Tender Quick:  what it is and how it is used in barbecue

By JOE AMES

KANSAS CITY, Missouri -- Many barbecue cooks have heard of Tender Quick but do not understand what it is and how it it used.  Its purpose is to cure and tenderize meat quickly ("Tender Quick")..

What it is

Tender Quick is a blend of salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, and propylene glycol.  The amount of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are 0.5%.

Why it is used

For centuries, nitrates and nitrites have been used to cure meat.  They reduce the risk of botulism poisoning while the meat cures, and they change the meat's color into the typical pink of ham and cured sausage.

What the ingredients do

The salt aids the flavor and preservation of the meat.  The sugar mellows the salt.  The nitrate turns into nitrite, which turns into a gas, and this is what cures the meat.  The propylene glycol is a preservative.

Why it was developed

To be effective in curing meat, there must be the correct amount of nitrates and nitrites evenly distributed throughout the curing mixture.  Too much or too little nitrates or nitrites is ineffective and possibly dangerous.  However, it is very difficult for a home cook to create the proper curing mixture, because the ingredients of salt, sugar and nitrates cannot be mixed effectively.  The proper amount of nitrate and nitrite are less than 1%.  Simply combining the ingredients is ineffective, because "stratification" occurs, so that the nitrates and nitrites will not be distributed evenly throughout the mixture.

Many years ago, the Morton Salt people developed Tender Quick, so that the home cook could safely cure meat.  The ingredients in Tender Quick are bonded.  Basically, bonding means that the ingredients are mixed with water to achieve a solution and then dried.  This guarantees that the ingredients are distributed evenly in the proper ratio, even in the smallest amounts.

Further information

• The Morton Tender Quick website
• The Ingredient Store website
• The Northwest Smoking website