Shipping kills the deal on most everything to Ontario.
It seems the nanny state is big in Ontario as you can buy pink salt (or equivalent) anywhere else, especially prairies but not here.
The sausage maker was a good find but again, shipping is as much or more than the product for us Canucks.
Mike if I ever find a local cheap source (and sorry, but $45 at WS for a pound of the stuff is not gonna work for me) I'll let you know.
I knew about Canada Compounds but it's a hour or more one way trip for me and again, shipping in Canada sucks.
HAVING SAID THAT:
I've found a book on sausage making (called Home Sausage Making) that has lots of recipes that DON'T use a cure. Basically, it's make cook and eat or make and freeze. No curing salts required.
Here's one example for chorizo:
7 pounds lean pre-frozen or certified
pork butt, cubed
3 pounds pork fat, cubed
8 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons finely ground, fresh
black pepper
3 tablespoons cayenne red pepper
1 tablespoon coarsely crushed red
pepper
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon crushed Oregano
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup brandy
1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid or
1 teaspoon saltpeter
6 feet medium hog casings
It uses "certified" pork--which is just pork that's been frozen for a period of time to kill the tricinosis(sp) worms present in all raw pork) AND because it's not using curing salts. It also uses ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in a 'special' form which is a form of preservative
BUT NOT to be used as a preservative like the curing salts.
In regards to the saltpeter alternative, I found this posting in another forum (I can't vouch for it's accuracy though as it's just from a guy like you or me).
Saltpeter is still commonly used around the world for sausage making, and curing meat; but it is no longer recommended for use in the U.S.A. You will see many older recipes in American curing/smoking books that still refer to using saltpeter. Saltpeter was very popular until nitrites started being manufactured in the early 1900's. Nitrates are too difficult to measure, and because it is a nitrate it is not recommended for meat that will be cooked.
As already mentioned, the chemical Saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate) is a nitrate. Nitrates do not provide any protection, and certain types of bacteria must be present on the meat to help break the nitrates down to nitrites; nitrites do the actual curing and protecting. Because nitrates need to be broken down, they are considered a slow cure and take much longer to cure the meat. Slowly breaking down, and releasing nitrites: like a time release capsule.
Cure #1 is a formula that contains salt (93.75%) and nitrites (6.25%). It is measured differently then saltpeter. Nitrites are considered fast cure, and as it took you 14 days to cure your beef, using a nitrite and depending on the size of the meat, would generally take you 3 - 4 days.
That's the way I'll go for the time being.