I want to substitute another preservative for an Italian antipasto recipe. The original recipe calls for granulated potassium nitrate (saltpetre). I had a 16oz box, but it's empty now. What can I use instead?
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Hello, and welcome to the site! Your question was rather hard to understand. I tried to reword it, but I'm not sure I could preserve your meaning. If you don't agree with the new version, you can edit it again.– rumtscho ♦Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 18:37
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I'm going to take a stab at the edit. Terrance, please do not hesitate to change it back if I'm wrong.– Jolenealaska ♦Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 7:26
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3 Answers
Nitrates and nitrites have very few practical substitutes. They work well as antimicrobial agents, have a not unpleasant taste, and are easy to work with. This is a surprisingly unique set of characteristics.
Using just salt as a preservative would work really well... as long as you are careful to keep the meat in a single piece, and are careful to cultivate the right bacteria. In the right conditions of temperature and humidity, these bacteria break down some of the meat into nitric oxide and, well, nitrates and nitrites.
Celery juice works really well.. except that it's high in nitrates that then break down into nitrites in the curing process. It's also hard to predict how much nitrites will be released into the final product.
If you are really worried about nitrates / nitrites, can safely omit them, but there are some important caveats. First, your antipasto will look... less cheerful. The hemoglobins in the meat will oxidize, and turn from red to grey without the nitrites. Nitrates and nitrites do create other flavors in meats besides just saltiness. You will also need to eat the antipasto fast- without the powers of preservatives, it'll spoil at the same rate as fresh meat. I would treat the final product as such, and would not leave it unrefrigerated for any amount of time
In short, without nitrates, you can make a delicious fresh sausage. Just please cook it, and don't call it a cured meat.
You cannot substitute preservatives in recipe. Food safety is very hard to get right, sometimes small changes can have a very large effect.
If your recipe specifies saltpetre, you have to use saltpetre. Any change to the recipe, or using a subsitute, means that the result has to be tested in a laboratory before it can be declared safe.
If you cannot find any place to purchase more saltpetre, you could choose another antipasto recipe from a trusted source, looking for one which uses a different preservation method, for example canning. Note that you cannot can the original recipe and assume that it will be safe - not all recipes are suitable for canning.
answered Sep 24, 2014 at 18:40
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1First of all - I second that emotion - don't substitute when it comes to preservatives - it's a critical issue of sanitation - don't substitute - don't substitute. Second, and maybe more importantly - 16 oz.? Good lord! I can only assume that your recipe must be massive to call for a pound of a preservative relative to the combined weights of the other ingredients. Depending on the scope of your recipe, do you know that the recipe you're looking at is from a reliable source? Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 19:57
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@StephenEure Please take a look at the original question text. I couldn't understand it well enough to be sure that this amount refers to one batch of antipasti. It could also have meant that the OP just finished his 16 ounces box of saltpetre. But I didn't see why the number would be relevant then. Maybe you can make better sense of it? (If you click on the "edited 1 hour ago" link, you can see the complete edit history).– rumtscho ♦Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 20:03
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Wow - OK. Yeah...couldn't make any better sense of it. Thanks. Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 22:05
Preservatives traditionally have been
Salt, Acid (vinegar, etc), Salt Peter (Potassium Nitrate, KNo3, never look up how this stuff is produced)
Vegetetable preservation usually relies on first 2, but meat usually involves all 3 for a real long term storage solution. You can use the first 2 to cure pork belly, but it won't last as long as bacon.
The safest way I've been told by a canner is to salt and acidify your preserves but really a pasteurization phase is the best you can do.
