OT - Is It Safe?

Canugghead

Ran out of Canuckian curing salt and visited the manufacturer's onsite store...


I divide it into many small pouches and chamber seal to minimise oxidation. This is my second 1kg bag, the guy who sold me the first bag probably 7 to 8+ years ago IIRC served me again. He goes, don't use it for cooking and get rid of what you can't finish after one year, it's sodium nitrite. Should I heed his warning or take my chances again?

Eggdicted_Dawgfan

If it was kept dry I can’t imagine how it could ever go “bad”. I’d be curious to hear his reasoning. The longer you keep it, the less he sees of you. 

Moleman

I’m sure Larry will chime in and let us know all is good.  

GrateEggspectations

Moleman said:

I’m sure Larry will chime in and let us know all is good.  

@lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac

Hmm, the guy who sells it, says toss it after 1 year and buy more? 🤔

Canugghead

Thanks folks for chiming in. In all fairness, to give him the benefit of the doubt, the guy warned me out of ignorance and concern for my safety. Given that this 1kg bag costs just six loonies, and he's just a low level salesperson in a big corporaion I'm not sure if his goal is to rip me off. I suppose one can argue that it's job security for him, lol.

Of course I took his advice with a grain of curing salt, if the first bag didn't kill anyone after almost a decade why worry now, right?

paqman

Can you take a zoomed in picture of the ingredients?

The sodium nitrite itself doesn’t expire but it is hygroscopic so if you vacuum seal it and store it in a dry location you should be good. A pack of food safe desiccant may be a good idea. 

Additives like PPG may expire though and I remember reading that it is the problem with CCC.  From what I remember, the CCC mixture may develop a rancid smell over time.

HeavyG

I don't believe that regular vac bags are ideal for long term storage of foodstuff. For that you would want what the preppers use - mylar bags. https://www.lemproducts.com/product/mylar-bags/all-vacuum-sealer-products

Whether they are worth the $$ really depends upon just how long the shelf life of that cure really is - I have no clue. If it really does tend to "turn" after 4, 5, 6, 7 years as cheap as it is I'd just buy a fresh bag every couple of years.

lkapigian

It’s still good, if it was pink the color may fade but that’s just there so you dont mistake it for sodium chloride. at the end of the day you really don’t need curing salts at all …

lkapigian

I will add, 99% of what you are buying is just plain salt .......

Unless you are shooting for colour ( nod @lousubcap LoL) just use salt, most unprocessed sea salt contains "naturally occuring nitrites " technically not enough to "cure" I find it gives me just as good of color,  fleur de sel is my go to for most things 

poster

What you have there is the 1% stuff, pink salt is 6.25% sodium nitrite. Just keep that in mind when looking at recipes. Some are clear in stating which curing salt to use, but some are not. You can usually tell by the quantity requested/lb. I find most recipes use the 6.25% stuff. I had a tough time finding pink salt (6.25%) in Canada, but ended up finding some on Amazon. Even our local butcher told me not to use pink salt because its toxic and to use his stuff. I told him its similar, mainly just less "normal salt" in the pink stuff, but it got me nowhere. It all works the same, but I found using the pink stuff much easier instead of trying to calculate and convert 

DoubleEgger

Remember that expiration dates and shelf life can be based on the packaging and not the ingredients. 

Canugghead

@paqman After chamber sealing, they are hard like hockey pucks. When I open the bags even years later, they're free flowing and not lumpy at all, no sign of moisture absorption or colour change.

What is PPG? You've probably seen the same old MSM cook I posted over the years, they were all cured by the same original bag of ReadyCure, no difference in taste or texture between the first and last briskets.

Canugghead

@HeavyG True, given the price of cure vs. Mylar bags it makes more sense to just toss it after few years, if it bothers me enough.

Canugghead

@lkapigian @poster
I understand #1 pink salt is more potent than ReadyCure. When I started egging in 2008 the pink stuff was hard to find so I settled for ReadyCure. It's a pain converting the cure in most recipes but if you think about it, it's called ReadyCure for a reason...I just add quantity of ReadyCure using the cure:meat weight ratio recommended by CCC  and ignore the salt called for in the recipe. I can almost guarantee that the cure sold by most butchers or supermarket meat department here are the 1KG bags like mine repackaged in much smaller bags. 

