Master from another mother:hail: the cures you talk of (they seem to be in almost every post you have when search was used:lol:)
So,:eek: which do you prefer? or what would be better for a newbee? mortons tender quick or prague (spellin) or is there also others?

and when using these cures. can you add other goodies to it to help infuse a flavor or flavors to the meats while bathing in the cures?

I can not find any of these Items in this town. even on line from mortons store locator has no store here buying that product, so, it will have to be an on line order.

:thumb: and thanks in advance..

In all honesty- the easiest for a newbie is the Morton's TQ product. No minute quantities to measure, has a mix of the 2 cure types ensuring a safe product whether short term curing or somewhat longer- bacons/hams. It does tend to be salt heavy- and sometimes this must be addressed at the end of the cure by a soak time. Minor stuff.

As you progress in experience, you may want to look at Prague #'s 1 & 2, depending on what you are doing. 1 is the short term cure stuff, 2 is more like for long aged salamis, hams, procuittos, etc. When using these, you have total control of salt levels... and with experience, this is a better thing .

And yes, of course you can add spices/flavorings during cure. Many recipes call for it. Sometimes in the longer cured to custom cured stuff... especially using TQ- it may be advantageous to add spice/flavors after and wait another length of time for the flavors to meld- because you MAY have a soak period to do, and that will reduce any flavoring you had applied during the cure.

I'm sure others have input on this too- how do you newer folks to curing feel?

First Purchase this book:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/71200greatsausagerecipesandmeatcuringbyrytekkutas. aspx

While you are purchasing that book also put this on your order:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/11000instacureand153no11lb.aspx (Cure number one)

Tenderquick is not enough science in my opinion. While it will cure, people who use it do not generally end up understanding what is going on. Therefore they end up stuck asking how much tenderquick to use for this or that type of product? Skip that part and learn it from the get go.

Learn it from the start and you will be able to create and cure almost anything you want to try.

I like cure #1 er it's friends cause ya don't have ta worry bout the salt. TQ I've used but had ta rework things ta get away from the salt.

Just be carefull how ya measure.

I could not find any other cure than TQ...
I ordered it in line and I find that its easy to use... tho it can be salty like Sir Rich says.. but then if ya soak it you can fix that also removing any salt from your recipe helps with the saltyness... Sir Rich turned me onto "hammies" they are the bomb!!! takes really no time .... you can do alot with the TQ, I am sure with the prague and other cures you could as well... I just have not tried them...

First Purchase this book:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/71200greatsausagerecipesandmeatcuringbyrytekkutas. aspx

While you are purchasing that book also put this on your order:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/11000instacureand153no11lb.aspx (Cure number one)

Tenderquick is not enough science in my opinion. While it will cure, people who use it do not generally end up understanding what is going on. Therefore they end up stuck asking how much tenderquick to use for this or that type of product? Skip that part and learn it from the get go.

Learn it from the start and you will be able to create and cure almost anything you want to try.
I will agree to everything here, Bob and thanks for the input. But yer gonna have someone who wants to jump in feet first- And TQ was made for them. But if they hang here, it won't kill them and they will learn.

BTW I have just got a pound of #1 from Butcher-Packer :{)

thanks all and Richtee points for jumpin right in. good info from good folks. :thumb:

I could not find any other cure than TQ...
I ordered it in line and I find that its easy to use... tho it can be salty like Sir Rich says.. but then if ya soak it you can fix that also removing any salt from your recipe helps with the saltyness... Sir Rich turned me onto "hammies" they are the bomb!!! takes really no time .... you can do alot with the TQ, I am sure with the prague and other cures you could as well... I just have not tried them...

Kelly, your BPS should have 4 oz packs of pink cure packaged by L.E.M. It should be where they keep the seasoning kits and whatnot.

If Tip would get that sausage supply business off the ground, we'd all know where to get it.

I'm workin on it! Got some samples should be here tammarraw. Havin one sam hill of a time findin decent casins though. Man customer service has gone ta the dogs!

