Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Peameal bacon.....and the result is

My recipe's are pretty much standard. Buy food , season , apply heat and eat.

I am wondering from reading other sources if 2 Tbsp of Prague #1 is too much?

Bet you could make a nice hash out of it, too...sounds like great campfire fare...

this recipe uses Morton Tenderquick

http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/search?q=+peameal

Thats the best part of using it for a boiled dinner , the next mornings hash.

I would not use it.

Morton's Tender Quick is a mixture of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, whereas Cure #1's are straight Sodium Nitrate. What eh76 used was Prague Powder #1 which is nitrite only and used in most ham crafting. Two completely different things.

I called Morton today and asked their nitrate/nitrite levels and they stated that composition of Morton Tender Quick is sodium Nitrate is 5% and sodium nitrite is 5%. They also put some sugar (I heard it was 2%) and a touch of Propylene Glycol as a moisture desiccant.

The recipe calls for "2 tablespoons Prague powder #1 cure" nitrite in this type is "about" 6%??? So to get the same effects you would need to increase get the Morton up to the same level, which might be too salty. You would have to adjust the total salt content to match. The problem here is the amount of nitrite that's in it.

One issue you could run into is "Over Cure", because the nitrate will convert over to nitrite adding to the total nitrite count.

Some of the # 2 cures (Morton Tender Quick is one type) in the professional world is around the 5-6% areas, fairly close in composition of nitrate/nitrite to each other. Tender Quick is a bit watered down version of sodium nitrate/nitrite if this information is true. However, the recipe does stated that there is no need to cure, however I would use cure because of the immersion in liquid speeds spoilage, not to mention overall safety of the product against Staph Aureus and Clostridium.


I see this in a lot of different forums and searches for cure. People are under the perception that all of these curing salts are the same, and they are not. They have different amounts of active curing agents and different kinds for different meat products, not to mention different recipes for the same type of end compounds. What I mean by this is one companies #1 cure can have a different % than another companies #1 cure %.

There is actually a science behind their use. You simply can't just substitute one for the other and everything will turn out the same way.


Hope this clears up some miss conceptions out there.

Thanks for that! It answers my question too!

noodlz please explain "boiled dinner". That is something we don't hear down in Wyoming. How long are you boiling the meat. Is it whole? Are you adding vegetables at different stages?

My guess is he's referring to a corn beef style meal...

This.... Meat for a couple hours or so depending on size then toss in veggies till done. The liquid makes for good bean soup stock.

That is exactly what I do with the liquid from boiled corned beef...

One from the smoker. I use a rub with a lot of heat , it goes good with the sweetness of the cure.

Thanks noodlz!

Dang that looks good!!!

I trimmed almost all of the fat off mine to get to the silver skin that was left. Next time I am leaving it on I think since I am injecting it. You gents see any problem with doing that?

The stuff I use says 1 Tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat

That is what I was wondering Chris. In 3 qts of water it didn't seem like much but I am a novice at this.

Well not all the cure is going into the meat if your brining it the way you did. I would assume you are actually quite low in overall ppm.

The point of the matter is, you should follow the manufactures instructions. If they say 1 tsp in a brine of 3 qt water then that is what you should be using. Quite possibly their cure salt recipe could be of a higher nitrite level not needing as much as the other brand.

I'm going to do what they call a "combination cure". What this means is I'm going to do and injectable and then apply a dry rub then let it sit for about a week or so under refrigeration then wash it off. I will take my cure to lb. ratio according to the manufactures directions and divide it in half. One of these will go into the rub, the other into the injectable.

When I inject flavorings I put all the spices into a large coffee cup, add about 1/3 water and heat. Let her boil a few times then for a few minutes between then pour the mixture into an old reusable coffee filter that I sit in a measuring cup. I use the back of a spoon to remove the excess water from the spices and then discard the spice. Then let it cool back down tell nice and warm and add my cure and stir a few times until it's dissolved and inject.

The instructions were in the recipe not on the pkg of Prague #1. Thanks for the tips.

I've never heard of it Keith, but it sure looks and sounds good. What purpose does the corn meal serve?

Mike