Smoked Bologna & Summer Sausage

Dave

These are non UMAi cased products. They use cure 1 and are smoked. You can use a fermentation agent if you would like but most of us smokers use ECA ( Encapsulated Citric Acid) or buttermilk powder, both of these give a tang to the meat. I have found that there are many good pre mixes out there as such as UMAi has to offer. Pre mixes are great if you don’t have all the items needed for mixing.

Below is some cure 1 & 2 info that may help. Not Prague powder has a few names like insta cure, pink cure. In other countries it may be under a different name. Also there is MTQ (Mortons Tender Quick) Which can be used in curing.

NOTE: These cure’s should not be used or mixed together. Doing so COULD result in Nitrate poisoning and be fatal.

Hope this helps some.

Prague Powder #1
Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. Cures are used to prevent meats from spoiling when being cooked or smoked at low temperatures (under 200 degrees F). This cure is 1 part sodium nitrite (6.25%) and 16 parts salt (93.75%) and are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to ‘gas out’ at about 130 degrees F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20% of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Mix with cold water, then mix into meat like you would mix seasonings into meat.

Prague Powder #2
Used to dry-cure products. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. (1 oz. of sodium nitrite with .64 oz. of sodium nitrate to each lb. of salt.) It is primarily used in dry-curing Use with products that do not require cooking, smoking, or refrigeration. This cure, which is sodium nitrate, acts like a time release, slowly breaking down into sodium nitrite, then into nitric oxide. This allows you to dry cure products that take much longer to cure. A cure with sodium nitrite would dissipate too quickly. Use 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat when mixing with meat. When using a cure in a brine solution, follow a recipe.