Not only do you have KNOWLEDGE we can use, you PRESENTED yourself in an excellent way. No annoying "uhms," no going on long tangents about off topic subjects, just unpacking info in a way that is easily digested by those who wish to learn. EXCELLENT video!
The "cliff notes" version of curing charcuterie meats. You've given an overview of less than one inch. Anyone who wants more information has what they need to dig deeper. Thanks for producing this video. It is much appreciated.
Great simplified explanation. As someone that has been in the food business for years, you could talk for hours on food safety. IMO you've made a very simple yet effect discussion for the average home sausage maker to understand.
Thank you Eric. You are still THE consummate professional I listen to when it comes to charcuterie...You are an inspiration for knowledge and quality of technique and equipment..I super thank you for being so generous with your knowledge. Best channel in RUclips.
Simply a fantastic, straightforward explanation using a logical approach. I just learned more in 21:42 minutes of video than I did in 20 years in the culinary profession on meat and sausage curing. This was my First video from your series but it won't be my last. Thank you very much.
Knowing and recognising your limitations is the best way to learn and be better than we currently are... learning is the mark of a true artisan in any gene
This video just popped up on my suggestion list. Since I was a boy, black Friday was hog processing day. My grandfather, the neighbor and his two sons and I would process a half dozen hogs. Since becoming an adult, I have wanted to get back to that. I am in the process of building wood fired cobb oven and a smoker, I have a couple of store bought smokers. But the meat recipes have been lost to time. The other gentleman was an award winning Country Ham maker. Lofty goals. I have subbed, belled and hit the like button. Looking forward to learning. God Bless and stay safe.
Eric- an amazing job explaining this. You are a wealth of information. Thanks for continuing to make great content. I look forward to each of your videos. Well done!
Excellent information and well explained Eric! I have never considered that once ground meat is stuffed into a casing that it is now in a no or low oxygen environment but after hearing it, it only makes complete sense. Thanks so much for doing this video. I have people ask me all the time why the use of curing salts is needed, so going forward, I'm going to steer them to this video.
@@2guysandacooler Do you have a video where you talk about the safety aspects of cold smoking sausage for flavor (eg keeping the chamber temp below some value like say 90*) and if using cure #1 would enable that and for how long is reasonable?
Thank you for clarifying so many things. As a professional cook, I can say, this was an all too brief chapter in my curriculum as a student. It is very fascinating and I am learning all the time.
Exactly what I needed to know about venison preparation, thank you! Every carcass meets the temperature condition for creating toxins. Much is ground, either into sausage casings or in a large lump in seasoning for a couple days at those same temperatures, meeting the second criteria. I now know I should and why to use cure and don't think about it any longer!
Thanks Eric!! Great presentation of the material, which we have all come to appreciate! You Sir are a really good teacher and did a wonderful job of explaining both the when and the why. As always, this was a great video.
Holy cow I'm so glad I found you man I know this is 2 years later but the wealth of knowledge that you have to share is amazing and ive learned so much
I am glad this wasn't another anti curing salts video. I have been using them for years and and its scary seeing what some people do. Its amazing to me how little information people will operate on.
Yes! Your explanations on whole muscle charcuterie, v.s. curing salts just dropped my saltiness in my dry cure pork loins. I am using lawry's chili garlic and Morton's tenderquick to make them and now can remove the Morton's. I've been using waxed deli paper to slow the drying and case hardening..gonna try the plant based sheets when they ship..thanx again Eric for teaching us
@@2guysandacooler waxed paper when wrapped moist clings pretty good, then i slip it in an old clean sock and twist it to get it firm, and hang it till 30%wt loss. About a 1/4-3/8" of case hardening when done..i trim it off and use as jerky
I was worried that 20 minutes of a guy talking about curing salts would be boring. I was so wrong. This video was absolutely fascinating. You are a natural born presenter. Thanks for the great video.
I use a method used by my great grandfather and passed down. No curing unless Temps are below freezing. Process meat outside only. That was the rule. I cure meat today the same way. My grandfather had no idea about the chemistry involved with curing meats. I educated myself as I wanted to be safe as possible and to refine my art. The agriculture department at University of North Carolina has a great site for curing, smoking and meat preservation. suggest you educate yourself also, its most rewarding.
I am making smoked saussages outside in a shed they are a little bit thicker than normal saussage its called (sugjuk) with smoke inside the shed for 5 days very slow burning wood under the saussages not sure should i use cure salt . Outside temperature at the moment in Australia is 14 c
You continue to bring truth and enlightenment to those who want to create wholesome products. Eric, you are a great teacher of the craft and break down and simplify many questions that come to mind when producing a cured/uncured product. A better spokesman for charcuterie could not be found. Thank you
I was taught as a kid that there are no dangerous substances only dangerous concentrations. Its just that somethings dont take much concentration to kill you. Got my head thinking more critically as a youngster about what I touched or tasted. Thanks for valuable information as always.
"dosis sola facit venenum " only the dose makes the poison - Paracelsus Predominantly stated to mean even safe stuff can be dangerous when taken in large amounts... but something that is poisonous period, even in extremely small amounts, is poisonous all the time. How much Sodium Nitrate is in your foods? So you consume in one day: a little of this, a little of that, a little of the other thing... and you have exceeded the "safe recommended amount", and you start causing damage to your health... but a little bit of poison is ok.... sheesh
I have just discovered your channel and I think it's excellent! I love the clarity you give to all of your explanations! This video was also very good and should steer all to avoiding the dangers. Erring on the safe side is often the best way. I do appreciate the need to simplify the subject. however, besides oxygen presence and temperature, another factor to weigh into the matter is acidity. If salami, for example, is carefully made with the right amount of salt, (that magic 2%, no less), with a little acidity regulation (e.g. bit of red wine) and hung in controlled conditions (temp 12-18°c & humidity 70% approx) with a bit of air flow also, it's completely safe. pH tests should be below 4.5 but a good indicator of this is the classic white mould that will appear. This is a very traditional and authentic method which I have been using for many years and is widely used throughout Europe. It leads to beautiful salami with no artificial additives. Thank you again though for this and all of your videos! - Subscribed!
