errors of ommission

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 15:27

Occassionally I am looking for a recipe for smoked sausage or meat and find no call for nitrite or nitrate. I consider the reputation of the author and conclude that it is a good recipe with an error that slipped past the author, the proof reader and the editor.
With the admonition that if it hasn't been cured it can't be smoked, I read everything twice and make the correction.

Post by **Butterbean** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 15:51

I disagree. I think anything can be smoked WITHOUT curing salt. Albeit that it might not be safe to eat. Or did your post erroneously omitt the word SAFELY.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Its a typical Monday today and as Chuckwagon can attest my needle is stuck on these salts today.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 16:03

BB you are correct! If you can wrap paper around it and light the end you can smoke it.

vagreys · Post by **vagreys** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 23:19

Ross, since I consider the safety of the sausage I make to be my responsibility, I don't ever take a recipe at face value regarding the amount of cure, nor do I make any inference, positive or negative, about the author. I just think it is my responsibility to calculate the correct amount of cure to be safe. It could be an omission, or it could just be an old (unsafe) recipe that was more lucky than right, or it could be a typo; regardless, the bottom line is that the sausage to be smoked needs enough cure to be safe. I double check the figures, even if I trust the author.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 00:02

The ones that I refer to here are the same recipe published in a book and on line and the on line version is lacking the inclusion of the cure.
Tom , your determination to accept responsibility for your own safety is what I was hoping to alert readers to as everybody bears some responsibility for their own safety.