prague powder

[jonfromjersey]

You can purchase "pink salt" at either Penzey's or Savory Spice which each have multiple locations nationwide.

[LifeLongWNYer]

Wow, this is like drinking water from a fire hose. I was "kind of" thinking about easing myself into a little sausage and pastrami making, but now I see that the potential for error is large, and that I need more knowledge ( and a scale ) before I start.

I guess I will pick up one of the books recommended by IAmAMadMan before I get into this. I'll bookmark this thread, so I can find it again, this is a huge forum, and I always have trouble locating threads when I haven't seen them in a while and they move back into the cobwebs. My searches either locate nothing, or a thousand, "hits".

A final question: IS Prague #1 equal to Instacure # 1 and "pink salt"? THEN, where does "pink Himalayan salt" fit in? It sounds ( at the moment ) like they are the same.


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A "thank you" to all who replied.


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[wnkt]

Sausage making is another DEEP rabbit hole that many have fallen down

http://www.butcher-packer.com/ for example

[IamMadMan]

Originally Posted by LifeLongWNYer

Wow, this is like drinking water from a fire hose. I was "kind of" thinking about easing myself into a little sausage and pastrami making, but now I see that the potential for error is large, and that I need more knowledge ( and a scale ) before I start.

I guess I will pick up one of the books recommended by IAmAMadMan before I get into this. I'll bookmark this thread, so I can find it again, this is a huge forum, and I always have trouble locating threads when I haven't seen them in a while and they move back into the cobwebs. My searches either locate nothing, or a thousand, "hits".

Originally Posted by LifeLongWNYer

A final question: IS Prague #1 equal to Instacure # 1 and "pink salt"? THEN, where does "pink Himalayan salt" fit in? It sounds ( at the moment ) like they are the same.

Yes, Prague #1 is the same as Instacure # 1. Cure #1 is also known by the following names.... Pink Salt #1, Tinted Cure Mix (TCM), Tinted Curing Powder (TCP), Modern cure. D.Q. powder, FLP, L.E.M. cure, Sure Cure, Fast Cure, or Speed Cure. They are all the same basic formulation and can be used interchangeably.

Over the years people have referred to cure #1 as pink curing salt because of it's pinkish tint. Somewhere along the way people started leaving out the use the word "curing", calling it pink salt, causing confusion with pink Himalayan salt.

But no, pink Himalayan salt is not a curing salt, it is a mineral salt with a pinkish hue. Himalayan Sheppa Pink Salt - From the Punjab region of Pakistan, about 180 mi from the Himalayas. (It is falsely marketed as being from the Himalayas) Pink Salt was discovered around 326 BC when Alexander the Great stopped to rest and noticed the horses licking the reddish-pink (salt) rocks, but the first written records of mining the salt are from the Janjua people in the 1200s.

Granulated Himalayan Pink Salt is commonly used to replace common table salt in cooking, seasoning, and in brines. It is a natural salt high in mineral content and used as a healthy alternative to standard industrialized table salt.

Originally Posted by scotts1919

thanks for all the replies guys. Essentailly i was going to follow meatheads recipe for corned beef made into pastrami

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ed-beef-recipe

anybody use these recipes?

As I stated earlier, just because someone posts a recipe, it doesn't mean it a good recipe. What I personally find lacking in this recipe is the amount of water and there is no accurate calculation in reference to PPM and the calculated rate of pick-up.

For a better defined recipe try
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Corned_Beef.pdf or http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Pastrami.pdf

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[m-fine]

Originally Posted by IamMadMan

I respect your opinion and that's fine, but if it were outdated, it just wouldn't exist.

Why do news papers and print magazines still exist? That said I am not anti-Tenderquick and as mentioned there are plenty of recipees that call for it and there are reasons to use it. What I specifically feel is outdated is the advice that beginners should start with it as opposed to buying a scale.

If you can afford to make a pastrami, you can afford the $11.98 to buy a scale from Amazon and they have other uses in the kitchen beside curing.

Just one example from a 10 second search:
https://www.amazon.com/aiPao-Digital...scale+0.1+gram

I would prefer a beginner spend a few bucks on a scale (and books) and learn to cure based on weights and PPM. With a spreadsheet app on your phone and a digital scale it is simple enough to do right my kids can handle it. Why learn bad habbits with inaacurate volume measures when there is a better alternative now?

[thirdeye]

Originally Posted by m-fine

Why do news papers and print magazines still exist? That said I am not anti-Tenderquick and as mentioned there are plenty of recipees that call for it and there are reasons to use it. What I specifically feel is outdated is the advice that beginners should start with it as opposed to buying a scale.

If you can afford to make a pastrami, you can afford the $11.98 to buy a scale from Amazon and they have other uses in the kitchen beside curing.

Just one example from a 10 second search:
https://www.amazon.com/aiPao-Digital...scale+0.1+gram

I would prefer a beginner spend a few bucks on a scale (and books) and learn to cure based on weights and PPM. With a spreadsheet app on your phone and a digital scale it is simple enough to do right my kids can handle it. Why learn bad habbits with inaacurate volume measures when there is a better alternative now?

I'm not speaking for everyone, and no disrespect intended to anyone... but some people won't follow directions and instructions. And I mean when doing things like calculating the weight of fertilizer to use on your lawn based on square feet and the nitrogen percentage on the label..., or calculate the amount of cure, salt and sugar for a given weight of meat. This particular consumer will either eyeball it and use what "looks right", or wants the easiest instructions possible. This practice will get them in the ballpark, but the results are not ideal. For this consumer there are choices like Turf Builder and Tender Quick, both good products... but there are better options if you invest a little time.