Cured sausage cure weight? (is it the same as EQ bacon)

[frayedend]

It's been a while since I made cured sausage. I'm planning on making a bunch this weekend. Probably in the style of Andouille with my own seasoning twists.

Anyhow I want this to be cured and I was looking at cured sausage recipes. It appears to me that I can use the Diggin Dog EQ cure bacon calculator based on my weight of meat and come out exactly as I see in most sausage recipes (though the recipes I see are in teaspoons).

Does that sound right? Seems to me EQ calculator is pretty much the same for bacon or any other kind of meat as far as Cure #1 goes. Just want to check for experience here.

 

[Fatback Joe]

.25% weight of the meat is what you will want to use for the cure.

 

[IamMadMan]

Fatback Joe is correct; in a proper recipe all meat, salt, spices, and cure should WEIGHED not measured by volume.

There is just no substitution for accuracy when it come to health and safety of your family when curing meats.

As many of us have always said, when curing meat; the cure ingredients should always be weighed, never measured, for safety, accuracy, and consistency.

Finding a reliable recipe on the Internet becomes increasingly harder every day because there is a big difference between writing about curing and actually testing the recipe and doing it the proper way. There are many questionable recipes on the internet, just because they are out there, doesn't imply accuracy or safety of the resulting product(s). From many of these "bad" recipes we can clearly see that the author/poster has never properly calculated the ingredients let alone test the final product.

Having a collection of recipes on a website does not make a person proficient in a new skill. You have to know the How and Why of curing; you have to know the rules that govern the process. The curing agent is simply just a tool, albeit a very important one. Once you understand why and how to properly calculate the ingredients, the rest will fall into place.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.


Resources for tested recipes, some might need updating:

Wendliny Domowe - Meats and Sausage (Based on some of Marianski teachings/recipes):
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes

Len Paoli's Recipe site
http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm

The Spicy Sausage
http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm

Sausage Mania
http://www.sausagemania.com/tutorial.html

Lets Make Sausage
http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/Sausage-making-equipment.html

Sausage Making Org
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

Northwest Smoking
http://web.archive.org/web/20010214020112/http:/home.att.net/~g.m.fowler/frame/Sausage1.htm


Sausage Recipes from Stuffer's Supply Company in British Columbia, Canada
https://kickam2.com/sausage/sausrecp.pdf

Sausages West
http://sausageswest.com/7-recipe-index/
http://sausageswest.com/sausage-mak...sts/not-sausage-making-home-page-close/index/

https://www.meatprocessingproducts.com/sausage-recipes.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20010214020112/http:/home.att.net/~g.m.fowler/frame/Sausage1.htm

and so many more....

.

 

[thirdeye]

The old rule of thumb is 1 level teaspoon of Cure #1 per 5 pounds of meat, but volumetric measuring spoons can be inaccurate. If you are not comfortable in calculating percentages for the Cure #1, you can add 1.13 grams of Cure #1 for each pound of ground meat.

I prefer to mix the cure into icy water and dissolve. This will give you a better delivery option. Sprinkle the ground meat, and mix in well. The cure will not give instant protection to the meat. So you can rest it in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, then stuff (you may need a little more icy water). Or if you stuff, just rest the links for the same time before smoking it. If you measure your cure correctly, the safe internal temp will be 155°, not the standard 160°.

 

[frayedend]

I know how to cure bacon and I do it all by weight and EQ. I was just asking if the percentages are the same for sausage. It seems they are the same. Thanks.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

It's the same percentage .25% of cure #1. That's what I've always used for sausage and bacon. You can go higher for other dry cured products.

 

[jzadski]

Totally ignorant to sausage making and curing. Is pink salt considered a cure for sausage?

 

[thirdeye]

Totally ignorant to sausage making and curing. Is pink salt considered a cure for sausage?

Yes, pink salt (aka Cure #1, Instacure #1, Prague #1) is on the list of curing salts for sausage that will be cooked.

Morton Tender Quick can also be used, in a different amount.