Insta Cure #1 (Prague Powder 1) - Curing Salt for Meat and Sausage - 4 oz. - The Sausage Maker

I love corned beef, but it is getting way to expensive. I decided to look-up how it is made and it seemed like it would not be that hard. I decided on a recipe after watching a lot of videos and reading lots of recipes, most called for curing salt. The results were way beyond my expectations. This was the most beautiful, corned beef I have had since I was a child, and I am now 71. My daughter came over for some Rueben Sandwiches one night and didn't say much but a couple of days later she wanted to know if I had made the corned beef as I had been talking about doing so for awhile. She said it was the best she had ever had (she grew up on corned beef) She told her husband about it and now they are going to be making their own also. I told her I felt the curing salt and brining time made the difference from the corned beef that I purchased for $15/lb, ready to cook and this corned beef that I added my own spices and curing salt with beef that cost $3.89 a pound. I will always make my own from now on. It seems a little pricey, but you use very little. We are now going to try making Pastrami, Kielbasa, bacon and smoked German sausage like my father -in-law used to make that we cannot buy in our area of the country and the last time we were in Chicago cost us $22 a pound.

I bought 8 fresh ham steaks on sale and expected them to be the same as store bought ham steaks. Boy, was I wrong. The first one I baked was tough, and not good at all. The second one, I marinated overnight, and it tasted better, but was still tough. So, I had 6 fresh ham steaks left and was almost tempted to throw them out. I then did a Google search and found out that curing them might save the day. I found a simple recipe that required this curing salt, so I ordered it on Amazon. For this recipe, I also had to order turbinado sugar which I also bought on Amazon. I cured all 6 of the ham steaks at one time. After 4 days, I baked one of the ham steaks with a brown sugar glaze, and it was amazing. It wasn't exactly the same as a store bought ham steak, but it was very flavorful and tender. I liked it as well or better than any store bought hams steak. You can find the recipe on Google by searching for "How to cure a ham". The recipe is for a whole ham, but it works as well for a number of ham steaks. I hope this review was helpful for you.

I use this product for making homemade jerky and corned beef. Since only very little is required for proper wet curing, this small pouch will last me for years, as I suspect it will most people. Unless you make a LOT of cured meat products at home, it'll last you a veeery long time. This was the best deal I found on Amazon for a small amount, and it's done a great job. If you've never used this stuff, it imparts color and flavor to cured meats you can't get from anything else. Corned beef is NOT corned beef without it! It does this by the same chemical reaction that makes the pink smoke ring in pulled pork BBQ. As a matter of fact, people used to put it in their pork shoulder marinade for barbecue competitions, because it made what appeared to be a very deep smoke ring. As a result, sanctioning organizations quit using the smoke ring as a judging criteria, because of the widespread cheating!

I like that this is a small amount, which makes sense because you only use 1tsp per 5lbs of wet curing meat. What I dislike, is the package it would be better in a jar or a more rugged resealable bag...

I like to make my own bologna every other month so I really don't need a lot of Insta Cure #1 so I was pleased to find a small package at a fair price. Sometimes I make my bologna without the cure but it just doesn't seem to have the same taste and I miss the light pink color that the meat retains. Plus it allows me to keep my bologna longer in the frig without spoiling as quickly. And only needing one tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat, 4 oz. should hold me for a while. I know some people have issues with nitrates/nitrites but they also occur naturally in higher amounts in some foods such as celery, leafy greens, cabbage, and beets. Even our drinking water brings us significant amounts - so I'll just enjoy my cured bologna every now and then!