Hi Lee. Thank You. If you don't mind me asking, let's say your starting pH is 5.7, how much wine are you adding to drop the ph to below 4.6 and how long does it take. I personally like a tangy sausage but I know for most Italian salami their Ph hovers around the 5.0 mark. Interested in hearing back😀 Out of curiosity are you a fan of river cottage?
@@2guysandacooler Hello! Nice to hear from you. 😃 If I'm making up 4kg of total weight of pork and fat, I'll add about 300ml of red wine and, to be honest, if that beautiful white bloom develops, I don't bother reading the pH level at all... It always does! Yeah, I like what they do at River Cottage.! It's hard not to... I only live 70 miles away from them. 😁 They didn't introduce me to curing though, not even nitrate-free curing. I've been into making my own charcuterie for more than 15 years. Really glad to have found your channel. I'm interested in doing some new stuff in new ways.
@@Lee-ot2uk very interesting! how do you measure pH in the meat? do you take a slice after it is done and put a pH stick on it or put it in a liquid form first? or maybe you measure it beforehand?
Great explanation. A much simpler way of deciding which needs a curing salt or not; how to apply that between working with grind meats (especially for salami) and working with whole muscles. Thanks for this video.
thanks for that Eric. I'm constantly arguing with people who are die hard 'nitrates/nitrites are bad'. The health benefits of salami with the fermented meats creating good bacteria are something I focus on telling people. kinda like yakult lol. and that's not possible without said ingredients
One of the best and most important videos on sausage ever. My family made sausage and a lot of it. We always made only in the winter. Thus we never used curing salts.
@@BenjaminGoose, it may be well know to you and me, but I know a huge part of the population does not know that and would be shocked at the idea that a gunpowder ingredient would be used in food preservation.
@@UtahSustainGardening I watched the 1776 musical. That's where I learned about saltpetre I'm gunpowder. They actually called it potassium nitrate, so...i guess I'm in the cool club. 😂
Very good and helpful information. Thank you! The bottom line for me is that I will be using curing salts for whole-muscle products because of the flavor and color. By the way, an interesting video might be a side-by-side comparison of a whole-muscle piece with and without curing salt.
I found your channel today and I have literally spent the whole day watching your content. I LOVE charcuterie and am really planning on making it a hobby I practice often. Thank you so much for your content. Big fan from Cape Town, South Africa!
This is great information! My "project" is to recreate the linguica (Portuguese sausage) that we used to have as a kid. With the demise of several ethnic sausage makers and none that exist where I live now, I really want to attempt to make this, but I have no experience with charcuterie and was terrified I would get it wrong. The topic of "curing salts" was one I could never get a clear answer to and now I know why. Some linguica are fresh (refrigerated) sausage and some are cold smoked. Your video made it clear to me that fresh doesn't need curing salts and cold smoked or "cellar aged" does. Please tell me if I got this wrong 😉.
That is correct. All you do is apply both conditions to your sausage and if they are both met, you would want to use curing salt. If only one is met then it would be ok to use salt only.
A great help in the basics! MIght you also consider a video in the future on the effects of marinades (acid) wrto food safety and how that relates to the two basic rules.. I guess that might also include how smoking helps (or doesnt).
Arriving at this video was the culmination of a multi-day process of searching through YTb videos to find the answer to my question: regarding bacon, or any other charcuterie, when/are curing salts necessary? Are these nitrites just something added for mass-production? If so, why so many small producers also recommend using Prague powders? Your video answered all of my questions in one hit. Keep up the great work! From: a guy in Japan with little access to affordable, quality meat
When used in sausage/salamis you're supposed to dilute it in water and add to the mixture. When doing whole muscles (capicollo/lomo etc) you mix it with the rest of the dry spices and it will dilute in the meat juices during the seasoning period while vacuum packed.
LOL. It was on my short list but just missed the cut. I will certainly have it on next years show or I may make a special episode and do it sometime between now and then. Not sure.
Great tutorial! I've been making jerky since I was in my early twenties. I worked on a goat cheese farm for the better part of my teenage years and feel now I would like to try my hand at sharcutary. As an avid hunter and commercial fisherman I think it would be an amazing step towards my goals. I have a frigerator that I am going to use to make a curing chamber from based on instructions I saw in your curing chamber tutorial. Thanks for all the great content I look forward to the next.
Excellent and informative video. Thank you for all the hard work and research you clearly put in. With that said I’m a little confused, surely pretty much any fridge is going to be in the temperature range of concern, so I don’t understand how a fresh sausage doesn’t meet that conditional.
Much appreciated! You answered questions I have had on my mind for quite a while! Simplified process of identifying the need to use curing salts. Very committed of you, thank you once again
I think the major problem with Nitrates and Nitrites comes from overconsumption of them. It's a knee-jerk reaction to people having poor eating habits. You really can't legislate or control peoples diets without seriously violating their rights so people try to control Nitrates and Nitrites by villifying them. That really is a poor and uneducated way to do things. So thank you for educating us about Charcuterie and the proper use of Curing Salts.
