# With or without nitrite salt - (Croatia vs recepies online/books)



## slanina (Nov 9, 2012)

Hello,

I am posting this in the general discussion forum since it is related to a variety of meats.

I come from Croatia and here traditionally we usually make our own sausages, hams, bacon (like German speck or Italian pancetta). Products usually made at home are dried to a point where you do not need to cook them neither while making them nor later before eating. Of course if you make hot-dogs and sausages like that you need to thermically process them - but those style sausages are industry made and nobody is making them at home. Home made sausages, lard, cracklings, ham and other are usually made in late November which is usually a reson for family get-together since everyone joins in and helps; including neighbours. That is for people having someone back in villages usually their parents or for younger their grandparents; in cities - you just go to supermarket and buy industrial made food. Also when people slaghter the pig, veterenary comes or you bring to him some pieces to check for Trichinosis.

Now my question is as follows:

In usual recepies only salt is being used. Keeping the meat in salt is usually longer than in recepies available here, popular books on the topic (Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polycyn, Home Sausage Making) and recepies on the internet like for example in this forum and so on. As a matter of fact, most of those are for thermically processed sausages even bacon recepie. Also for curing everywhere it is mentioned to use pink salt or basically adding nitrite.

I will give 2 "standard" recepies for spicy sausage from Slavonia region and dried bacon (spek/pancetta). Obviously each family has their own variation.

Sausages:

20kg pork meat - usually from front shoulder blade.
5kg pork back bacon fat (white; one you would use to render lard/cracklings).
1% hot paprika (freshst as possible!!)
1% sweet paprika (freshst as possible!!)
1% garlic (optional)
2% salt.

Grind meat & fat; not to coarse but also not too fine; mix in the spices. Some people crush the garlic put it in the water than use that water to add to the mix and not the garlic itself. Some people do not use garlic. Some people add garlic as it is. Put it in pork casing caliber 32/34.
Hang them. Let them dry. Cold smoke them 4-5 times every second day for a few hours. Each time would be around 6-7 hours. Put the sausages in a cold, place with enough air circulation but not a lot so they dry. 32/34 caliber would need few weeks. Cut them & eat :)

Speck/Pancetta:

Take pork belly. Liberately put salt all over the meat pieces. Put them one over the other in some plastic bucket. Between each layer add extra salt. Some people also add garlic in between. You don't need to put salt where the skin is. You put layer 2 on top of layer 1 with skin down. Let it sit like this for 3 to up to 4 weeks. After, wash it, dry it. Smoke it 3-4 times every second day. Some people smoke less. When it gets nice brown "copper" color you can stop smoking. Let it hang for few weeks so it becomes dry. Cut it up & eat :)

Some nice pictures (not mine):
http://narodni.net/dimljenje-susenje-mesa/

The whole point why people like homemade except better taste, real meat, no soy, no binders, no fillers and so on is that it also has no nitrites.

So...I would like to try many of the recepies here but it is even hard to find nitrite salt unless you are a commercial food processor.
And I never heard anyone got sick from salt only sausages.

What is your opinion?

Thanks.

P.S Slanina nickname is bacon/speck/pancetta in my language :)


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## daveomak (Nov 10, 2012)

Slanina, morning and welcome to the forum.....   Very good tutorial on "old world" salt curing methods and safety concerns....  I like that the meat is inspected for trichinosis...   

*Also when people slaughter the pig, veterinary comes or you bring to him some pieces to check for Trichinosis.*

*    *

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The multiple smokes, over many days, is a practice that has lost it's place in this country..... There are a few that try to follow those techniques on occasion, as it is very time consuming especially when you consider the amounts of meat we smoke at one time.... It is a very good method for dehydrating the meat so bacteria cannot grow... The smoke adds some additional bacteria killing advantages along with the salt....[/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Modern chemistry and regulators has determined, nitrite will make food safe to consume without adverse affects to the consumer.....   [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I think the modern slaughter house meat needs nitrite for my, and my families safety.....[/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I have used some of the methods you describe when salting and smoking salmon and even pickling salmon.....   Salt for 6 months, freshen and pickle.....  very good fish...  [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]When it comes to pork, beef etc, I would use nitrite....  It is just not worth the consequences, what illnesses can be contracted....  [/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]If I was raising my own meat, and butchering it with family that had done so for years, I would still use nitrite.....  The consequences are too extreme to gamble on the alternative.....[/font]

[font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Dave[/font]


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## diggingdogfarm (Nov 10, 2012)

slanina,

You're taking a big risk if you don't use cure (nitrate/nitrite) when cold smoking.

I know that there are many folks around the world who ignore the cardinal rule of meat curing and smoking at low temperatures, that being …..”If it can’t be cured (with nitrate/nitrite), don’t smoke it.”

When smoking at less than 160-180 degrees F (some say more), cure should always be used!

Please be aware of the risks.

Clostridium botulinum bacteria need moisture, warm temperatures and the absence of oxygen to thrive. Those conditions are prevalent in a smoker when cold or warm smoking, where incoming air is kept at a minimum in order for the wood to smolder.

Botulism is a rare, but serious, *often deadly*, illness caused by Clostridium botulinum bacteria.

*Nitrate and nitrite, are the ONLY reliable botulism preventatives!*

Clostridium botulinum bacterium is present nearly everywhere that isn’t sterile or well sanitized, and while there may be more danger in smoking something like sausages without proper care and cure, the danger is still present with whole muscle meats.
People smoke in numerous ways in numerous containers at numerous smoke and oxygen levels, it’s impossible to accurately know if there’s enough oxygen to stay safe.

While the risk of deadly botulism may be small, the danger is great.

It’s akin to driving without a seat belt, you may get away with it for 30 years or tomorrow you may meet tragedy.

It’s not worth the gamble considering the small cost of a tiny bit of nitrite/nitrate.

I strongly recommend that you use cure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


~Martin


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## roller (Nov 11, 2012)

Man that meat looks GREAT !


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## big casino (Nov 11, 2012)

Slanina, is there no way to order cure#1 online for you?


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