Serbian Pork Seasoning

 

If anyone has any comment on the likeliehood or authenticity of this, let me know, but for now, it is pretty simple, as given to me:

 

Serbian pork seasoning, [from] a Frugal Gourmet cookbook: 3 parts salt, 2 parts sugar, 2 parts fennel seed, 1 part black pepper, 1 part white pepper.

Brook wrote: Would seem to me that's a cure rather than a seasoning per se, Ron. Maybe for smoke curing hams, etc. Or for use in sausages?

 

 

Your hypothesis might indeed be correct, considering that most salts in Europe, especially in historical times, had naturally-occurring nitrites that in effect cured meats. Nowadays, if my goal was to cure a hunk of meat with this recipe, I'd want to add some cure to it, just to make sure.

 

For sausages, an additional ingredient - sodium nitrate - would be necessary, in order to prevent the possibility of botulism that arises from stuffing ground meat into an anaerobic environment. In the old days, saltpetre was used, but in modern times it is considered too unpredictable to use safely or reliably; indeed, and over-dose of the stuff could kill a person.

 

In any event, the presence of the sugar (which is also used in many charcuterie projects along with salt and nitrites/nitrates) makes me believe that this would be an effective and delicious cure, provided that the food safety safety considerations mentioned above are followed. In fact, I'm thinking that it might be a "bridge" formula between some Italian cured meats and the Romanian pastramă that I am very fond of making.

You nailed it . the Romanian cure belly of pork this way for smoking.