mortons tender quick

[mohoghead]

Mortons tender quick has a sodium nitrite and nitrate levels each of .5%, i'm wanting to make smoked summer sausage and salami,

my question is what are the acceptable limits of both? I have seen store bought cures up to.825%,

as i will not subject this sausages to high tempertures, and they will age a month or so after smoking the nitrate levels will be gone.

In Ryteks kosher salami he's calling for 10 lb. meat 6 tablespoon salt and 2 teaspoon prague #1
so if my calculations are correct then two teaspoons of mortons tender quick and 6 tablespoons of seasalt.
any thoughts and help on this is appreciated.

[DiggingDogFarm]

When used at a rate of 1 level tablespoon (1/2 an ounce) per pound of meat, MTQ provides ~156ppm each of nitrite and nitrate along with ~3% salt.

If you're dry curing, you'd be wise to obtain some cure #2, that way you can better control the salt and cure levels.



~Martin

[mohoghead]

I won't be dry curing as understand the method, could be wrong, but will cure the meat 24 hours, regrind, then stuff in collegeen casings, and slow smoke until internal temperture is 152 degree. set aside for a month til nitrates disapate.

[Oddwookiee]

Do not regrind after the sausage sits overnight. You're defeating part of the purpose of letting it set up- regrind will cut the protein bonds that give ti texture. Letting it set overnight then binding up risks cooking out moisture as well as the cooked product having a mushy texture.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I won't be dry curing as understand the method, could be wrong, but will cure the meat 24 hours, regrind, then stuff in collegeen casings, and slow smoke until internal temperture is 152 degree. set aside for a month til nitrates disapate.

Okay, above it sounded like you intended to dry-cure the sausages.
Now I understand better what you're trying do do.
Morton recommends 1 and a 1/2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) of MTQ per pound of meat to cure the type of sausage you're making.

HTH


~Martin

[mohoghead]

Thank you, this is starting to shape up, got all the spices on hand, venison and beef in the freezer, just bought some pork, saturday is cheese day so sunday or monday i'll get started on this.

I won't be dry curing as understand the method, could be wrong, but will cure the meat 24 hours, regrind, then stuff in collegeen casings, and slow smoke until internal temperture is 152 degree. set aside for a month til nitrates disapate.

Okay, above it sounded like you intended to dry-cure the sausages.
Now I understand better what you're trying do do.
Morton recommends 1 and a 1/2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) of MTQ per pound of meat to cure the type of sausage you're making.

HTH


~Martin

[haeffnkr]

Hello,
I have a similar question re MTQ -

This is a tried and true recipe for cured summer sausage that we have used for 3 generations - we have played a bit with the cure though over the years with differnt types and brands ie salt peter and such.. ...

In Jan/Feb... Sausage is stuffed in beef casings, hung in smoke house for a few days to start to dry, cold smoked for 24 hours, then hangs until it has the right consistency - usally around 6-7 weeks , then eaten/frozen.
We make over a 1000 pounds of this a year.

Summer Sausage - 50 lbs
50 lbs 25 deer - 25 pork sholder
16 oz Salt
3 oz Black Pepper
2 oz Morton tender quick Cure
4 oz Sugar
0-8 oz Mustard Seed
.5 oz Garlic Powder
2.5 oz Corriander


I dont want to get sick and no one has not thus far, but dont want to have any more nitrates than needed in my sausage either.....

Obviously amount of MTQ is under the recomendation -
Morton recommends 1 and a 1/2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) of MTQ per pound of meat to cure.
I assume the added salt though in my recipe helps along the curing process?

At what rate of nitrate is this?
What is goverment recommended rate for nitrates in sausage?

any help would be appreciated
thanks Kevin

[NCPaul]

Your rate is about 10 ppm of both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate. Morton's recommended usage is about 77 ppm of both. I personnally would use at least the recommended amount which is well below the maximum allowed by the FDA. The regulations can be found here:
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=1906

Welcome to the forum.

[wheels]

Welcome to the forum Kevin.

