[Sca-cooks] pickled brisket
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius1 at verizon.net
Wed Feb 25 08:37:23 PST 2009
On Feb 25, 2009, at 11:23 AM, Amy Cooper wrote:
> Actually, sodium nitrite is readily available from many sausage-making
> places. It's apparently often called Prague Powder #1,
a.k.a. Insta-Cure #1.
> and does have some
> red dye added to it (I'm guessing to help keep it distinguishable in
> the
> cupboard from other ingredients).
Yes. It's .06% sodium nitrite, the rest mostly salt, and it's colored
pink to make sure it's not mistaken for salt or sugar. I just used a
whopping 5 teaspoons of it for 25 pounds of sausage last weekend.
> I totally understand leaving it out of
> stuff, as my hands don't like it. My father and I used to make
> sausage every
> New Years' Eve Day, and the last time we made it, the prague powder
> tried to
> cure my hands as well as the sausage. I prefer my fingers to look like
> fingers, as opposed to hot dogs, thank you very much ;-)
It serves less purpose when corning unground meats in brine; it's
largely to prevent botulism in sausages. It serves as an anti-oxidant
in meats that are going to be cooked, and does provide a lovely pink
color, but it's not the only way to achieve that color, nor is it,
strictly speaking, necessary.
> Now to see if I can talk my lord husband into letting me make my own
> corned
> beef. It does seem FAR less messy than Master B's home-made
> prosciutto,
> which he has refused to let me make. I wonder why he doesn't like
> the idea
> of a crate of salt sitting in the basement for a while?? LOL
Vacuum sealers are your friend ;-).
Adamantius
"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's
bellies."
-- Rabbi Israel Salanter
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