What is Tenderquick?

Tenderquick is for curing meat it has nitrate.
Tenderquick is just a name brand from Mortan which is a big salt company here.

If they have pigs in Oz and turn them into Ham's and briskets into Pastrami they have to have something.

Look for "curing salt". It may not be TQ, but it will be something. You need a "cure". You might also hear of Prague Powder.

Curing salts will turn a chunk of regular pork into a beautiful ham through a curing process. It's a long and laborious process that takes time, but before refirgeration, it worked wonders.

Smokin'

The tenderquick is hard to find around here (CT). I don't have a WalMart "Super Center" near me, but they are supposed to carry it in the Super Centers according to Morton. We just have regular WalMarts here. I tried every major grocery store, butcher and even a few kitchen supply stores.

I finaly gave up and ordered it direct from Morton and it cost me almost as much for shipping as it did for the product. When all is said and done I paid just under $20 for two three pound bags of it.

Rich I had the same problem and order it. I kept looking in the spice and salt section of the grocery store and one day I found it around the Mason jars .

C. Clark "Smoky" Hale has a recipe that allows you to make your own Tender Quick:

26 oz of non-iodized salt
1 Lb of sugar
1 oz of potassium nitrate (or 2/3 ox of sodium nitrate)

Mix all ingredients very well. You have to distribute the nitrate evenly throughout. Store in an air tight container labeled as curing salt. The recipe makes enough cure to cure about 35 Lbs of meat.

Thanks for the recipe. I've seen it before, but never really interested to try it.

Now, if you think someone can't find TQ, they'll have trouble finding Potassium Nitrite

Smokin'

You could try a local pharmacy for the nitrite.

This formula seems like a lot of nitrate - I think the usual recommendation is more like 1/4 oz sodium nitrate per 100# meat, or about 156 parts per million.

2/3oz per 35# is about 8 times higher than that.

Try http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html as one reference for nitrate amounts.

Thanks for all your help guys. I was doing a search on the net for Australian sites that sell curing salt and I found the WA Salt Supply, so I should be able to get it from them.

Thanks again everyone,

Micah in Oz