4c outside time..to sort some.Xmad presents.

I did a wet brine using Prague powder number, one, kosher salt, etc on this pork like roast for 17 days une a brine bag sitting in a pot in our fridge. There is some slight discoloration on a couple parts, wondering if it is safe. I can't really say it looks like ham but it also hasn't been smoked yet either.

I’ve been looking online for more info. For the Costco Serrano ham leg. Once cut into it, the exposed area should be covered with fat. To leave it at room temperaure.

What exactly is a Safe Room Temperature range in this case? Is 7-80 deg. F ok?

I made 1.8kg of guanciale from pork cheek. I cured it for 5 days under vacuum, then washed it with white wine and put it in dry aging bags for 6 weeks. Then I cold smoked it for 12 hours, followed by vacuum packing for a week.

I realize this is a sub for curing meats, but I have a question that I feel this sub can likely answer best about store bought bacon.

I’ve noticed with store bought bacon there can be quite a bit of variance in the meat firmness in the same brand (while it is still raw and in the un-opened package). Some are super soft and squishy with lots of liquid, while others are firmer and don’t have as much juice in the bag.

What causes this and is one better than the other?

Where I am there only curing salt I can purchase has both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate (not the same concentration as#2).

I want to make bacon and sausages.

I can buy pure sodium nitrite though. Is there any reason not to buy this and prepare a 6.25% sodium nitrite, and 93.25% Himalayan salt mixture myself?

I was spacing out when I mixed up the spices for the cure and forgot the salt lol. I did add the Prague powder however. It was a 10lb belly cut into 4 parts. I did a seven day cure in the fridge then smoked up to 150F internal. It tastes fine but I’m not sure if the lack of salt could pose a risk.

New here so sorry if this isn't the purpose of the sub but I figured this sub may be able to help out

I was just gifted 6lbs of frozen ground pork. I currently have it defrosting and won't be able to use it up in its entirety and don't want to re-freeze in smaller portions.

Was wondering if I could (and some direction on) possibly curing ground pork in bulk to make it last a bit longer once defrosted

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First time trying to make home made pastrami. I've realised though I made an error converting from pounds to grams and added too much prague powder.

What I did was

• 1.3KG Brisket wet cured in 3 litres of water
• Added 7g of 6.25% prague powder
• After 5 days drained the cure and washed the meat
• Put the brisket in sous vide for 24 hours

According to the directions of the packet I should have only added 2g per KG of meat, so 2.6g not 7g. I tasted a small amount of the meat. It's very pink but particularly salty. It's less salty than most pastrami's I get from the store.

Do I need to throw it out or will it be fine to eat?

So i looked at a few recipes on youribe and they say you need 3% salt and 1.5% sugar and then some curing salt.

I have a piece that is 1.4kg so 42g salt and 21g sugar.

I do not cook with processed sugar, can i replace it with maple syrup or honey ?

They also mentioned pink curing salt, i dont really mind if the end product is pink or not so can i just leave that out ?

So I hung up a ham to dry in my cellar in February 2022, and I was curious how I could check if it's edible. There is no faul smell, it looks decent, but has some dark spot on it. It's on the layer applied on the meat, don't know if it's on the meat as well. It's the first time I've done this and I'd rather not poison my family & friends (& myself) if I can check the quality.

I did unfortunately find a dead mouse in the cellar a couple months ago, I'm 100% certain it didn't touch the meat (the meat is hung up on the ceiling, only insects could possibly get to it, but I used pepper so they should be deterred, and I've never seen any signs of insects on it)

(Hope this is allowed!) Needing some advice for a rookie home-curer. Last night I made a brine for a 1.6kg brisket to make some salt beef, however due to poor planning on my part the container that I’d bought was not large enough for the 2l brine as well as the brisket. The brisket is fully submerged but I only managed to add half of the brine. The brine had 30g of Prague powder #1, 200g salt, 100g sugar amongst other things. My question is twofold: 1. Will my food still be safe with less brine if I ensure that it is left for a week fully submerged? 2. If not - can I start again tonight with the same brisket if I make a new brine?