Eric!! These are amazing videos. I started making sausages about 12 years ago when I moved to a part of the world where there are no good Italian sausages available anywhere. I love how complete and well explained your videos are. I have a question, for which I was hoping to find an answer in this video but the topic did not come up. My wife is Italian. Her parents used to make sausage a couple times a year with without curing salts (I'm using their recipe, with only salt, and spices) and would freeze some while fresh but would hang the rest to dry in their cold room (~50-60°F). Your video confirms -what I suspected- that these dried sausages were a high risk sausage. Did I get this right? Do you have a theory on how they never got sick in 50 plus years of drying home made sausages? Just pure luck??
My understanding is the salt used in Italy has naturally occurring nitrates in it. Curing salts were created to standardize the amounts of nitrates, and nitrites, to be added to the regular salt for food safety reasons.
Happened upon one of your videos and immediately recognized that South Louisiana accent. I'm from Abbeville and live in Lafayette. Love your channel and am now a subscriber!
Great work Eric. After my own 10 years of charcuterie making hobby, this is the best explanation I have seen to counter the mythology around nitrates/nitrites I have experienced over the years. A further question for you regarding whole muscle products though. Do you think that wrapping the whole muscle in a casing, whether a collagen sheet or natural casing like a bladder etc. moves it into the anaerobic condition or would you regard that as not requiring curing salts as it remains aerobic?
@@2guysandacooler Hi, so wrapping in a natural casing (like the one used for sausages) is breathable, and thus aerobic? I understood differently from the video, when you talked about fresh sausages. Can you please clarify?
Hi Eric, excellent video. I was hoping for more on the reasons why cure#1 is used vs cure#2 or vise versa. Could you explain or direct me to another of your videos? Regards Peter van Rooy, South Africa
@@gs637 Sausages and muscles differ because in one the bacteria is contained in the mix where a whole muscle is only exposed on the surface. Much easier for sausages to develop bacteria than whole muscles just because of exposure.
You are the first youtuber I have heard say "I guarantee this". most don't. also you have good information in just this one video, I wish I saw this 17 years ago.
It's been nearly 40 years since I tried to make Venison sausage (back when the Sausage Maker's shop was on Military road). Now I remember why! I only have a grinder with the plastic tube stuffer. On the up side I'm now retired with the kids gone so I have time. Of course I forgot about the insta-cure when I ordered my spice and ordered collagen tubes. I'm a little surprised you don't think fresh sausage needs the #1 cure or the Eco- cure (which is REALLY expensive) but you're obviously ALOT better at this! I think I'll probably buy the Eco cure while my 20#s of frozen cubed Venison and frozen pork shoulders thaw somewhat just to be safe. Thankyou for the enlightenment though. The video was very well done!
Great explanation. I make Biltong in a commercial setting. We use drying cabinets where the temperature is about 87F. Although curing salts aren't necessary, we use salt peter just in case.
Wow, really good video! I’ve been trying to understand curing salt and making my own sausage now for days. Watched countless videos and still don’t understand really why. Until now, when I watched this video, now I understand. It is a little bit lengthy, however extremely informative and I feel confident moving forward making my own sausage. Thank you for the video! I subscribed!
Your Definitely the most educated person on RUclips on the topic of cured meats! “Low oxygen or no oxygen” this makes sense to why Salami is so much more risky than pieces of meat. I’d always wondered that.
Thankyou for explaining this. I'm researching making my own Bacon. I'm sick of wet brined Bacon and it is almost impossible finding a dry cured product. You have passed on valuable information, thankyou.
Great job! Well presented and thorough. I cringe when I watch other RUclips videos that don't measure the curing salt and just throw in a 'heaping teaspoon'. My sausage hobby is the one hobby where I've 100% embraced the metric system and a kitchen scale.
Great video, thanks so much! I'm just getting into making some home cured meats. One of which is Spam. Most recipes call for a curing salt of some kind, cornstarch, and seasoning mixed into a slurry and combined with ground meat. Instead of the traditional baking in a pan method, I want to experiment with pressure canning the mixture instead, which will involve putting theeat mixture into pint and 1/2 size jars (24oz) then processing in a pressure canner at 90 minutes at 10# (roughly 240°), in order to produce a shelf stable product which, because of the shape of the jar) SHOULD be able to be relieved of the jar whole, in cylindrical form for slicing. This will produce a round patty, if you will, instead of the familiar, rectangular shapeost are familiar with, with commercially made "spam". Since the coking temperature is going to exceed the temperature condition mentioned in this video, I will safely assume that either canning (sans iodine) or kosher salt can be used instead of curing salt. If I ever get the time to conduct said experiment, I will gladly report back my findings on taste and texture of the finished product!😁
Recently we have been getting into sausage making and your videos are very inspiring and a exactly why the internet is needed. My father is an old German and has lots of family sausage recipes. He is 84 and can't do the salt anymore. Is there a very low salt way to make sausage that are cooked immediately but still hold together with the proteins binding? This may be a question answered by lots of trial and error, just thought to throw it out there. You may even have a video regarding this issue. Thank you Eric for all your effort in these videos. It has got us excited about our endeavor an we have purchased many items from your sponsors already and will in the future.
wow.... this was super educational with a very simplified explanation. Thank you for the info. Subbed and checking out the rest of your videos. Bula from Fiji!!
