Pink colour

[dougiej]

Hi

Any one know what the pink is in sausage seasoning? mine turn out brown and would like to make them pink!! sad i know!!

Dougie

[DarrinG]

The pink color that sausages have to them is caused by a curing agent. Depending on the sausage you are making it can be sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.

The cures also go under many different names: Instacure #1 or #2, Prague Powder and so on.

I hope that answers your question. There are many other people that can better describe the differences between the two and point you in the right direction for locating a supplier.

DarrinG

[dougiej]

Thanks DarrinG

I think I will leave it then as its ok for killing Botulinum in tined meat but best to keep out of sausage if you are eating them fresh or freezing

Cheers

Doug

[georgebaker]

Hi
try adding some commercial Bacon, adds just enough nitrate/nitrite to go pink and you know its safe. Only problem is it leaves them a bit pink and SHMBO thinks they are raw so puts them back under the grill.
George

[Lance Yeoh]

Talking about commercial bacon, had 2 slices of commercial streaky bacon just 2 days ago while on holiday. They are sooooooo baaaaaad! It's more of less tasteless and it's sooooo hard it feels like I was chewing on a slice of bacon flavoured rubber sandal!
I'll never ever order bacon again when I'm eating out. Nothing compares with homemade dry cured bacon! Wooohooooo

[johnc]

I saw in another thread relating to pork pies, that anchovy essence, or Worcester Sauce can be used to impart a pink colour. I recently experimented adding 1/4tsp of Lee & Perrins to 2lb of Pork & Beef (80% Pork/20%Beef) sausage and it did turn the sausage a pink colour, but only after a second day in the fridge. The first link fried after being left 24hrs to bloom, did not turn pink.

I've added bacon before, as a Cumberland recipe found previously on another site called for 1 rasher per lb.

Also in a different batch added a small amount of Mortons Tender Quick to the salt used to store the casings (about 1/4tsp to about 1/2lb of salt) .

Both worked, with the following reservations

1)Bacon (particularly smoked bacon) affects the flavour giving a bit of a BBQ taste. I think the intention for Cumberland was to use unsmoked bacon ("salt pork" here in USA)

2)Not sure if it was the TQ, but the respective batch of casings were a bit fragile.

In both above, it gave a somewhat "hammy" taste. Great in pork pies, creating characteristic darker flecks of meat, but not too desireable in fresh sausage recipes except where specified (bbq, linguica,longaniza etc).

I didnt find any negative impact from the LP though at the quantity used