Nitrite plus salt in sausage.

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kielbasa kid

Smoke Blower
Original poster
May 15, 2011
119
10
Enlighten me please. I have never used nitrites and nitrates in my sausage.

Nitrate colours the sausage red????  Right???

Nitrite is colourless???  Right???

I do not want "red" fresh kielbasa.

Cure #1 is nitrite???  Right???

Use 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of meat???  Right???

How much salt will this replace in a recipe???

Will over-salting be an issue???

Should I juss fuhgeduhboudit??? 

I tawwt I'd ax yizz.
help.gif


Rytek Kutas doesn't include nitrites in his fresh kielbasa recipe. I looked. I thought he might provide a bench mark. My book is from 1976. 

My family has made the same nitrite & nitrate free kielbasa recipe for hundreds of years and brought it over with them, over a hundred years ago. I published it here, a while back.  I myself, first put my hand in it over 70 years ago but all this back & forth about safety, has me rethinking.

Better late than never.

Rich
 
Enlighten me please. I have never used nitrites and nitrates in my sausage.

Nitrate colours the sausage red????  Right???

Kinda. Nitrate breaks down to nitrite which breaks down nitric oxide. That is what interacts with the myoglobin.

Nitrite is colourless???  Right???

Kinda. To make sure it isn't mistaken as salt a dye is added.

I do not want "red" fresh kielbasa.

Cure #1 is nitrite???  Right???

Correct, sodium nitrite.

Use 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of meat???  Right???

Wrong. 1 level tsp for 5lbs of meat.

How much salt will this replace in a recipe???

Very little to none since the quantity used is fairly insignificant.

Will over-salting be an issue???

Not from using cure #1. If you use Tender Quick you will have to adjust the salt in your recipe.

Should I juss fuhgeduhboudit??? 

I tawwt I'd ax yizz.
help.gif


Rytek Kutas doesn't include nitrites in his fresh kielbasa recipe. I looked. I thought he might provide a bench mark. My book is from 1976. 

My family has made the same nitrite & nitrate free kielbasa recipe for hundreds of years and brought it over with them, over a hundred years ago. I published it here, a while back.  I myself, first put my hand in it over 70 years ago but all this back & forth about safety, has me rethinking.

Better late than never.

Rich


My answers are in bold above Rich. Good luck!
 
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Enlighten me please. I have never used nitrites and nitrates in my sausage.  We'll do our best

Nitrate colours the sausage red????  Right???  Kind of sorta but not like you may think, it ozidizes the hemoglobin in the meat I believe and that causes an enriching of the current color.

Nitrite is colourless???  Right???  I believe the chemical is coloroless.  Cure 1 is dyed pink to indicate it is a nitrite/salt cure mix

I do not want "red" fresh kielbasa.  Never heard or seen anyone complain about the color change, it is not that pronounced

Cure #1 is nitrite???  Right???  Cure 1 is 1 oz of sodium nitrite and 15 oz of salt,   1 part in 16

Use 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of meat???  Right???   That depends on the final concentration of Nitrite required.  Sausage has a different requirement then dry cured or brined bacon

How much salt will this replace in a recipe???   See earlier  statement   15 part of 16 of the cure mix you use is salt but please do not substitute Cure 1 for Salt.  It isn't a bad idea to adjust the amount of salt you would normally use by the amount of salt provided by the cure mix.

Will over-salting be an issue???   The amounts of cure 1 required to cure sausage is small compare to the amount of salt you would normally use.  Some cure mixes have a higher amount of salt compared to nitrite.  If you look at your 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of meat statement you would only be adding 15/16 of 1/2 tsp of salt per ten lbs of meat

Should I juss fuhgeduhboudit???   There is nothing wrong with fresh sausage as long as you handle it properly.  Don't cold smoke it, bring to safe temps in correct amount of time

I tawwt I'd ax yizz.
help.gif


Rytek Kutas doesn't include nitrites in his fresh kielbasa recipe. I looked. I thought he might provide a bench mark. My book is from 1976. 

My family has made the same nitrite & nitrate free kielbasa recipe for hundreds of years and brought it over with them, over a hundred years ago. I published it here, a while back.  I myself, first put my hand in it over 70 years ago but all this back & forth about safety, has me rethinking.

