Cure accelerators and cure?
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When making smoked sausage
(kielbasa/snacks sticks) i typically mix and refrigerate overnight before stuffing, then another overnight in the fridge to form the pellicle.I am looking for guidelines for using a cure accelerator like sodium erythorbate and/or encapsulated citric acid.
Do I use either one in addition to the pink salt or inplace of the pink salt?
Also, will adding one or both allow me to mix, stuff and smoke all in the same day? Some kits have a “super cure” and the instructions allow for the whole process in one day.
Thanks,
Dan
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Dan Ferdinande Cure accelerators are used in conjunction with sure cure, it speeds up the reaction, it doesn’t replace it. Only use one, don’t try to use both. The Encapsulated Citric Acid is far easier to measure out but it does add way more of a “tang” from the pH drop than sodium erythorbate which has very little noticeable taste to it. So choose one of those and go with that.
Yes, if you use cure and an accelerator you can go literally from stuffing to smoking. Now, the pellicle that is formed holding it overnight will need to be replaced with a 30 minute drying period in the beginning of the smoker. We recommend vents wide open, fans on high (if your smoker has fans) and no humidity and no smoke for that 30 minutes.
I am guessing “super cure” is just sure cure with some sort of cure accelerator but I can’t say for sure on that
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Jonathon one more thing.
With a cure accelerator I can go from stuffing directly to smoking. Does that also mean I can go directly from mixing to stuffing? I have seen that eca is added at the end of mixing. -
Dan Ferdinande You most certainly can go straight from mixing to stuffing, even if you don’t use any cure accelerator (you’ll still need the overnight rest for the cure to work if you don’t use an accelerator. In fact, it makes stuffing easier.
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Dan Ferdinande Yes, like TexLaw says, go right from mixing to stuffing. I have tested this to see the effects of holding it overnight before stuffing it and have found it gets much harder to stuff after it has sat in the fridge for a night.