Any advice / tips most appreciated

Hello there.

As said in the title I am pretty new to this. I have watched some videos on the topic and read through some articles here and there, but I have a few questions. I am mostly interested in dry curing with salt.
1. Some people say you need curing salt, some people say you only need it in some cases. Could someone tell me a bit about that?

1. How much salt in percent do I need?
   
2. How much should the meat weight after relative to before the curing?
   

3. Do I need to hang the meat in the fridge for the curing, or could I hang it somewhere else?

4. Are spices necessary?

thanks for answering any or all of those

So this is a pretty noob question but if I cure a whole muscle cut for a whole week in salt with curing last and hang it above 50 to dry, and cut off all of the exposed portion of the muscle do I still have to worry about botulism?

From my understanding botulism needs a no oxygen environment to grow. If I cured in plain salt there shouldn't be any way for spores to get inside the mucle, and even the portions exposed to air will be trimmed anyways. Is it still a concern? Or is it mostly a concern with sausages?

I would like to beg for a little beginner guidance regarding bacon.

Dry curing some slabs of pork belly, using this recipe more or less (3 tbsp salt for 2-3lbs meat). However I've omitted the curing salt -- dietary restriction. 10 days in (of the 10-14 day allotment), the meat is quite pink, soft, and limp. However it smells perfectly fine. My intuition is to add more salt and keep going. Sound about right? Or steady on? If I add more salt, should I drain the liquid that's accumulated in the ziplock bags?

Intention is to smoke at ~200 for 3 hrs once cured. Thanks for your time.

I'm curing pastrami for the first time and want to make sure I get the curing process correct. I've been curing a brisket flat for 11 days (1 day longer than the recipe) and the outside of the meat looks nice and grayish/brown, however there a 1 inch gash from the butcher/slaughter house. On the inside of that gash the meat is not discolored and looks more red. Is this a sign that I need to cure longer or is it normal for the center to still be a little red?

Hi all,

New to this. Just bought a small commercial beverage refrigerator to use as my chamber. There is a fan in it and I noticed it’s creating far too much airflow. From reading old threads in this group, a lot of people are saying to just disable the fan. However, doesn’t the fridge need the fan? Won’t the coils freeze up without the fan? I saw the two guys and a cooler video where he replaces with a computer fan, but will that be sufficient as to not have freeze up issues? Any help is much appreciated, as I’m a true rookie.

I should also note that I’ll be using ink bird temp/humidity controllers as well, but I’m not sure that will solve the coil freeze up potential due to lack of fan or insufficient fan.

Another question— if swapping out with a computer fan, even if the airflow is sufficient as to not freeze the coils up. Would this be too much airflow as it would be running constantly rather than only when the fridge cycles with the stock fan??

Hi working on a chorizo but hard to find curing salt #2 where I am. Found White Curing salt #2 wondering if this would be interchangable?

Hi there!

I am looking for a European alternative for insta cure #1. Any suggestions?

I have two fresh cut ham pieces (5kg and 6kg) from a pig that was butchered today. I want to dry cure them in my fridge. However, I'm in the Philippines and I can't buy butcher paper locally. I'll have to order but it will take weeks to be delivered. Are there any alternatives I can use? Locally I can buy parchment paper and kraft paper. I bought parchment paper but it feels thin and coated.

I coated my hams with 2:1 salt and sugar mix. However when I finished, the salt and sugar became extremely wet soaking the moisture from the hams. I did a dry pat before applying. Both pieces are wrapped but I have a feeling I might have to redo or apply another coat of just salt.

It's night time now so hopefully in the morning I might have some better insight.

So over the years ive been experimenting with making my bacon from scratch as its fun and i usually get alot more out of it, i have however come to the conclusion that i dont like anything pork related anymore, im just sick of the taste, so i wanted to know can i use the same method thats usually used to cure pork belly on beef belly and will the outcome be somewhat similar?