The right salt.

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Marty
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The right salt.

Post by Marty » Sat Jul 28, 2012 04:03

This is going to sound a little silly, but I'm having some issues in my neck of the woods finding basic ingredients for curing. I have to order curing salts (Prague Powder #1 in 200g packets) online, which is fine - I think I can cope with the wait!

Link to Prague Powder TradeMe NZ search - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/SearchR ... uggested=0

However I have another rather silly issue. I'm stuck on getting the right salt to use in my cures. I went to the local food industry wholesaler and the best I could get was 450g of Kosher Salt. 450g for about $6 NZD seems like rather a lot, especially when I can see that I may be using a fair amount of it.

My other options were sea salt flakes, maldon salt and plain (non-iodised) salt. The plain salt comes comes in a 25kg bag, the others are in packages up to 1kg.

If you were faced with these choices, what would be the best option? Or should I be looking further afield and perhaps ordering coarse salt from an overseas curing supplies specialist (shipping $$$)?

Are there any NZers or Australians who can recommend a good place for me to acquire the appropriate salt and prague powder in something a little more than tiny packages?

EDIT:

I found a link on salt, thanks CW - it is quite informative! (the search function really works >.> )

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4824

So any of those salts you have listed would be ok, as long as it isn't iodised, or chunky rock salt...?
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Chuckwagon
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sat Jul 28, 2012 04:39

Marty, just plain good ol' salt without iodine is what you'd want to look for. Iodized salt can give sausage a medicinal or a metallic flavor.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
ursula
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salt and supplies in Australia

Post by ursula » Sat Jul 28, 2012 05:49

Hi Marty,
Just joined. I've built a wooden smokehouse and have just smoked my first cold smoked salmon. About to smoke a pork loin.
I had the same trouble as you trying to find salt and supplies.
I contacted Dale.Rodan@cheethamsalt.com.au and he directed me to a supplier who was able to sell me Mermaid Flossy salt (used by butchers) for $10 for 25 kg.
Also, Misty Gully has a website where you can buy Cure #1 and 2 for $15 a kilo.
Postage is the same, I think for anything from 1 to 3 kilograms. They also have jerky spices, and a cheap injector which works well. I bought a salinometer from Butcherquip also. Both companies have websites for ordering. Hope this helps.
Marty
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Post by Marty » Sat Jul 28, 2012 06:09

Thankyou Chuckwagon and Ursula! I'll buy a 25kg sack of plain 'ol salt, and I think I'll be frequenting Misty Gully for curing salts - excellent! Exactly what I was looking for :D

A bit of a nuisance trying to get supplies though - the butchers in my area don't take kindly to strangers asking for sodium nitrite it seems - I went to the closest three (we hardly have any butchers shops in NZ because of supermarkets) and they were all extremely unhelpful - it was like I had asked if they had any UFOs or aliens hidden out the back of the shop somewhere :roll:
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Post by ssorllih » Sat Jul 28, 2012 13:41

I usually buy salt at the local supermarket. They stock about six varieties plain table salt is the least costly and kosher salt a little more. I ordered five pounds of cure #1 a year ago and expect it to last at least five years.
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crustyo44
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Post by crustyo44 » Sat Jul 28, 2012 19:48

Hi Marty,
The biggest problem you have with buying from Australia is the postal costs and the exchange rate.
As a beginner, 200 grams of cure #1 will last you a long time, the site even says that you get a discount for multple purchases. Cure # 1 is NOT suitable for salami and prosciutto as is mentioned.
Cure #1 needs to be weighed, spoon levels are too inaccurate.
Flossy butchers salt is what I use.
Regards,
Jan.
Marty
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Post by Marty » Sun Jul 29, 2012 23:05

Thanks for that guys - I'll definitely be getting some plain table salt then. If I come across any larger amounts of Kosher I'll grab that instead.

crustyo44 - I thought exactly the same thing :) I worked out (using the cure calculator http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... calculator ) that I'm not going to be doing 5lb (2.2kg) of any meat in the forseeable future. The most I would ever be doing at any one time might be closer to about 1kg (2.2lb) for now until I have fine tuned a few things on my new smoker - starting with heat. I think I need to find a slightly smaller gas ring of some sort so I can keep temps around 150°F (66°C) for bacon, which is my main goal at the moment.

Cold smoked some ewes cheese and venison jerky yesterday - it worked out fantastically! I just did the basic jerky recipe, added a bit of hot smoked paprika and dried it in my little bench top oven at 60°C with the door slightly open. There are 2 tiny pieces left in the fridge - Today is Monday, I started making it on Saturday night hehe.
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Post by ssorllih » Mon Jul 30, 2012 00:13

Salt volume versus weight. Plain table salt weighs about 18 grams per tablespoonful and Diamond crystal kosher salt comes in at about 12 grams.
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Marty
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Post by Marty » Mon Jul 30, 2012 00:25

More reading to do on that one I think - I saw CW's post on the weights of different types of salt - really don't want an overly salty product. Thanks ssorllih :)
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Post by ssorllih » Mon Jul 30, 2012 00:46

My experience suggests that I keep the salt below 1.8 % and often as low as 1 % when I start. When salting whole pieces some salt is lost. Any more I weigh all of the meat before I salt it. Experience tells me that beef will use a little more than chicken. It is much easier to add salt than to remove it.
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