Well, well, well. Glad I found this video :D Very well explained ! Now, my question : Today is St. Patrick ! :D So, an irish friend told to do "corned beef", firt time. I read curing salt was not neccesary if I use "sea salt", so, that is what I did : 5 pounds of brisket in a pot with water and spices with about 3/4 pound of sea salt, for 5 days... No bad smell after that, neither strange color and I'm cooking it now, 1 hour boiling and about 2 hours more at low/medium temperature. But, after watching this, I'm not sure it's safe (?). The only strange thing I saw it's the white fat over the meat was a little loose after the "curing". For now all looks good in the pot. Thank you and Cheers !
Technically speaking corned beef doesn't need curing salts. The curing salts keep the meat pink and will add a hammy flavor that corned beef is known for but other than that this meat can be made with salt and spices.
@@2guysandacooler Thank you very much, Much happier now ! :D I tasted a few minutes ago the meat, still hard, but looks just fine :D By the way, I'm from Spain and, of course, we eat curated "jamón" very often :D Enjoy your day and, Cheers !
Excellent video, I subscribed after watching the Capucollo video the other day and I'm happy I did, this video answered questions before I needed to ask them and covered everything so simply. Great job, keep up the great work
The only curing I'm doing right now is home made bacon. Dry EQ method in a vacuum bag in the fridge. I'll typically let it go for a couple days past the recommended minimum cure time, or even let it go an extra week. Then it gets opened up, rinsed, sniff tested, and hot smoked. Sometimes I'll even let it air dry on a rack in the fridge for a day before smoking.
You've no doubt received a hurricane of supportive compliments regarding your clarity, knowledge level, and accuracy. I will simply align myself with those who respect you the most.
Excellent Instructional. The only real health concern lies with nitrates that young children or older folk is that it tends to metabolize into a proven carcinogenic known as nitrasamines. What I would like you to clarify is whether the use of alcohol such as wines in many of the Italian salumi or acids such as sodium citrate or ascorbic acid often used, helps in mitigating botulism because it is well known in commercial food processing that a ph of less than 4.5 (higher acidity} does not generally require the same precautions. I would greatly appreciate your further elucidation. Also, would you have any pertinent information on the usage of vegetable concentrates rich in nitrites such as beets or Celery. Thank you very much and keep your fascinatingly entertaining Instructionals coming.
Thanks I just came across your tunnel by accident and I'm trying to preserve meats to canning or something I've tried only tried the saltine of some pork boneless chops but I'm not sure about it so thank you
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Not only do you have KNOWLEDGE we can use, you PRESENTED yourself in an excellent way. No annoying "uhms," no going on long tangents about off topic subjects, just unpacking info in a way that is easily digested by those who wish to learn. EXCELLENT video!
I so agree
i agree too, you dont see this that often on youtube!@@maryhowe483
How about jerky? I usually put my dehydrator on 160* F
The "cliff notes" version of curing charcuterie meats. You've given an overview of less than one inch. Anyone who wants more information has what they need to dig deeper. Thanks for producing this video. It is much appreciated.
Great simplified explanation. As someone that has been in the food business for years, you could talk for hours on food safety. IMO you've made a very simple yet effect discussion for the average home sausage maker to understand.
Eric your enthusiasm and honesty in your charcuterie journey is inspiring.
thank you
Thank you Eric. You are still THE consummate professional I listen to when it comes to charcuterie...You are an inspiration for knowledge and quality of technique and equipment..I super thank you for being so generous with your knowledge. Best channel in RUclips.
Wow, thank you!
Simply a fantastic, straightforward explanation using a logical approach. I just learned more in 21:42 minutes of video than I did in 20 years in the culinary profession on meat and sausage curing. This was my First video from your series but it won't be my last. Thank you very much.
EVen a very,vewry basic food Hygiene education would have included everthing this guy has said about BOTULISM.
Knowing and recognising your limitations is the best way to learn and be better than we currently are... learning is the mark of a true artisan in any gene
This video just popped up on my suggestion list. Since I was a boy, black Friday was hog processing day. My grandfather, the neighbor and his two sons and I would process a half dozen hogs. Since becoming an adult, I have wanted to get back to that. I am in the process of building wood fired cobb oven and a smoker, I have a couple of store bought smokers. But the meat recipes have been lost to time. The other gentleman was an award winning Country Ham maker. Lofty goals. I have subbed, belled and hit the like button. Looking forward to learning. God Bless and stay safe.
Eric- an amazing job explaining this. You are a wealth of information. Thanks for continuing to make great content. I look forward to each of your videos. Well done!
I appreciate that!
what about a whole muscle wet brine over night, fully submerged in a wet brine in a bucket stored at 4c degrees?@@2guysandacooler
Excellent information and well explained Eric! I have never considered that once ground meat is stuffed into a casing that it is now in a no or low oxygen environment but after hearing it, it only makes complete sense. Thanks so much for doing this video. I have people ask me all the time why the use of curing salts is needed, so going forward, I'm going to steer them to this video.
Thanks Russ. It's a tricky topic and lots of really crazy info out there. I hope this reaches lots of people..
I bet Eric would have more subscribers if he changed his YT Channel name to something more obvious to meat curing.
@@2guysandacooler Do you have a video where you talk about the safety aspects of cold smoking sausage for flavor (eg keeping the chamber temp below some value like say 90*) and if using cure #1 would enable that and for how long is reasonable?
@@SquidgeyFlint it's all about time AFAIK. Instacure 1 is used for charcuterie that would take under 4 weeks of curing, any longer and you use #2.
Thank you for clarifying so many things. As a professional cook, I can say, this was an all too brief chapter in my curriculum as a student. It is very fascinating and I am learning all the time.
