Homemade Sausage Making

Got a question about salami:
When I make fresh sausages etc, there's usually a few patties in it for the last bit stuck in the filler, which makes interesting hamburgers etc.
Now when you make a salami, and use the patties left over from the filling process, they will contain Cure #2. A salami wouldn't be consumed until well into the drying process, by which time the nitrate will have transformed into nitrite.
Does this mean that the patties are unsafe to eat, and if so, will the passage of time in a freezer dissipate the nitrate?
Or have I got it all wrong?
Thanks anyone.
Ursula

Hi Ursula,

When NaNO3 (sodium nitrate) is placed into meat, it eventually begins to react with the staphylococcus and micrococcus bacteria present in meat. The reaction creates NaNO2 (sodium nitrite) - the reduction needed (nitric oxide) to start the curing process. However, if the meat does not contain adequate numbers of staphylococcus and micrococcus to begin with, the curing process will become very much restrained. This is the reason cultures of specifically-measured bacteria are added to the sausage - to be sure the beneficial bacteria are included.

You asked:

A salami wouldn't be consumed until well into the drying process, by which time the nitrate will have transformed into nitrite. Does this mean that the patties are unsafe to eat, and if so, will the passage of time in a freezer dissipate the nitrate?

You must remember that staphylococcus and micrococcus (kocuria) bacteria are rendered inactive when frozen. This means that the nitrate does not reduce to nitrite. Moreover, meats brined in chlorinated water will have their naturally-present staphylococci and micrococci reduced by the chlorine. This is the reason we add distilled water to the culture when making this type of sausage.

As far as eating a leftover amount as a "fresh sausage" burger, remember that Cure #2 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite (NaNO2), as well as 4% sodium nitrate (NaNO3), along with 89.75 sodium chloride (salt). Remember how ham is made? Yup, sodium nitrite and salt. Sodium nitrite is so quick, it almost acts instantly. The salt would need a little more time to start turning you burgers into ham, but if I were you, I`d stuff the remainder of the mixed meat (left over in the bottom of the stuffing machine) by hand into the casing then twist the casing to tighten it.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Speaking for myself, I wouldn't have any problem testing a patty after frying in the pan but I would cook the patty at a medium to low heat so the nitrate will have less of a chance to turn into a nitrosamine which is thought to be a carcinogen. You are already consuming plenty of nitrates in your diet if you eat vegetables.

Better yet, wrap in plastic and poach in water and this will give you more of a hint of what the flavor will be.

Hasn't killed me yet but I do sometimes see thousands of ducks walking around my vehicle.

Here's a fun fact reprinted by the National Institutes of Health at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7777773 in an article quoted as "The Content of Nitrates and Nitrites in Fruits, Vegetables and Other Foodstuffs" by a couple of Polish researchers from Gdansk:

Katedry i Zakładu Bromatologii Wydziau Farmaceutycznego Akademii Medycznej w Gdańsku wrote:High levels of nitrate was encountered in lettuce, frozen spinach, fennel, radishes, parsley. Many of this samples contained more than 1000 mg of KNO3/kg of fresh product, but the highest level, over the 3500 mg/kg was found in lettuce. The remaining vegetables like carrots, celery, leeks and frozen French bean contained from several dozen to more than 800 mg KNO3/kg.

Yeow!!! Are those nasty farmers trying to kill us honest, sausage-eating folks with nutrition, rather than vice versa?

Thanks for that Ducko. The piece of journalism that stirred all this bad stuff about sausages was a poorly written article but it made people panic. Recent studies have even shown that nitrates are good for you but that doesn't hit the news.

Remember several years ago when they told us not to eat stuff cooked on the grill?

Remember when they said don't eat fish because of mercury and this would make your children retarded? They have just retracted that now and are telling pregnant women and children need to eat more fish.

Now our new Harvard FDA appointee is saying we can't age cheese on wood like they have for over 1000 years. Says its too dangerous. I guess we will have to settle for Kraft imitation cheese spread. And I wonder why she forfeited $500,000 a year to take a job that only pays $150,000 a year.