Curing Salt (Prague Powder #1)

Curing meats at home is relatively easy, but when you're working with preserved meats you want to take all the necessary precautions - and that means using curing salt. Curing salt is used to inhibit the growth of bacteria or fungus in the process of preserving meats, while maintaining ideal color and flavor. Typically it's used for pickling meats as part of the process in making sausage.The main purpose for curing meat is to make a high-quality meat product for future consumption. Only correctly butchered and completely cooled meats should be used.History of Salting and SmokingThe practice of salting or smoking meat for long term use has been practiced for thousands of years. As early as 3000 BC, salt-preserved fish and meat were part of the Sumerian diet. Sumerians were the first ancient urban civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (modern-day southern Iraq). Cato the Elder, a Roman senator and historian and who was also known as Cato the Censor, Cato the Wise and Cato the Ancient was the first to write history in Latin. Cato is also believed to be one of the first to record the meat curing process in 300 BC, when he meticulously recorded instructions on how to cure ham.Preserving meat by smoking is generally credited to primitive peoples. Early cavemen would hang meat in their caves to dry. They found that meat that was stored in the smokier areas of a cave was better preserved and would also have a different flavor than meat stored in the less smoky areas, which tended to produce meat that was dried out but also rather flavorless. American Indians would preserve meat by hanging it from the top of teepees to maximize contact with the smoke from the fire.NitratesThere is no written record of when salts containing nitrates were first used to preserve meat. Nitrates were originally a natural impurity occurring in some salts used in early curing of meats. Salts that had higher amounts of nitrates were found to improve the meat's color, flavor and shelf life. While nitrites role in curing meat was not fully understood until the early 1900's, once the nitrites were identified and isolated they were deliberately added to "curing salts" to improve the quality of cured meats. How to UseFresh meats can be cured at home using one of two methods: dry cure or pickle cure (also known as sweet pickle cure). Typically, dry cured meats are not injected with sweet pickle cure. If proper temperature control is difficult to achieve, then the use of a "pickle cure injection" is often used to help ensure a high quality safe product.Use 1 level teaspoon of curing salt per 5 lbs. of ground meat. 1 lb. of curing salt can be used to process approximately 480 lbs. of meat.Ingredients6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% table salt.Helpful HintsIf you are long age drying meats (which may takes weeks, months or even years) such as prosciutto or salami you should use Prague Powder #2 (hat tip to Lawrence H. for bringing this to our attention).