This came in the mail the other day.I'll be dissolving some of it in water tomorrow and proceeding with a — um — procedure. A seasonal procedure, begorrah.
No fair guessing, Kevin.
Anyone else?
Oh, come on. Plain as rain. Rain sprinkles, and so does...
?
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30 comments:
makin' carned beef, are ye?
Oh, damn, Anita. Yes.
Gold star FOR YOU!
Anyone else care to identify the contents of the packet? Cos Anita *didn't answer the question*!!!
:D
Well I'm guessing there must be some salt involved, but no clue what else.
Yeah, Kalyn. Yup. Salt. But more.
Scary stuff.
And that -- that -- tint! Eeee!
Nitrates of some sort, I think?
Samantha: You are in the proper chemistry lab, but you have a vowel problem. Good.
Ah, nitrites :) Is that why it's pink?
Also, thanks for visiting my site and bringing the RSS problem to my attention! Should be fixed now, but here’s a direct link in case you need it: http://www.infraredherring.com/feed/atom/
I was gonna say....rhubarb sugar, or maybe sea monkeys, or possibly some crystalline substance from some undisclosed offal used in some bizarre pagan spring ritual....and then it hit me, you're a salty one. And salted, is corned. Yer gonna' corn some brisket are ya'? Yum-mee!
That'd be nitrites, aka pink salt. Also quite useful for makin' bacon.
Hmmm, maybe that needs to be on the list of things to do once I have a kitchen. Not that, you know, bacon is an indoor sport. :)
Oh how prosaic, when I saw you mention rain I though it was manna coming to you a more modern way, i.e. by post...nitrites, what a delusion!
I'm lost here but I love the colour!
Oooo. And will there be hash again? I'm sure there will be hash again. Oh, and sandwiches.
I was hoping it was pink cake mix for easter cake.
gelatin?
CC,
I knew what it was the moment I saw it.
I would have guessed pink sugar, used to make cotton-candy... but if there´s salt in it, i really don´t know...
Samantha: Great. And yes, proper vowel now!
D-man: I never thought of sugar. But see, you figgered me out: I'm salty. Hm, but I do like the idea of rhubarb sugar. Is it pink?
Anita: Ding ding ding! Winner! Pink salt, aka salt with a 6.25% mixture of sodium nitrite (saltpeter!!), plus some propylene glycol (?) AND necessarily (by law, I assume) a dash of FD&C #3 Red, to distinguish it from table salt. It's used for curing meat. It's not *necessary* for corned beef, but using it will preserve the red color, and I'm just having fun experimenting.
Ilva: Oh, the rain confused you. In the US, the Morton Salt company has a slogan for their non-clumping salt (because it has chemical additives): "When it rains, it pours."
Beccy: Pretty, innit? But you don't want it in your mouth.
Dagny: You are my Boswell. You remember all my stuff. And oh yeah, hash and sandwiches! Heck, the brisket we bought yesterday was 5 pounds!
Kitikata-san: Kitty cat san! Oh, so cute! Nope, not much of a sweet tooth here.
Stacie: Yeah, remember that shiz in capsules we swallowed for our fingernails? But. No.
Kevin: At this point, you are allowed into the conversation. xx
Natalia: That is my favorite guess so far, because I actually like cotton candy. Or I have a distant memory of having liked it. But no. It's salt.
I have a good memory for good looking food.
And have you thought of making your own mix? I know that you can buy saltpeter at stores like Ancient Ways. (It's a necessary ingredient in combustible incenses and so I usually have some on hand.)
Hey Dag: I didn't know about that, you wiccan wicca whatever. :D
I suspect it wouldn't be impossible to get the ratio right.
I wonder where else you can get saltpeter; pharmacies, I suppose.
But... That cute pink tint!! Well, I could do that, I suppose.
Thanks.
Now I'd have said jelly crystals. BUt I Checked out Kevin's blog and saw he'd made corned beef so I guess it's whatever you make corned beef with.
Elephant Pharmacy? Seems as they carry herbal and holistic stuff there, they might have it.
Looks like somebody emtpied out a whole lot of pixie sticks (or were they Pyxy Stix? -- my kids' generational sugar high, not mine). I'm quite sure you'll be the queen of corned beef come next weekend and I want to hear all about it.
Saltoeter? Snicker.
kudzu also said that she should edit her comments now that she is adjusting to new specs. Sorry!
"emptied" "saltpeter"
Oh, and I just did more research on pink salt. Yes, it is 6.25% saltpeter. The remainder of the mixture, 93.75%, is table salt. So if one was feeling mathematically inclined and careful with measurements, it seems that one could create one's own pink salt. Why one might even get fancy and use salt that one has harvested one's self. Not that I know of anyone who has done that.
Insta Cure #1. I am familiar with this product. It is used in sausage and most smoked meat products. It retards the growth of botulism. It is necessary when you are cold smoking meat products at temperatures to low to kill the cooties.
That reminds me to go out and buy a brisket. I forgot all about the Green Day. Good Luck with your Corned Beef. A little Insta Cure goes a long way. You probably have enough Cure to feed Marin County.
I know it's not, but looks like pink sugar - for cotton candy!
Barbara: Jelly crystals? I'm thinking, thinking... would that be the same as Jell-O powder? I'll bet that's it. Yeah, it looks like it. But no. Salt.
Dagny: Yeah, we gots an Elephant over here in SR. I've never been inside, but it might be good research.
And, well, yes, it's theoretically possible that some bonehead would harvest her own salt!!
Kudzu: Good one! Sticky.
Sher: I suppose they tint it pink to make it attractive to children. :P
Chilebrown: Great explication, thankee. Yeah, now I have a whole jar of this stuff. Good luck with your brisket! Get cornin'!!
Cindy: Too much confuselage in the food world, eh?
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