I'm workin on it! Got some samples should be here tammarraw. Havin one sam hill of a time findin decent casins though. Man customer service has gone ta the dogs!

Tip, I've stuffed thousands upon thousands of sausages over the years and as far as good casings go, there are only two companies that I have found that sell a quality product. I've bought from most all of them too. It's all about quality control. So good luck with that.

Very good post and awsome answers thanks everyone. :cool:

Rich, have you tried any of that 1/4 pound of pink ( 3 oz. to 100 #) I gave you in flushing yet?.
I still have the other 3/4 pound left, I think I will try it on some sausage here in another week or so. It will be different as I have always had great results with the TQ. The only issue I would have would be adding sodium. I guess I would start with 1 tsp. per pound of salt along with the cure and other seasonings and see how that goes, I can always sprinkle some salt on at the table if it isn't enough.





I will agree to everything here, Bob and thanks for the input. But yer gonna have someone who wants to jump in feet first- And TQ was made for them. But if they hang here, it won't kill them and they will learn.

BTW I have just got a pound of #1 from Butcher-Packer :{)

Rich, have you tried any of that 1/4 pound of pink ( 3 oz. to 100 #) I gave you in flushing yet?.
I still have the other 3/4 pound left, I think I will try it on some sausage here in another week or so. It will be different as I have always had great results with the TQ, and the only issue I would have would be adding sodium. I guess I would start with a tsp. per pound and see how that goes, I can always sprinkle some on at the table if it isn't enough.

I still have about 3 Tbsp left Lee... Guess I used about half, as I did not weigh it... but I'm liking the flexibility of the stuff.

I STILL recommend the TQ for the beginner- but it is less than ideal in some situations for sure. But the 1.5 teaspoons for sausage/jerky and 1 Tablespoon/Lb solid meat will not fail, and will be within nitrate recommendations. Just watch the sodium and a soak if needed. Never had trouble with ground/jerky tho.

OK I had to change my post on edit it did sound as if I were discussing the cure proportions, when in fact I was talking about the added salt, along with the pink stuff.

Having just tried my first cure with #1, I would agree with Rich. Insta cure comes with terrible instructions. That's what brought me to this site. I bought it along with a prepackaged, pickle mix and had to google to figure out how to use it. Thanks to all of you for answering all my questions. Without that help I would have surely failed. There really is lack of info on the subject. Now that I know I'll probably stick with #1 but plan on trying TQ in the future. But as a beginner #1 is intimidating.

JT

I'm with bob on this.
Ryteks book is extremely useful.

I've only ever used an instacure #2 equivalent (made on the isle of man).
It's incredibly simple to use, there are plenty recipes on this site, for both tq and instacure.

I just don't see the point of tenderquick - it just starts you out on the curing road with bad habits (hang on rich, don't get worked up just yet lol).
Instead of always weighing your cure salt (which rytek recommends) you get into the belief that you just use tablespoons for measuring cure.
Plus you are led to believe that all cured goods have to be really salty.

Use a cure 1or 2 or instacure equivalent and you have total control over saltiness. I don't need to soak any of my ham or bacon, I already know they've got the salt level I want.
I have one cure salt that I can use for everything from quck cures for pork chops all the way up to the long uncooked salamis or dried hams. It doesn't get much easier.

I think rather than being complicated - the weighing small amounts of cure route is much simpler as it's one system suitable for EVERYTHING.
And let's face it if you can monitor a piece of pork shoulder for 12 hours, fiddling with temps, charcoal etc - you sure as hell are more than capable of weighing out salt :-)

and when using these cures. can you add other goodies to it to help infuse a flavor or flavors to the meats while bathing in the cures?

Yep. pretty much anything you like. Most everyone who's tasted my ham - prefers a sweet cure to the more traditional salty cure mixes (another argument for weighing your own).
This years christmas ham/gammon is going to be a sweetcured butt :-)

Plus adding your own seasonings to a cure really sets your stuff apart from the bog standard crap in the shops :-)