Exactly what I needed to know about venison preparation, thank you! Every carcass meets the temperature condition for creating toxins. Much is ground, either into sausage casings or in a large lump in seasoning for a couple days at those same temperatures, meeting the second criteria. I now know I should and why to use cure and don't think about it any longer!
Thanks Eric!!
Great presentation of the material, which we have all come to appreciate!
You Sir are a really good teacher and did a wonderful job of explaining both the when and the why. As always, this was a great video.
wow. such a great and informative video. made the topic very easy to understand
Thanks Ryky. Appreciate you watching and commenting.
Holy cow I'm so glad I found you man I know this is 2 years later but the wealth of knowledge that you have to share is amazing and ive learned so much
I am glad this wasn't another anti curing salts video. I have been using them for years and and its scary seeing what some people do. Its amazing to me how little information people will operate on.
I totally agree!!
How much curing salt can i use for 20-21kg of MDM(mechanically deboned meat)?
@@delatorresibs7957 .25% by weight for cure #1. 50 grams per 20kg.
First class presentation! You are easy to understand, knowledgeable, passionate and do not waffle. Well done and thank you!
Thank You and you're very welcome!
Yes! Your explanations on whole muscle charcuterie, v.s. curing salts just dropped my saltiness in my dry cure pork loins.
I am using lawry's chili garlic and Morton's tenderquick to make them and now can remove the Morton's.
I've been using waxed deli paper to slow the drying and case hardening..gonna try the plant based sheets when they ship..thanx again Eric for teaching us
Thanks Tom. How has the wax paper been working for you?
@@2guysandacooler waxed paper when wrapped moist clings pretty good, then i slip it in an old clean sock and twist it to get it firm, and hang it till 30%wt loss.
About a 1/4-3/8" of case hardening when done..i trim it off and use as jerky
@@tomsanda4543 Ever try to vacuum seal and moisture balance in the fridge to counteract the case hardening ?
I was worried that 20 minutes of a guy talking about curing salts would be boring. I was so wrong. This video was absolutely fascinating. You are a natural born presenter. Thanks for the great video.
I use a method used by my great grandfather and passed down. No curing unless Temps are below freezing. Process meat outside only. That was the rule. I cure meat today the same way. My grandfather had no idea about the chemistry involved with curing meats. I educated myself as I wanted to be safe as possible and to refine my art. The agriculture department at University of North Carolina has a great site for curing, smoking and meat preservation. suggest you educate yourself also, its most rewarding.
Can you please share the link to that site of North Carolina University.
@@jasonmerkji youtube deletes links
I did the cream cheese jalapeño and bacon sausage didn’t care for it thanks for sharing
Thanks for referring to the University site. Yes, it is good🎉
I am making smoked saussages outside in a shed they are a little bit thicker than normal saussage its called (sugjuk) with smoke inside the shed for 5 days very slow burning wood under the saussages not sure should i use cure salt .
Outside temperature at the moment in Australia is 14 c
Great and to the point. No mystery where one does not need it. Thank you so much .
You continue to bring truth and enlightenment to those who want to create wholesome products. Eric, you are a great teacher of the craft and break down and simplify many questions that come to mind when producing a cured/uncured product. A better spokesman for charcuterie could not be found. Thank you
Best video on the subject I have ever seen! Great job man.
Thank you so much!
I was taught as a kid that there are no dangerous substances only dangerous concentrations. Its just that somethings dont take much concentration to kill you. Got my head thinking more critically as a youngster about what I touched or tasted. Thanks for valuable information as always.
Yeah, that's why I cut back on my consumption of lead, mercury, XRays, Butte, Montana drinking water, . . . .
If something is dangerous at a very low concentration, doesn't that effectively make it a dangerous substance?
"dosis sola facit venenum " only the dose makes the poison - Paracelsus
Predominantly stated to mean even safe stuff can be dangerous when taken in large amounts... but something that is poisonous period, even in extremely small amounts, is poisonous all the time. How much Sodium Nitrate is in your foods? So you consume in one day: a little of this, a little of that, a little of the other thing... and you have exceeded the "safe recommended amount", and you start causing damage to your health... but a little bit of poison is ok.... sheesh
@@kellyvcraig ... that's why in Montana they cut the water with Vodka...
Have almost 10-pounds of Prague #1 but had no clue about it's history. Fascinating stuff. Thanks!
I have just discovered your channel and I think it's excellent! I love the clarity you give to all of your explanations!
This video was also very good and should steer all to avoiding the dangers. Erring on the safe side is often the best way.
I do appreciate the need to simplify the subject. however, besides oxygen presence and temperature, another factor to weigh into the matter is acidity. If salami, for example, is carefully made with the right amount of salt, (that magic 2%, no less), with a little acidity regulation (e.g. bit of red wine) and hung in controlled conditions (temp 12-18°c & humidity 70% approx) with a bit of air flow also, it's completely safe. pH tests should be below 4.5 but a good indicator of this is the classic white mould that will appear.
This is a very traditional and authentic method which I have been using for many years and is widely used throughout Europe. It leads to beautiful salami with no artificial additives.
Thank you again though for this and all of your videos! - Subscribed!
Hi Lee. Thank You. If you don't mind me asking, let's say your starting pH is 5.7, how much wine are you adding to drop the ph to below 4.6 and how long does it take. I personally like a tangy sausage but I know for most Italian salami their Ph hovers around the 5.0 mark. Interested in hearing back😀 Out of curiosity are you a fan of river cottage?
