cure or not to cure

[Chuey]

i got a meat grinder for christmas .........and im thinking i can do this....im going to be makeing links and just wanted to know a little about cureing the sausage

[Chuey]

ttt

[mesquitecountry]

IMO. just stuff them raw without cure and package and freeze then smoke them on the grill when you're ready to eat them the flavor is much better.

[Chuey]

cool thanks ...

[tylerfire]

i've been making sausage for several years now, i always use instacure and have never had a problem with the taste. if you are making sausage that is for the grill, you can skip the cure if your're gonna freeze it, but it certainly doesn't effect the taste. if you check out www.alliedkenco.com, you can get all your supplies from and they have tons of recipes and a bunch of information about any kind of sausage making you care to try. plus they are located in houston close to ya.

[Spike]

Now I like to smoke mine,so I use #1 cure.I use a four hour thermal process.120 degrees for the first hour with smoke.150 degrees the second hour with smoke.160-170 degrees the last two hours with just heat.And they finish up looking like this.

[mesquitecountry]

Spike do you use 1 pound of cure for that? Maybe I just misread that but you are about 100 times the legal limit that sausage manufacturers are allowed to put in sausage!!!

[Spike]

No way.I use 1oz. of #1 cure for 25lbs. of meat.Here's my recipe.
5 oz. pickling or kosher salt
2.25 oz. of fresh ground black pepper
1/8 oz. cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. garlic powder
2 tsp. ground majoram
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 oz. #1 cure

This is for 25# batch

[mesquitecountry]

You scared me there for a second spike! yes 1oz per 25 pounds is the correct amount.

I love a little ginger and marjoram in my sausage! Try mixing in a little sage next time! talk about good!

[Danw]

Ok, I hope this isn't hijacking, but what does cure do? I've frozen all of mine in the past without adding cure.

[mesquitecountry]

Cure or the Scientific name Sodium Nitrite/Sodium Chloride mixture's main purpose is to kill Clostridium Botulinum aka Botulism when you get sick with it. It will also kill all of the subspecies of Clostridium including perfringens which causes (explosive diarrhea). Generally cure comes in two forms with 93.75% salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite or an 92/8 combination.

It is a chemical reaction that reacts with the pigments in the meat with in the individual cells of the protein. So effectively it kills the cells responsible for reproduction of clostridium. In return the Nitrite reacts with the proteins and at cooking turns the meat a pink color. The pink color of the cure is not the reason the meat turns pink. It is tinted so that you can tell the difference between salt and cure. If it wasnt tinted you could give your body an overload of nitrites which can cause your heart to be overloaded and cease to beat. So now you know why it's tinted.

It also has preservative qualities which will increase the shelf life of your product. So instead of it lasting 6 months in your freezer it can last up to a year and a half.

It is mostly used in smoked products because they are the highest risk. Smoked products are held in the "bacteria party zone" of 40-100 degrees for a substantial amount of time which allows bacteria to grow and propogate like wildfire.

In lamens terms it kills bacteria that can make you sick. You dont have to have it. 99% of the food products in the world dont have them. It does change the flavor slightly. It's not necessary but will help you with the above issues.

[Danw]

Dang Mesquite, just when I think I know what I'm doing you break something like that out of the tool box. I'm thinking you just talked over my head, and I'm going to be on Webster.com here shortly Thanks for the info. I'm going to send you an email so I don't run this too far off topic.

[Spike]

Here is a good basic guide.http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn176.pdf