Pink Salt Substitue for Morton's TQ

[Kamanodental]

Aloha Habanero

Thanks for the info..being Hawaiian/Filipino we have been eating salt all our lives...I'm just trying to get to the point where I dont have to use so much salt......I want to live long enough to chase my wife around the coconut tree....you know the rest!!! The sausage maker is a great book and I often use his stuffs.  Although, to dry the sausage it calls for almost a tbl of salt per pound and  of course instacure#2. It usually works out great and always great for gifts (dry sausage). I will have to order the book you recommanded. I like different books and trying different things.  I know that Len Poli has some great recipes...I visit his site all the time when I want some good sausage.

Aloha all you great smokers (not the other kind)

Kamano

[Habanero Smoker]

Aloha Kamanodental;

For some reason, just saying that gets me in a tropical mood.

I know what you mean about too much salt. The recipes in Sausage Maker, does seem like a lot of salt. Depending on the dry cure sausage, Charcuterie recipes call for anywheres from 3-4 tablespoons for 5 pound, plus the Instacure #2. Just a little less, but every bit helps.

[Oldman]

Hab,
Great thread you started here. I have a nice rather large Pork Loin that I've been thinging curing.. I may just use your cure. You mention Turbinado sugar... I have often thought about using dark brown sugar... have you tried using it before?
Olds

EDIT Using your cure what do you feel is the timeline per pound?

[Habanero Smoker]

I would like to use brown sugar, but when I make this cure I make it in big batches. If I use brown sugar, that tends to cake up during storage, and I'm not sure how hard it would cake up in this recipe. I have a book on rub (can't think of the author off hand), in his book he describes a method of drying the brown sugar in the oven, but warns that you will loose flavor. I'll post that method later. So I figured I would use turbinado instead. If you are making a small batch or not concerned about caking, brown sugar can be used.

Still this is a basic cure, you can mix the brown sugar in later with other flavorings prior go applying it to the meat. It measures almost the same as Morton's TQ; 1 tablespoon per pound, but after 5 pound of meat I would measure by weight.

Things like pork loins and brisket, it is easier to judge curing times by thickness. I've made two separate batches of Canadian bacon, and one pastrami using the cure. I feel you need to cure foods a little longer using this dry cure compared to Morton's TQ. I now cure pork loins 7-8 days; 7 should be enough but may need another day. Pastrami (brisket flat) I now cure 5-6 days.

[Hatdance]

Hi there!

I discovered this forum about a month ago when I started looking at Bradley smokers.  Since then, I have been "lurking" and learning.  First, I wanted to say thank you to all the experienced posters here - reading the old postings has been very educational, and sometimes very funny.  Thanks to all for helping me get a jump-start on the learning.

I was interested in this particular post because I too wanted to use Pink Salt/Cure #1 instead of Morton's to be able to control the various ingredients and customize the cure.

I was double-checking the math (a bad habit of mine), and wanted to offer up the following "formula" for the forum to react to.  My goal was to create a base cure or mix that would be as close as possible to the Morton's proportions.  Here's what I came up with:

17.5 oz salt
5.0 oz sugar
2 oz cure #1
Total = 24.5 oz

Since the Cure #1 is 93.75% salt and 6.25% nitrite, the 2 oz of Cure #1 equates to 1.875 oz salt and 0.125 oz nitrite.  Adding this back to the "pure" salt and sugar above, I get

17.5 oz salt + 1.875 oz from Cure #1 = 19.375 oz
5.0 oz Sugar
0.125 oz nitrite
Total = 24.5 oz

% Salt = 19.375 / 24.5 = 79.1%
% Sugar = 5.0 / 24.5 = 20.41%
% Nitrite  0.125 / 24.5 = 0.51%

I think this compares pretty closely to the ratios in the TQ of 79%, 20%, 0.5%, 0.5% nitrate, with the obvious exception of not including the nitrate.

This synchs up pretty well with Habanero's math in the earlier post, except this brings the sugar and salt back into closer proportion.

Having written all this, I am wondering if you will all think it overkill!  I just like math puzzles!

Thanks again for the education.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Hatdance;
Welcome to the forum

More information is better. For those who want a recipe closer to TQ's salt and sugar ratio, will appreciate your hard work. I occasionally will still use TQ, but prefer the Basic Cure formula, because I find the end product less salty.

[HCT]

Hi Hatdance, welcome. Thanks for all your figuring. ;)

[RocMo]

habanero you're my hero! i've been looking all over the place for TQ locally and can't find it anywhere.  not even at a sausage supply place i went to.  i've got plenty of cure #1, now i can use that instead of making a special order and having to pay shipping on a box of TQ.   ;D

[La Quinta]

Habs (dude... to go all Californian/Floridian on ya...) you are IronHabs...your posts are so amazingly informative and spark so may really educated questions. Very good stuff...I could start a culinary Habs club!! Facinating reading. Thank You.

[Habanero Smoker]

Though the recipe on this forum is correct. It has been brought to my attention that there is an error in the recipe posted on the recipe site. The recipe itself is correct, but there is an error in my opening statement.

The original statement:
For cuts above 4 pounds I use 2 ounces of cure per pound.

Corrected statement:
For cuts above 4 pounds I use 2.25 teaspoons of cure per pound.

Cut and Paste will get me every time. :)

Mike;
Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[DrtiBird]

Dang

I could make a killin sellin TQ on the forum. Lots of stores here have it.

nepas

Prob not a bad idea.  I haven't found it around here yet and the web sites where I found it charge more for the shipping than for the TQ.  :(

[Tiny Tim]

Dang

I could make a killin sellin TQ on the forum. Lots of stores here have it.

nepas

Prob not a bad idea.  I haven't found it around here yet and the web sites where I found it charge more for the shipping than for the TQ.  :(

Stupid question for you.....are you looking for it in the same aisle of your grocery store as regular salt, pepper, and multiple other spices?  That's where it is here.

[FLBentRider]

Dang

I could make a killin sellin TQ on the forum. Lots of stores here have it.

nepas

Prob not a bad idea.  I haven't found it around here yet and the web sites where I found it charge more for the shipping than for the TQ.  :(

Stupid question for you.....are you looking for it in the same aisle of your grocery store as regular salt, pepper, and multiple other spices?  That's where it is here.

Not in my market. The store managers just shrug and tell you they never heard of it.

[DrtiBird]

Dang

I could make a killin sellin TQ on the forum. Lots of stores here have it.

nepas

Prob not a bad idea.  I haven't found it around here yet and the web sites where I found it charge more for the shipping than for the TQ.  :(

Stupid question for you.....are you looking for it in the same aisle of your grocery store as regular salt, pepper, and multiple other spices?  That's where it is here.

Yep, looking in the salt/spice area and also in the canning area.  None at local Walmart or Kroger; gonna check Ingles and Publix next.

I did order a 5lb container of InstaCure #1 from Harvest Essentials.  Shipping was only $6.50 for 5 lbs and that was less than some others wanted for shipping a small bag of Mortons.
http://www.harvestessentials.com/11200.html

[Tiny Tim]

Well, if you don't find any at those remaining places, let me know and I'll see if I can hook ya up ( whether it is cost prohibitive or not) from here.