@@2guysandacooler Hello! Nice to hear from you. 😃
If I'm making up 4kg of total weight of pork and fat, I'll add about 300ml of red wine and, to be honest, if that beautiful white bloom develops, I don't bother reading the pH level at all... It always does!
Yeah, I like what they do at River Cottage.! It's hard not to... I only live 70 miles away from them. 😁
They didn't introduce me to curing though, not even nitrate-free curing. I've been into making my own charcuterie for more than 15 years.
Really glad to have found your channel. I'm interested in doing some new stuff in new ways.
@@Lee-ot2uk very interesting! how do you measure pH in the meat? do you take a slice after it is done and put a pH stick on it or put it in a liquid form first? or maybe you measure it beforehand?
Great explanation. A much simpler way of deciding which needs a curing salt or not; how to apply that between working with grind meats (especially for salami) and working with whole muscles. Thanks for this video.
Glad it was helpful!
thanks for that Eric. I'm constantly arguing with people who are die hard 'nitrates/nitrites are bad'. The health benefits of salami with the fermented meats creating good bacteria are something I focus on telling people. kinda like yakult lol. and that's not possible without said ingredients
Meh, just let Darwinism deal with them.
One of the best and most important videos on sausage ever. My family made sausage and a lot of it. We always made only in the winter. Thus we never used curing salts.
You had me at gunpowder! Not that it is new to me, but it shows you have done ALL your research.
Are you referring to the very well known fact about saltpetre being used in gunpowder?
@@BenjaminGoose, it may be well know to you and me, but I know a huge part of the population does not know that and would be shocked at the idea that a gunpowder ingredient would be used in food preservation.
@@UtahSustainGardening I watched the 1776 musical. That's where I learned about saltpetre I'm gunpowder. They actually called it potassium nitrate, so...i guess I'm in the cool club. 😂
This is the best sausagemaking channel on both sides of the Atlantik
Chapeau maitre !
Thanks Eric for the great info! I always learn cool stuff watching your tutorials. Please keep up the good work!
You're so knowledgable its crazy! Legend
Very good and helpful information. Thank you!
The bottom line for me is that I will be using curing salts for whole-muscle products because of the flavor and color.
By the way, an interesting video might be a side-by-side comparison of a whole-muscle piece with and without curing salt.
Excellent suggestion. I think I'll do that..
@@2guysandacooler Thank you for the quick reply, and I look forward to that video. - Wolfgang
@@2guysandacooler Please do!
I found your channel today and I have literally spent the whole day watching your content. I LOVE charcuterie and am really planning on making it a hobby I practice often. Thank you so much for your content. Big fan from Cape Town, South Africa!
This is great information! My "project" is to recreate the linguica (Portuguese sausage) that we used to have as a kid. With the demise of several ethnic sausage makers and none that exist where I live now, I really want to attempt to make this, but I have no experience with charcuterie and was terrified I would get it wrong. The topic of "curing salts" was one I could never get a clear answer to and now I know why. Some linguica are fresh (refrigerated) sausage and some are cold smoked. Your video made it clear to me that fresh doesn't need curing salts and cold smoked or "cellar aged" does. Please tell me if I got this wrong 😉.
That is correct. All you do is apply both conditions to your sausage and if they are both met, you would want to use curing salt. If only one is met then it would be ok to use salt only.
Sir, you have completely changed my opinion on many things!
A great help in the basics! MIght you also consider a video in the future on the effects of marinades (acid) wrto food safety and how that relates to the two basic rules.. I guess that might also include how smoking helps (or doesnt).
Arriving at this video was the culmination of a multi-day process of searching through YTb videos to find the answer to my question: regarding bacon, or any other charcuterie, when/are curing salts necessary? Are these nitrites just something added for mass-production? If so, why so many small producers also recommend using Prague powders?
Your video answered all of my questions in one hit. Keep up the great work!
From: a guy in Japan with little access to affordable, quality meat
I've always been fascinated when adding curing salt it's such a tiny quantity how it gets evenly distributed throughout the meat.
When used in sausage/salamis you're supposed to dilute it in water and add to the mixture. When doing whole muscles (capicollo/lomo etc) you mix it with the rest of the dry spices and it will dilute in the meat juices during the seasoning period while vacuum packed.
more people need to watch and follow channel. Great information and keep up the good work!
Awesome as always, Eric! I have my fingers crossed you are going to do an Argentinian Chorizo video this year!
LOL. It was on my short list but just missed the cut. I will certainly have it on next years show or I may make a special episode and do it sometime between now and then. Not sure.
@@2guysandacooler Just one more upvote for that chorizo video :)
Great tutorial! I've been making jerky since I was in my early twenties. I worked on a goat cheese farm for the better part of my teenage years
and feel now I would like to try my hand at sharcutary. As an avid hunter and commercial fisherman I think it would be an amazing step towards my goals. I have a frigerator that I am going to use to make a curing chamber from based on instructions I saw in your curing chamber tutorial. Thanks for all the great content I look forward to the next.
Excellent and informative video. Thank you for all the hard work and research you clearly put in. With that said I’m a little confused, surely pretty much any fridge is going to be in the temperature range of concern, so I don’t understand how a fresh sausage doesn’t meet that conditional.
Your refrigerator temp should be set to 33-35°, therefore under the range of concern.
Much appreciated! You answered questions I have had on my mind for quite a while! Simplified process of identifying the need to use curing salts. Very committed of you, thank you once again
I think the major problem with Nitrates and Nitrites comes from overconsumption of them. It's a knee-jerk reaction to people having poor eating habits. You really can't legislate or control peoples diets without seriously violating their rights so people try to control Nitrates and Nitrites by villifying them. That really is a poor and uneducated way to do things. So thank you for educating us about Charcuterie and the proper use of Curing Salts.
