Tender Quick Curing Salt

[David Ross]

The other day I set out on a quest for some curing salt to use in a brine for corned beef. I typically buy my curing salt at one of two different large outdoor/sporting goods stores that are part of national chains. The two stores I visited have a focus on fishing and hunting. Typically outdoor stores have a large selection of different curing salts, brine mixes and spices. All I wanted was a small packet of curing salt, but everything on display came in a large box-curing salt, spice mix and in some cases, sausage casings included.

Defeated, I stopped at a local grocery store to see if in a last ditch effort they had curing salt available. There, on the bottom shelf in the spice section was a display of bags of Morton "Tender Quick." I read the instructions, seemed simple enough. The ingredients were what I was looking for, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. Everything was in a 2lb. bag and it was far cheaper than the curing salt and brine mixes at the outdoor stores.

I'm planning on using the Tender Quick to make corned beef, maybe a ham this Spring. Have you had any experience with using Morton Tender Quick?

[ermintrude]

Many places will not sell nitrates as they can be used to make explosives ( sigh - sign of the times, I used to do this as a kid and had a lot of fun) but you can get it here http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Saltpetre__500_grammes.html

[scubadoo97]

Many places will not sell nitrates as they can be used to make explosives ( sigh - sign of the times, I used to do this as a kid and had a lot of fun) but you can get it here http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Saltpetre__500_grammes.html

Okay now at least that explains why I have never been able to find it at any grocery store in my area.

[Norm Matthews]

Tender Quick is available at my small town grocery store so I'd be surprised if it weren't just about everywhere. I use it to make corned beef and have used it with pork tenderloin to make Canadian bacon. It works just fine for me.

[gfweb]

Many places will not sell nitrates as they can be used to make explosives ( sigh - sign of the times, I used to do this as a kid and had a lot of fun) but you can get it here http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Saltpetre__500_grammes.html

I did that too . My idiot friend almost burned his house down when he was grinding it one morning. He forgot to keep it damp. A word to the wise.

[scubadoo97]

Tender Quick is available at my small town grocery store so I'd be surprised if it weren't just about everywhere. I use it to make corned beef and have used it with pork tenderloin to make Canadian bacon. It works just fine for me.

Maybe there are more bomb making crazies here in Florida than where you live. Okay remove the maybe from my statement.

[kayb]

I corned beef with it last summer. Worked fine.

[qrn]

You can calculate the %'sof nitrite, etc.from the Tender quick bag to duplicate the %'sof your curing salts.

Worked for me couple years ago when I ran out of them..

Bud

[karlos]

I was surprised to find this at my local Wegmans (East Coast chain). I used it to make bologna.