As a minimum I'd replace the 16oz of Salt with additional MTQ. This'll give about 112 PPM Nitrite: still well below the FDA maximum levels.

In fact, I'd go further in order to give a higher salt level. The current level of salt in your sausage is around 2.1%, I'd be looking to a minimum of 2.5%.

To achieve this, I'd replace the current salt and MTQ, with 22 - 24oz of MTQ

Phil

[haeffnkr]

Thanks for the replies thus far -

I take it you guys are trying to keep me safe and botchalism free and I appreciate that -

I have just read through the Rytek Kutas Sausage book... 4th edition 2008... mostly the curing chapter, dry sausage recipes and the FDA recommendations for nitrates linked above, that are also, obviously referenced in Rytek's book.

I also see he mentions his version of cures #1 and #2 and the nitrates in them.
Can someone please help me with the math?

I am curious at what rate Rytek is cure in his sausage recipies
His dry cured recipes call for 5 tsp insta cure #2 for 25 pounds of meat.
What does that translate to ppm?
If someone could show me the math I would appreciate it

Also I read the following from the FDA -

There is no regulatory minimum ingoing nitrite level for cured products that have been processed to ensure their shelf stability (such as having undergone a complete thermal process, or having been subjected to adequate pH controls, and/or moisture controls in combination with appropriate packaging).
However, 40 ppm nitrite is useful in that it has some preservative effect.

Is that saying that there is no minimum recommended nitrate level for cured sausages?

thanks again
Kevin

[NCPaul]

In Rytek's book he says that 6 tsp is equal to one ounce (I strongly recommend weight instead of volume measurements). So, 5 tsp would be 5/6 X 28.4 = 23.6 grams of cure #2 for 25 # of meat. The meat in grams would be 25 X 454 = 11350 g. Cure # 2 is 6.25 % sodium nitrite and 4 % sodium nitrate. The sodium nitrite concentration is (23.6 X 0.0625 / 11350) X 1,000,000 = 130 ppm. The sodium nitrate concentration is (23.6 X 0.04 / 11350) x 1,000,000 = 83 ppm. This is higher than the Morton recommendation and I would use this myself, maybe even up to 150 ppm sodium nitrite.

In the recipe, there is no cooking of the sausage (no thermal process), just cold smoking, no bacterial culture (no pH control), and the drying step is probably just to a semi-dry stage (moisture control), so I don't think that this FDA section applies to this recipe.

As Wheels suggested, bringing up the salt amount would also be a good idea.

I can understand not wanting to overuse sodium nitrite, but after 4-6 weeks, I don't think there is any left. The amount in the recipe is too low in my opinion. Be safe.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I'd replace the current salt and MTQ, with 22 - 24oz of MTQ

X2

20oz will provide a bit less than 2.5% salt
22oz will provide a bit less than 2.75% salt
24oz will provide a bit less than 3.0% salt

~Martin

[wheels]

Thanks,

IIRC, the US FDA have rules that require a higher level of salt if a starter to reduce the pH level isn't used. Regardless of the nitrite.

It's not 'what to do' that's the problem, it's 'what the FDA rules are?'.

The "Processing Inspectors' Handbook" contains the ones for nitrite. But, the ones for air-dried sausage are spread all over the place!

Phil

[haeffnkr]

So after reading more and another conversation with Dad I think I got it figured out.

I searched and found this link too... it was a good read - http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showth ... NGREDIENTS

The recipe was not 2 oz of MTQ but 2 oz of cure and somehow I thought cure=MTQ....oops.
I have used 2 oz of MTQ though in the last couple of years with 16 oz salt...I guess I got lucky

I found that 1 oz = 28.35 grams x 2 = 56.7 and 50lbs of meat would be 22700.

So if I got this right...
(56.7 X 0.0625 / 22700) X 1,000,000 = 156 ppm
(56.7 X 0.04 / 22700) X 1,000,000 = 100 ppm

So if I use 2oz #2 cure and up the salt a bit I should be all good?

thanks for all the help and the math formulas !
Kevin

[wheels]

That's correct 2 oz of cure #2 will be great.

Phil