@lkapigian I'm reluctant to change anything (omit the cure) if it ain't broken 

Canugghead

DoubleEgger said:

Remember that expiration dates and shelf life can be based on the packaging and not the ingredients. 

Agree. I suppose that could also be a reason why I was told to discard after a year. This place specialises in curing supplies, they probably don't expect a typical customer to keep it meticulously clean and chamber seal it in single use small bags at the get-go.

Speaking of typical, there were two other customers of the same ethnicity... I helped one calculate the amount of premixed sausage cure needed for n lbs of meat; the other said he was surprised to see someone like me there, lol. 

Ozzie_Isaac

Canugghead said:

@paqman After chamber sealing, they are hard like hockey pucks. When I open the bags even years later, they're free flowing and not lumpy at all, no sign of moisture absorption or colour change.

What is PPG? You've probably seen the same old MSM cook I posted over the years, they were all cured by the same original bag of ReadyCure, no difference in taste or texture between the first and last briskets.

PPGs are polypropylene glycols, humectants meant to help preserve moisture.

Canugghead

Thanks @Ozzie_Isaac. There's glycerine, not sure if that's similar.

Canugghead

Apology to @paqman, I thought I posted this earlier in my reply...

paqman

@Canugghead @poster  That’s the one I use, it is 6.25% nitrite; it is white; it doesn’t have any pink die.

@Ozzie_Isaac is correct, PPG is Propylene Glycol, it is not the same thing as glycerine.  Mine is probably as old as yours.  Still no smell.  I honestly don’t think that it can expire if kept dry and well sealed.  I use a PPG solution to maintain the humidity level of my cigars.

Glycerine can apparently go rancid but I’ve never experienced it myself and I have bottles that are several YO… I suspect that there are only trace amounts in the mix so…

I’m down to the bottom of my last bag, time to re-order I think.

Canugghead

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

lkapigian

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

JohnInCarolina

lkapigian said:

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

lkapigian

JohnInCarolina said:

lkapigian said:

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

LoL

Ozzie_Isaac

JohnInCarolina said:

lkapigian said:

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this.

lkapigian

Ozzie_Isaac said:

JohnInCarolina said:

lkapigian said:

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this.

Brilliant Post!

JohnInCarolina

Ozzie_Isaac said:

JohnInCarolina said:

lkapigian said:

Canugghead said:

@paqman You got me confused, isn't ReadyCure 1% nitrite? The recommended max dosages confirm that:
1) Prague powder #1 6.25%, max 3g per kg meat
2) ReadyCure 1%, max 20g per kg meat
btw, your second pic is SGH bait!

This is correct^^ .25% usage of cure 1 or 2

skip the cures, math is much easier 

Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this.

Haha.  I listened to them a bit in high school because I had a girlfriend who was really into them.  

In retrospect that’s the only thing I actually gained from that relationship, an awareness of some music I probably wouldn’t have heard otherwise. 

Canugghead

Two briskets made a small dent in the 1kg bag, no way these sealed pouches are going to the landfill next year 

paqman

Not one, two briskets! 😂🤣

You will be fine

Canugghead

paqman said:

Not one, two briskets! 😂🤣

You will be fine

Thanks, you bet!
No fixed date to eat any of these yet. Plan is to smoke till IT 165 after the 10-day sleep with twice daily flip, then vac seal and freeze. Ready to steam and serve on demand. So technically it's zero brisket until further notice 

Ozzie_Isaac

Canugghead said:

paqman said:

Not one, two briskets! 😂🤣

You will be fine

Thanks, you bet!
No fixed date to eat any of these yet. Plan is to smoke till IT 165 after the 10-day sleep with twice daily flip, then vac seal and freeze. Ready to steam and serve on demand. So technically it's zero brisket until further notice 

How are the flips coming?