Curing Meat for Sausages USA
Today, curing is done with curing accelerators, pump injectors and meat tumblers in order to save time, space and ultimately the money. Unfortunately, in order to shorten curing time we have to introduce curing accelerators, flavor and color enhancers and many other chemicals. The products look pretty and are packed nicely, however, the flavor of presently processed meats don’t come close to products that were made in the past.
Let’s make something absolutely clear, you don’t need to cure meat to make your sausage, however, it will be a much better product if the meat has been cured. Grind the meat, mix with spices and stuff the mass into a casing. Grill it, hot smoke it, or place it in a refrigerator, the product is still called a sausage. Curing is an extra process that requires more time, designated containers and a space in a refrigerator. The reason we advocate the curing procedure is that the highest quality sausages are made from meat that has been cured. Meat for quality smoked sausage should be cured. Curing imparts a certain peculiar flavor which is in demand by the consumer and if we cure hams, bacon, chops, butts, and fish because they taste better, so why not cure meat for sausages? The fact that we grind meat makes it only easier on our teeth to chew it - it does not improve the color, texture or the flavor of the sausage. Someone might say: but I’ve mixed nitrite and spices with ground meat before stuffing so that’s OK.
With the use of ascorbates and erythorbates it is possible to cure meats at even lower temperatures, which is commonly practiced by commercial establishments.
Beef, cured
After meat cuts are cured they are ground, mixed with spices and stuffed into casings. Salt is not added as it has been added during curing step.
What will happen to smoked sausages if the meat is not cured? Basically nothing as long as you add salt and Cure #1 (sodium nitrite) to ground meat during mixing. You are still curing meat, however, the curing time is much shorter. The final color might not be as good as the properly cured sausage but it will still be a great sausage. If you don’t want to cure meat using the traditional method, use the alternative curing method described below.
The curing time depends on:
Diameter of the Sausage
Additives - adding ascorbates speeds up curing. More important for commercial producers.
Curing Methods
Method 1. Grind each meat through a proper plate (as dictated by the recipe). The reason that we grind now and not cut meat into pieces for curing is that salt and sodium nitrite will penetrate a tiny piece of ground meat much faster than a 5 cm (2”) cube. Mix meat with salt and Cure #1. Pack tightly (to remove air) and separately, place each type of ground meat in a container and cover with a cloth to allow breathing. Let it “set” for 3-4 hours at room temperature 20-22°C (68-71°F). Chemical reactions proceed much faster at higher temperatures and so does curing. Add spices, mix all together and stuff casings.
Mix meat with salt, Cure #1 and other ingredients. Grind each meat through a proper plate (as dictated by the recipe). Stuff sausages and place in a cooler for 12-24 hours before smoking. When removed from a cooler they have to be conditioned at room temperature for a few hours to remove moisture from the surface. Transfer to a smokehouse.
When ground meat is mixed with sodium nitrite (cure #1) the reaction is almost instantaneous and pink color results fast. The time is shortest when meat is minced with the smallest grinder plate. In the images that follow pork meat (80% lean, 20% fat) was ground with 1/8" (3 mm) grinder plate. After curing the samples were cooked.
Simple Test
Make two meat balls, one cured with salt only and another with salt and sodium nitrite (cure #1). Hold them for a few hours in a refrigerator and then boil in water for 20 minutes. Let them cool, then smell and taste both meat balls. The one cured with nitrite will have a wonderful aroma, better taste, texture and color.
As you can see in all instances we are buying extra time to allow curing inside the meat. A commercial producer will not perform curing at higher than cooler temperature as this will affect the shelf life of the product. Commercial processors cure meat faster and at lower temperatures by using ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, or their derivatives, sodium ascorbate and/or sodium erythorbate. These additives speed up the chemical conversion of nitrite to nitric oxide which in turn will react with meat myoglobin to create a pink color. They also deplete levels of meat oxygen which prevents the fading of the cured meat color in the presence of light and oxygen.
Remember that fast curing methods cannot be used when curing whole pieces like hams, butts or loins unless commercial curing methods are introduced (injection, curing accelerators and tumbling).
When making less than 5 pounds of sausage it is perfectly acceptable to make curing a part of the mixing and conditioning process. This way the sausage is stuffed and ready to go into the smoker and all equipment can be washed and put away. When making large amounts of sausage, you may use a few pork butts or picnics and trimming this meat will take a while. Then you have to grind, mix, stuff and smoke sausages. This operation will take many hours. It is feasible to make sausages on two separate occasions:
The first day - meat selection and trimming. The skin and bones are removed, all sinews, gristle and glands are discarded. Meat is cut into small pieces, mixed with salt and nitrite and placed in a refrigerator for 24 hours. no equipment was needed.
The second day - cured meat goes into the grinder and the sausage making process continues.
Curing Fat
Pure fat like back fat or fat trimmings are salted only. Fat does not contain myoglobin so sodium nitrite (cure #1) has nothing to react with and the color will remain white.
Meat cuts such as pork belly or jowls have distinctive layers of meat and fat. It is impractical to separate fat from meat and those cuts are cured with salt and sodium nitrite as well as any other small trimmings which contain both fat and meat.
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