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smoking Anyone smoke their own sausage?

JayT

JayT

I got a sausage grinder/stuffer for Christmas and have been learning all I can about using it. I have discovered that I need some cure for the meat. This is some sort of nitrate. I don't know exactly what I am looking for, or where to get it. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Yeah he was the first person that came to mind. I am hoping that it is something I can buy in a store and not have to order it off the internet. I asked a local butcher, and he said they don't smoke their own so he referred me to another butcher. Then I asked the meat guy in my local grocery store and he said they have something called Instacure or something like that that is a salt nitrate mix. He's going to get some for me. I just want to know if that is what I want.
 
Hey Jay T ,

It's a sodium nitrate as Potawie said and you can get it also at a grocery store for a lot less $$
it's called ( Morton Tender Quick Home Meat Cure ) or the sugar cure) if they have it. You will find it next to the salts.
I've used it for canning homemade pickles and vegetables.

Ed's RoadHousE Jerky
"Nobody Beats My Meat"
http://www.edsroadhousejerky.com
 
I try to avoid Morton Tender Quick for most uses since it contains sodium nitrite as well as sodium nitrate(Which is generally only needed when air drying and/or fermenting meat over a long period of time)
Go for just the Sodium nitrite for smoked sausage, bacon, or hams etc.
I wouldn't use Morton's for pickles either since they don't need curing as far as I know, and these cures aren't exacty great for you
 
We have an old book from the turn of the 20th century. In curing they use salt peter, which is potasium nitrate. However, when we make Andouille, Chaurice or Chirizo, these are all smoke cured. I have a container of potasium nitrate, but have never used it.

Craig
 
Using salt peter is old school and is no longer considered to be safe compared to the alternatives
Cures are needed when cold smoking since Botulism thrives in low temperature especially with low oxygen(anaerobic conditions)
 
salt peter does bad things to your kidney's and liver...........Like Potawie said use sodium nitrite.....
 
Its sort of confusing but its sodium nitritethat you want and follow the directions exactly.
Sodium nitrate is like a time release version of sodim nitrite, used for very long drying processes. The nitrate slowly breaks down into nitrite lasting a long time for processes that require this
 
POTAWIE said:
I try to avoid Morton Tender Quick for most uses since it contains sodium nitrite as well as sodium nitrate(Which is generally only needed when air drying and/or fermenting meat over a long period of time)
Go for just the Sodium nitrite for smoked sausage, bacon, or hams etc.
I wouldn't use Morton's for pickles either since they don't need curing as far as I know, and these cures aren't exacty great for you
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POTAWIE,
I've been making crock pickles with grape leaves a recipe that had been handed down from family and canning pickles for over 30 years and the reason you use Morton Tender Quick is that it doesn't contain iodine and is additive free salt. using a salt that contains iodine will turn the brine cloudy and your product you are canning turns rubbery it won't have that crispness to it .

Recipes that don't need a special salt are your bread and butter sweet pickles you can use Kosher salt as a substitute and these are ready to eat the next day , regular table salt has additives in it that will turn your pickles or any vegetable a dark and muddy color.

I do agree that preservatives are not good for ya. That is why I make the best gourmet jerky that is preservative and additive free!
 
Use pickiling salt then, but don't use sodium nitrate or nitrite for pickles. Personally I do use sodium nitrite in my smoked jerky, sausage, hams, and bacon but not really as a preservative but to brevent botulism when I smoke at low temperatures and to give a cured taste and color. Bacon would just be fatty pork without nitrite;)
 
Try looking up a book by
A.D. Livingstone Sausage

I got it this yr for x-mas and it covers about every type you can make from about every continent possible.Cooking,seasoning,cold smoking and hot smoking and stuffing and all recipes.I mad about 50 lbs of venison sausage this winter and the recipes they had were great.Good luck and enjoy.
Rich
 
I got a book that is as big as any college text I ever had. It too has everything you could want. I have lots of recipes, just still trying to locate cure (locally). Honestly, I haven't really tried TOO hard yet. Still too friggin cold to be grilling or smoking anyway.
 
Is it the sausage bible you have JayT, "Great sausage recipes and meat curing" by Rytek Kutas? If so, its a great book and I believe Rytek is the ones running www.sausagemaker.com/
You said you could get instacure at the grocery store, thats exactly what you need
 
Yep that is exactly the book I have. If that is what I need then I need to stop looking! :lol: Thanks Potawie.
 
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