Better late than never.

  If it aint broke, don't fix it!   If you want to cold smoke or get the flavor/color change provided by the cure then we can find a recipe for you that uses Cure1 

Rich
  Hope this helps
 

Looks like Joel can give you the proper amount of Cure 1 to use for sausage!
 
Last edited:
Rytek Kutas doesn't include nitrites in his fresh kielbasa recipe. I looked. I thought he might provide a bench mark. My book is from 1976. 

My family has made the same nitrite & nitrate free kielbasa recipe for hundreds of years and brought it over with them, over a hundred years ago. I published it here, a while back.  I myself, first put my hand in it over 70 years ago but all this back & forth about safety, has me rethinking.

Fresh sausage does not need cure, but it has to go through the danger zone in 4 hours, and has to be cooked to 160 degrees. As long as you do this you are perfectly safe.
 
When you put nitrites or nitrates in sausage it is not fresh sausage anymore. Thats why it not in the book. Nitrites and nitrates are added to allow longer cooking times durring the smoking process. I am not an expert on cures but i know TQ has nitrite and nitrate in which you need to cut back on the salt content. as with cure # 1 you can control the salt ammount by adding what you need. It doesnt add salt flavor when added..... Hopefully someone will chime in and better explain it and hopefully I will learn something too

edit.... wow 4 replies before i hit submit..... talk about on the ball......

Good questions

Joe
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the input.  Here's one of my concerns: I poach my sausage. I do not boil it. I do not bake it. I hardly fry it.

I always put the kielbasa in a skillet and add water half way up the side of the sausage.

It is simmered....not boiled.....for a scant 8 minutes.

Then it is turned to the other side and repeated.

I might quickly brown it in the skillet, using grease.

I haven't a clue as to the possibility of 140/4 and have never probed for 160.

I use wine, cheese and a myriad of spices. I have a delicate approach to preparation so that the balance is as intact as possible. I do not want ingredients leeching out or baked to a crisp. It only just occurred to me, that I might be flirting with a potential disaster.  I thought that nitrite would afford a modicum of stability and safety.

I just caught myself in a reread. I say "kielbasa" for all sausage. It's the Polish in me. It confuse some people. 

Rich
 
Rich, The way you are cooking your Families Kielbasa, 8 minutes per side with water, will get the Kielbasa cooked just Great, no cure needed...Dad used the same technique for Fresh Kielbasa...Yum!   Happy Thankgiving...JJ
 
Jimmy,

How does this sound to you: Place a ring of my family kielbasa in the turkey's cavity and smoke it with the bird?  I normally put a quartered onion, a quartered apple and a sliced lemon in there.
 
Enlighten me please. I have never used nitrites and nitrates in my sausage.

Nitrate colours the sausage red????  Right???

Nitrite is colourless???  Right???

I do not want "red" fresh kielbasa.

Cure #1 is nitrite???  Right???

Use 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of meat???  Right???

How much salt will this replace in a recipe???

Will over-salting be an issue???

Should I juss fuhgeduhboudit??? 

I tawwt I'd ax yizz.
help.gif


Rytek Kutas doesn't include nitrites in his fresh kielbasa recipe. I looked. I thought he might provide a bench mark. My book is from 1976. 

My family has made the same nitrite & nitrate free kielbasa recipe for hundreds of years and brought it over with them, over a hundred years ago. I published it here, a while back.  I myself, first put my hand in it over 70 years ago but all this back & forth about safety, has me rethinking.

Better late than never.

Rich
priceless......richtee needs to chime in here....
 
Rich, The way you are cooking your Families Kielbasa, 8 minutes per side with water, will get the Kielbasa cooked just Great, no cure needed...Dad used the same technique for Fresh Kielbasa...Yum!   Happy Thankgiving...JJ


Ditto. Unless you are smoking it there is no need for you to use any cure Rich.
 
A "thermometer" defeats the purpose of poaching. All the goodness bleeds out. Try it with a banger and it's shower time.
jaw-dropping.gif
 
Naw!

I use a remote thermometer in the end of one of the sausages.

That sausage is just as juicy as all the rest.

Never over-cooked, never under-cooked, always perfect.
 
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