Making droewors

[Olaf]

I didn't say it stops it, it mitigates it by lowering the Ph creating a hostile environment for bacterial growth - similar to how the maturation phase of traditional salami making creates lactic acid lowering the Ph. Nitrites or nitrates have their own health issues and are not traditional for droewors. It does alter the taste and colour too - but you can use that if you really want. Droewors and biltong looks like 'black dried out meat' - it is what it is and has always looked that way.

I’m sorry about the laughter but some vinegar will not prevent botulism. Nor will wine or sea salt . This is something that the Huge Furry Whippingtool seems unwilling to understand too.
I agree that the curing salt will alter its colour ( mostly on the inside ) from black to a deep red colour, but, I personally prefer the lovely deep red colour of a cured meat to that of a dried cats pooh looking thing.
Given that curing salts contain less nitrite than celery salt does , one need not be too concerned about using them.
Given what is potentially possible from omission of something as harmless and simple as some curing salt, I really cannot see why anyone would deliberately not use them when they are cheap and extremely safe to use.
it’s fair enough if you don’t want to use them on your own food, but you really shouldn’t Give them to anyone else to eat. I bet they wouldn’t eat them if you explained that there is a slim chance of them being killed from eating your Cured sausages.
kindest regards, Olaf

 

[Olaf]

It has to be said, botulism is the major reason I will just stick to proprietary recipe mixes and be done with it, they taste great anyway and it couldn’t be simpler to use, just finding the sweet spot for just the right balance of salt is all I’ve struggled with, but that’s just a bit of experimenting.

You shouldn’t limit yourself to proprietary mixes. They often contain all sorts of stuff that you would rather not eat including all manner of bulking agents too. they are also extremely expensive by comparison to what you can do with some basic ingredients and some curing salts. My main gripe with those mixes is they have a relatively short shelf life. Curing salt will last for many moons if you keep it dry.
I’d try the recipe that ARIS posted , I reckon it’s potentially a tasty one, albeit with some curing salts instead of normal table salt.
kindest regards , Olaf

 

[aris]

Again, I never said it would prevent botulism. Lowering the ph will limit bacterial growth hence mitigate it. None of the commercial droewors mixes have any nitrates or nitrites in them.

None of the commercially made droewors you see for sale in the UK has nitrates or nitrites in them either.

Using nitrates itself be dangerous. I’ve seen plenty of recipes which call for saltpetre which is not an ingredient you should be using unless you understand how to.

 

[takbok]

Roe biltong after 5 days in the drier - about 4kg of shoulder and haunch meat. Delicious!