that they use has a ridiculous amount of salt in it.