[erwinpiw]

Hi guys!

I am from the Philippines and I relocated to London a few months ago. And I am dying to make a  corned beef recipe passed on to me from my mother. But the problem is there is one ingredient that I have not found. This is the Curing Salt a.k.a. Sodium Nitrite or Prague Powder. It basically looks like salt but only pink in color. I tried every store already from big Supermarkets to Chinatown and nothing. Wish someone could help me look for a store which sells this one. Or atleast you guys could tell me the address. It would much be appreciated. P.S. I am currently unemployed and I am planning to make a small business out of this.

 

[maryb]

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=237_12&products_id=56

 

[ed buchanan]

Try the name Saltpeter

 

[genemachine]

Resident biochemist here - careful, Ed. Saltpeter is sodium nitrate. It's also used for curing, but under different conditions than sodium nitrite.

Can't help with the availability of nitrite in England, though, unfortunately. Might help to look for butchers' supplies - it is widely used, after all.

Gm

 

[tatnall]

Search for instacure.  In the US even Amazon has it.

 

[ed buchanan]

At one time saltpeter was given to our troops . It stopped their sexual prowness when overseas in wartime. Nitrate and Nitrite are both used in curing and smoking meats.  Some claimwhen heated over charcoal briquettes they form carsaginians. If they do I do not know.

 

[genemachine]

The compound with the significant antibacterial properties is nitrite. Nitrate, aka salpeter, is converted by certain bacteria to nitrite. So a nitrite cure is more effective anyway. Adding nitrate can be useful for air-dried sausages that ripen for a long time, so you get a slow time-release of nitrite by microbial action. For short curing, nitrite is to be preferred. On the carcinogenic properties, well, yeah, it may form nitrosamines, but so does spinach with its naturally high nitrate content...