I agree 💯 percent
Yes 100% and bacon is healthier than anything that Kellogg’s brings out.
Incredibly knowledgeable! Love him
Eric!! These are amazing videos. I started making sausages about 12 years ago when I moved to a part of the world where there are no good Italian sausages available anywhere.
I love how complete and well explained your videos are.
I have a question, for which I was hoping to find an answer in this video but the topic did not come up.
My wife is Italian. Her parents used to make sausage a couple times a year with without curing salts (I'm using their recipe, with only salt, and spices) and would freeze some while fresh but would hang the rest to dry in their cold room (~50-60°F). Your video confirms -what I suspected- that these dried sausages were a high risk sausage. Did I get this right?
Do you have a theory on how they never got sick in 50 plus years of drying home made sausages? Just pure luck??
My understanding is the salt used in Italy has naturally occurring nitrates in it. Curing salts were created to standardize the amounts of nitrates, and nitrites, to be added to the regular salt for food safety reasons.
Or maybe they cooked the sausage well before eating!.
Happened upon one of your videos and immediately recognized that South Louisiana accent. I'm from Abbeville and live in Lafayette. Love your channel and am now a subscriber!
Great work Eric. After my own 10 years of charcuterie making hobby, this is the best explanation I have seen to counter the mythology around nitrates/nitrites I have experienced over the years. A further question for you regarding whole muscle products though. Do you think that wrapping the whole muscle in a casing, whether a collagen sheet or natural casing like a bladder etc. moves it into the anaerobic condition or would you regard that as not requiring curing salts as it remains aerobic?
It still remains aerobic. Those casings are all breathable
@@2guysandacooler Hi, so wrapping in a natural casing (like the one used for sausages) is breathable, and thus aerobic? I understood differently from the video, when you talked about fresh sausages. Can you please clarify?
Hi Eric, excellent video. I was hoping for more on the reasons why cure#1 is used vs cure#2 or vise versa. Could you explain or direct me to another of your videos? Regards Peter van Rooy, South Africa
@@petervanrooy6313 Its the time of cure that dictates what to use. #1 for short cures, small muscles and #2 for over 4 week cure times.
@@gs637 Sausages and muscles differ because in one the bacteria is contained in the mix where a whole muscle is only exposed on the surface. Much easier for sausages to develop bacteria than whole muscles just because of exposure.
Eric amazing video as always. Thanks for continuing to educate us all !
You are the first youtuber I have heard say "I guarantee this". most don't. also you have good information in just this one video, I wish I saw this 17 years ago.
Have been looking for this EXACT information for a while. Thank you for clearing up all the conflicting information.
It's been nearly 40 years since I tried to make Venison sausage (back when the Sausage Maker's shop was on Military road). Now I remember why! I only have a grinder with the plastic tube stuffer. On the up side I'm now retired with the kids gone so I have time. Of course I forgot about the insta-cure when I ordered my spice and ordered collagen tubes. I'm a little surprised you don't think fresh sausage needs the #1 cure or the Eco- cure (which is REALLY expensive) but you're obviously ALOT better at this! I think I'll probably buy the Eco cure while my 20#s of frozen cubed Venison and frozen pork shoulders thaw somewhat just to be safe. Thankyou for the enlightenment though. The video was very well done!
Can't believe you don't have more subscribers. Awesome channel and loads of info
I appreciate that!
Debated indeed.....
Salt, temp, humidity and time...... That's all that's needed. (No response needed).
Cheers 🥂
you should have watched the whole video🍻
Great explanation. I make Biltong in a commercial setting. We use drying cabinets where the temperature is about 87F. Although curing salts aren't necessary, we use salt peter just in case.
Finally someone explain this in a way I understand
Wow, really good video! I’ve been trying to understand curing salt and making my own sausage now for days. Watched countless videos and still don’t understand really why. Until now, when I watched this video, now I understand. It is a little bit lengthy, however extremely informative and I feel confident moving forward making my own sausage. Thank you for the video! I subscribed!
Your Definitely the most educated person on RUclips on the topic of cured meats! “Low oxygen or no oxygen” this makes sense to why Salami is so much more risky than pieces of meat. I’d always wondered that.
Excellent breakdown being new bacon & sausage making these videos are Excellent. Thank you
Thankyou for explaining this. I'm researching making my own Bacon. I'm sick of wet brined Bacon and it is almost impossible finding a dry cured product. You have passed on valuable information, thankyou.
One of my Ball canning books has a recipe for dry cured bacon. I did make the Canadian bacon, which is wet cured from the same book
Cold smoking kitchen on you tube has great dry cure bacon recipes.
This was a gifted presentation. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Well balanced practical advice with both historical and biological perspective.
Great job! Well presented and thorough. I cringe when I watch other RUclips videos that don't measure the curing salt and just throw in a 'heaping teaspoon'. My sausage hobby is the one hobby where I've 100% embraced the metric system and a kitchen scale.
The guidelines on the packaging don't suggest pinpoint accuracy is required . Ballpark seems to be good enough .
