How Much Cure No 2 (Sorry!!)

[deb]

I hope to be up and running with my new stuffer later this week and once I've tried it out I'll be ordering some sausage mixes from Franco. I'm going to get some of the Chorizo mix and at this time of year I'll be making fresh sausages BUT, thinking ahead to later on and the cooler weather, I really would like to make some dried sausages with it. In the blurb it says that it can be used for dried sausages with the addition of Cure #2, but does anyone know how much cure would be needed? I've looked at the Cure#2 blurb and it says, generally, it should be used at the rate of 10g per 10lb's of meat but you should follow a recipe. There is no recipe so how much should I use? One other thing, will I need the starter culture to make the dried Chorizo (and possibly Salami at some point) or does it work fine without.

Thanks for any help.

[aris]

Check Len Poli's site:

http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/index_fil ... l_list.htm

There are several recipes there.

[Jonty]

Deb,

I've made a few batches of salami & chorizo without starter culture, mainly because I wanted to keep things simple for my first attempts at curing and I didn't have anywahere suitable to incubate the sausages. Spookily enough - Oddley raised a similar query last week. Here's the link to a post about that topic. If you want a tried & tested recipe which doesn't include a starter culture, I'll gladly post one for you.
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=443

Cheers

[deb]

Aris, I was specifically refering to the Chorizo mix Franco sells as far as the cure#2 is concerned. I'm not after a recipe at the moment just considering using the sausage mix with the cure to make a dried sausage and was interested to know how much cure would be needed.

Jonty, thanks for pointing me towards this thread. If you have time the recipe would be most welcome, no hurry of course as it'll be a while before it cools down to anywhere near the right temperature.

Still interested in an answer re the cure. Has anyone actually used Franco's mix to make a dried chorizo sausage? Any more experiences with using or not using a starter culture would also be welcome.

Thanks.

[Oddley]

Deb spuddy uses 3.33 gm cure #2 per 1 kg meat (Only not fat). This works out at.

Sodium Nitrates ingoing ppm = 121
Sodium Nitrites ingoing ppm = 189

This is an ok amount. If left for a time over 4 weeks to dry.

[aris]

The recipes i've seen for dry cured chorizo call for 7-14 days of drying - would that make a difference to the amount of cure #2 going in?

[Spuddy]

7-14 days seems very short. It must be small calibre casings being used. I'd recommend ox runners or beef middles for dried chorizo. If you use sheeps or pigs then less cure is probably advisable but keeping times would be much shorter.

[Rustum Longpig]

Hi Deb.
I had this speculation as well. I used a cure from Weschenfelder without a starter culture and I was a little apprehensive but having consumed the first of a batch of dried sausage that had been drying at ambience for two months I am still here-- so is the dog (who tried the first few slices) The results were great and I have just hung another 7 k of pepper and garlic salami for Xmas.
20 to25gms per kilo of meat about 2% curing salt to salami mix.

Regards
Rustum.

[fatnhappy]

Hi Deb.
I had this speculation as well. I used a cure from Weschenfelder without a starter culture and I was a little apprehensive but having consumed the first of a batch of dried sausage that had been drying at ambience for two months I am still here-- so is the dog (who tried the first few slices) The results were great and I have just hung another 7 k of pepper and garlic salami for Xmas.
20 to25gms per kilo of meat about 2% curing salt to salami mix.

Regards
Rustum.

Now there is a vote of confidence!
Better yet, let the neighbor's dog have the first bite, you know, the one that barks at all hours.

1 level teaspoon of cure for evey 5 lbs. of meat. That's based on the USDA spec. I prefer to dissolve it in distilled water to distibute it as evenly in the meat as possible.

[Rustum Longpig]

I agree about distribution of the curing salt or soloution but it would'nt it extend the drying time somewhat?
The dog that barks at all hours was IN the salami!!!?
Rustum

[deb]

Thanks for adding to this guys. Unfortunately I couldn't use Franco's mix in the end as it contains garlic and hubby can't eat garlic. I'll probably end up trying Len Poli's version, minus the garlic, won't be quite right but that's life.

[fatnhappy]

It probably does extend drying time slightly, but compared to the potential risk of ruining my salami or summer sausage I consider that time well spent. Besides, I like to use copious amounts of water while stuffing since it makes the casings more pliable and consequently easier to stuff.

Matter of fact, not only do I soak them overnight, I made a tapered fixture for my kithcen faucet that allows me to easily flush the interiors of my casings with a torrent of tap water.

[Rustum Longpig]

I agree FnH. Life is so much easier if your casings have been soaked for the correct time. flushing hog casings is OK, but sheepcasings for chipolatas and breakfast sausages can make you squint a bit. We are however, lucky to be able to use natural sheep casings here in merry England as the 'Food Standards Agency have tried to have them banned as a BSE/TSE risk!!
As there was insufficient science to back up these claims the threat has receeded. I dont know if this argument is valid having had to deal with a "Due Diligence" Risk management document With possible TSE as the main risk I feel that the threat stems mainly from nervous tissue which is now removed in abbatoirs before meat inspectors pass carcases for human consumption.
How do collagen casings measure up? Not good enough in my recipe book!
Cant wait for the BowWow salami tasting though!!!

[fatnhappy]

Might taste a little RUFF?