Pastrami Question


 

Dan C. FL

TVWBB Pro
So, I'm thinking about doing some homemade pastrami this week. I saw Chris' article and looks really easy. The only problem that I have is that I have Prague 1, not Morton's Tender Quick (which I still haven't found around here). Does anyone know how to do the cure with Prague 1 rather than MTQ? Thanks!
 
Prague #1 is indeed a curing salt similar to Tender Quick.

Prague Powder #1, also referred to as Tinted Cure or Pink Curing Salt, is used for all types of meats, sausage, fish, and jerky curing. One of the most popular curing salts, Prague powder #1 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium chloride as per FDA and USDA regulations. ... Mix cure with cold water

You should be able to use approx. the same quantities for the same duration and expect the same results as Morten Tender Quick. Maybe add a little sugar to your #1, if you want nearly identical results
 
I see it in most grocery stores around here. There's really no easy way to substitute. I'd find a recipe that calls for cure #1. Here's one I've found just googling:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018642-homemade-corned-beef

That seems like a lot of cure to me though. The universal cure calculator seems to be gone. Usually Cure#1 rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds but that is for a dry cure. Do NOT do a direct substitution of cure#1 for tenderquick. You'll wind up with way too much cure.
 
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Prague #1 is indeed a curing salt similar to Tender Quick.



You should be able to use approx. the same quantities for the same duration and expect the same results as Morten Tender Quick. Maybe add a little sugar to your #1, if you want nearly identical results
NO NO NO!!!!!
they cannot be substituted one for the other!!!!!
 
Depending on where you look, it's about 1 teaspoon Prague #1 to 5 pounds of meat, MTQ is 1 tablespoon per pound, or 5 tablespoons for 5 pounds of meat.
 
NO NO NO!!!!!
they cannot be substituted one for the other!!!!!
Thanks for the correction. Prague is 94% Chloride & 6% Nitrite (both sodium) whereas Morten Tender Quick is 50/50 sodium Nitrate. I guess that means there's no Chloride in MTC? Anyway my bad, but that's why we keep Bob around here, to keep us straight
 
I looked at Chris's recipe. He's dry curing so that 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds is what you should use. I usually calculate it in terms of percentage of the meat in grams. at 0.25%. I'd add the cure I suggest and then you just need to figure out how much salt and sugar. Tenderquick is mostly salt and sugar and some nitrite. Tenderquick is acting as the salt in his recipe (plus some cure and sugar). I'd cut it to 3 tablespoons salt and add 1 tablespoon of sugar just guessing that tenderquick is about 79% salt , 20%sugar. I really wish that calculator hadn't gone down or I could tell you for sure.
 
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I looked at Chris's recipe. He's dry curing so that 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds is what you should use. I usually calculate it in terms of percentage of the meat in grams. at 0.25%. I'd add the cure I suggest and then you just need to figure out how much salt and sugar. Tenderquick is mostly salt and sugar and some nitrite. Tenderquick is acting as the salt in his recipe (plus some cure and sugar). I'd cut it to 3 tablespoons salt and add 1 tablespoon of sugar just guessing that tenderquick is about 79% salt , 20%sugar. I really wish that calculator hadn't gone down or I could tell you for sure.

Would the salt in tenderquick be more like table salt than kosher salt?
 
Thanks for the thoughts y'all! Seems like all the other recipes I've found use a liquid brining. I need to think about this a bit more. MTQ isn't available around here. I searched far and wide before making my first batch of bacon.
 
Dan... Have you tried Amazon ?

Yes sir! I saw it was available on Amazon. I was trying to avoid buying MTQ because I already have Pink Curing Salt #1 on hand at home. It's just me and my wife, so I won't be doing that much curing. Especially now that I have 6 lbs. of bacon in the freezer. :cool:
 
This is my adaptation of Chris's dry cure, based on tenderquick roughly 80%salt. 20% cure. and a 6.5 lb flat. I don't like using teaspoons when it comes to cure. I calculate 7.36g but. 6 grams is 1 teaspoon and 8 grams is 1 1/3. Rounding up a little will be ok. You are still well under 200 ppm which is safe, especially for a solid piece of meat. I'm also assuming the granules of the salt in tenderquick are more akin to table salt and white sugar. I've never tried this out, but it's as close as I can come up with.

1 1/4 teaspoon cure #1
3 Tablespoons Table Salt
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper 2 Tablespoons granulated garlic powder
2 Tablespoons ground coriander
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Makes enough cure for one brisket flat.
 
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This is my adaptation of Chris's dry cure, based on tenderquick roughly 80%salt. 20% cure. and a 6.5 lb flat. I don't like using teaspoons when it comes to cure. I calculate 7.36g but. 6 grams is 1 teaspoon and 8 grams is 1 1/4. Rounding up a little will be ok. You are still well under 200 ppm which is safe, especially for a solid piece of meat. I'm also assuming the granules of the salt in tenderquick are more akin to table salt and white sugar. I've never tried this out, but it's as close as I can come up with.

1 1/4 teaspoon cure #1
3 Tablespoons Table Salt
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper 2 Tablespoons granulated garlic powder
2 Tablespoons ground coriander
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Makes enough cure for one brisket flat.

Man, Dustin, you did some work!!!!! Thank you!! I will try this in the near future.
 
In this case slightly less sugar and salt if you account for the salt in the cure. The sugar would be about a teaspoon less and the salt probably just a smidge. My recipe only accounts for the sodium nitrite in the recipe, not the nitrate and is based on a 156 ppm sodium nitrite level. Tenderquick appears to be 79% salt, 20% sugar .5% sodium nitrite and .5% sodium nitrate. Cure #1 is 93.75% salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite. I did find a recipe similar to Chris's on the Chef Steps site using a dry cure base on cure#1. He used about twice the cure that I did probably based on a higher ppm which you can do. If you were going to do a close approximate of the recipe you could use cure#2 but I doubt you want to go there. Mine will work. You are going for that pink color and cure flavor. You aren't necessarily looking to preserve the meat for a long time or cold smoke it.
 
This is I think a little closer. I bumped up the cure a little bit and adjusted the sugar and salt down a little.
The USDA allows up to 625 ppm for a dry cure on solid meat, such as ham or what have you including pastrami. The really are no USDA minumums. 200 will get the job done. I typically calculate with 156 but that's because it's the maximum amount for sausage. Here I'm using 200. I'm assuming 1 teaspoon of cure is about 6g. This will put you at slightly less than 200ppm for a 6.5 lb flat.

1 1/2 teaspoon cure #1
2 1/2 Tablespoons Table Salt
2 Teaspoons white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons granulated garlic powder
2 Tablespoons ground coriander

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Makes enough cure for one brisket flat.
 

 

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