Great video, thanks so much! I'm just getting into making some home cured meats. One of which is Spam. Most recipes call for a curing salt of some kind, cornstarch, and seasoning mixed into a slurry and combined with ground meat. Instead of the traditional baking in a pan method, I want to experiment with pressure canning the mixture instead, which will involve putting theeat mixture into pint and 1/2 size jars (24oz) then processing in a pressure canner at 90 minutes at 10# (roughly 240°), in order to produce a shelf stable product which, because of the shape of the jar) SHOULD be able to be relieved of the jar whole, in cylindrical form for slicing. This will produce a round patty, if you will, instead of the familiar, rectangular shapeost are familiar with, with commercially made "spam". Since the coking temperature is going to exceed the temperature condition mentioned in this video, I will safely assume that either canning (sans iodine) or kosher salt can be used instead of curing salt. If I ever get the time to conduct said experiment, I will gladly report back my findings on taste and texture of the finished product!😁
Recently we have been getting into sausage making and your videos are very inspiring and a exactly why the internet is needed. My father is an old German and has lots of family sausage recipes. He is 84 and can't do the salt anymore. Is there a very low salt way to make sausage that are cooked immediately but still hold together with the proteins binding? This may be a question answered by lots of trial and error, just thought to throw it out there. You may even have a video regarding this issue. Thank you Eric for all your effort in these videos. It has got us excited about our endeavor an we have purchased many items from your sponsors already and will in the future.
Thank you! You did a wonderful job breaking down and explaining the knowledge you have learned.
Thank you Eric. Love the 2 point explanatio0n. Super helpful. I always enjoy your strait forward recipes.
I learned something today thanks. See you next week. I appreciate you man.
Excellent advice! Thank you for clarifying this so succinctly!
Thank you for this educational video! So clear and easy to understand!
You are an excellent educator sir.
Can't believe I watched this now after all these years of subscription. Thanks a a lot.
Thanks for the info. Your presentation skills are terrific. The content was spot on.
wow.... this was super educational with a very simplified explanation. Thank you for the info. Subbed and checking out the rest of your videos. Bula from Fiji!!
Thanks Man! Tons of info here. Very well done on the video!
Wonderful presentation and very important information!
Greetings from eastern Arabia....
Very informative video !! A lot going on there... I think we all came away with much more than we thought we would. Great job and thank you !!
Well, well, well. Glad I found this video :D Very well explained ! Now, my question : Today is St. Patrick ! :D So, an irish friend told to do "corned beef", firt time. I read curing salt was not neccesary if I use "sea salt", so, that is what I did : 5 pounds of brisket in a pot with water and spices with about 3/4 pound of sea salt, for 5 days... No bad smell after that, neither strange color and I'm cooking it now, 1 hour boiling and about 2 hours more at low/medium temperature. But, after watching this, I'm not sure it's safe (?). The only strange thing I saw it's the white fat over the meat was a little loose after the "curing". For now all looks good in the pot. Thank you and Cheers !
Technically speaking corned beef doesn't need curing salts. The curing salts keep the meat pink and will add a hammy flavor that corned beef is known for but other than that this meat can be made with salt and spices.
@@2guysandacooler Thank you very much, Much happier now ! :D I tasted a few minutes ago the meat, still hard, but looks just fine :D By the way, I'm from Spain and, of course, we eat curated "jamón" very often :D Enjoy your day and, Cheers !
Thank you for the clarification on bacon.
Thank you!!! Very informative.
Excellent video, I subscribed after watching the Capucollo video the other day and I'm happy I did, this video answered questions before I needed to ask them and covered everything so simply.
Great job, keep up the great work
Welcome aboard!
That was a great video, it really answered so many questions I had about curing salts
You really put out tsome good information. Thank You and keep them coming.
I'm glad to have found your channel. Great information!
The only curing I'm doing right now is home made bacon. Dry EQ method in a vacuum bag in the fridge. I'll typically let it go for a couple days past the recommended minimum cure time, or even let it go an extra week. Then it gets opened up, rinsed, sniff tested, and hot smoked. Sometimes I'll even let it air dry on a rack in the fridge for a day before smoking.
Great video! Opened my eyes to a lot to-my sausage making research ! Thank You!
You've no doubt received a hurricane of supportive compliments regarding your clarity, knowledge level, and accuracy. I will simply align myself with those who respect you the most.
Excellent Instructional. The only real health concern lies with nitrates that young children or older folk is that it tends to metabolize into a proven carcinogenic known as nitrasamines.
What I would like you to clarify is whether the use of alcohol such as wines in many of the Italian salumi or acids such as sodium citrate or ascorbic acid often used, helps in mitigating botulism because it is well known in commercial food processing that a ph of less than 4.5 (higher acidity} does not generally require the same precautions. I would greatly appreciate your further elucidation. Also, would you have any pertinent information on the usage of vegetable concentrates rich in nitrites such as beets or Celery.
Thank you very much and keep your fascinatingly entertaining Instructionals coming.
This is one amazing video!! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge!!
Thank you so much for making this video! I have been so confused about this issue or using or not using the curing salts. ❤ subscribed!
Glad it was helpful!
Great information, you explained it in a way that everyone can understand.
Loved this video.
Great information and very informative
Amazingly clear, concise, and easy to understand! Thank you very much!
You are the best , thank you for that excellent lesson.
Thanks I just came across your tunnel by accident and I'm trying to preserve meats to canning or something I've tried only tried the saltine of some pork boneless chops but I'm not sure about it so thank you
Informative and useful. I enjoy preparing dry cured meats, you've cleared my doubts as to when to use what. Thank you.
I love your channel. Thank you for helping me improve at making charcuterie.
Great video, enjoyed every minute. Perfectly explained for a beginer like myself, you have a new subscriber
Just come across your channel. Very informative, and absolutely brilliant. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you. I can tell that you did your research and it was presented exceptionally well.