Oddley's corned beef

[Richierich]

Do it today, stop reading this post and get on with it now

Dave

Done it......

[ped]

Could I ask a question please: In Oddleys recipe at the beginning of this thread he quotes the following : 1.275 % Cure #1 (75 ppm)
0.15 % Saltpetre (150 ppm) how does this translate if, as I understand it, cure #1 is 150ppm? should I alter anything to accomodate the difference or perhaps just use cure#2? but how much in this case should I use instead of cure#1 and saltpetre?

[wheels]

It adds half the cure by way of injection and half by dry cure. Therefore, the total will be 75ppm x 2 = 150ppm (mg/kg) Nitrite.

The nitrate will be 150ppm x 2 = 300ppm (the previous EU limit). To cure to current EU standards you will need to halve this.

HTH

Phil

[ped]

Thanks Wheels, as always an informative reply.
I have followed the recipe so it will contain twice the SP than current EU levels but it shouldn't be a problem should it?

[wheels]

No it won't, the level was 300ppm until a couple or three years ago anyway.

Phil

[ped]

Could the cure#1 and SP be replaced by Cure#2 and if so is there a simple formula?

[wheels]

If you were to replace it with cure #2, you would use the same amount as the cure #1. You can leave the saltpetre out completely if you want and just use cure #1.

Phil

[ped]

Sorry for the late reply, why use saltpetre in the first place then Phil?

[captain wassname]

No real reason for the saltpetre Its not as though its going to be cured for ages or dried over a long period.
I would have said a very minimum of 10 days with saltpetre.
With the herbs and spices added its not as though the saltpetre will have any bearing on the flavour though it may extend the shelf life.

Jim

[wheels]

If I recall correctly, Oddley liked the flavour that the saltpetre gave.

Of course it may be that he also wanted to keep it a while.

Phil

[ped]

Can someone clarify if I am reading Oddleys recipe correctly?, if you have meat weight of 1000gms then the insoluble ingredients weigh as follows:
Insoluble ingredients for brine: Usage 2.2 % of brine=2.2gms
Ingredients
Percent (%)
2.8409 % Black peppercorns 0.062gms
4.4318 % Juniper berries 0.097gms
1.7045 % cloves 0.037gmsgms
1.7045 % whole Coriander seeds 0.037gms
89.3182 % bunch parsley stalks 1.965gms

Surely this is sooooo small as to have almost no affect on the flavour? and as such what is the point?
FYI I got it wrong the last time and used 22% of meat weight and quite frankly it didn't overpower at all!!??

Ped

[wheels]

The spice mix is added at 2.2% of the brine weight. It's not related to the meat weight from that point of view.

1000gm of brine (approx 1 litre) would have 22gm of the herb/spice mix added. Of this mix, as an example, 4.4318 % is juniper berries, that's 0.974gm (about 1gm) - 8 or 9 juniper berries - I weighed them to check! Boiled in the brine, I'd say that's plenty enough given that it's injected.

FWIW, I used 5 berries in 500ml in this one that I made using my recipe, for Christmas:



HTH

Phil

[ped]

But if the meat weight is 1Kg (1000gms) then the brine weight will be 100gms (100mls) so the insoluble elements (peppercorn,juniper etc) would only 2.2gms as it says 2.2gms of brine weight ??

[ped]

Sorry 2.2% of brine weight

[wheels]

Apologies, I overlooked that it was a combination cure when I gave my answer. But, it's still the same 9 berries per litre - it's just that you're only using 100 gm of it for the injection.

I did similar with mine in that I injected it at 10% of it's weight with the brine and then it was put into a very small amount of the same brine for just 3 days.

I can assure you that it will work.

Phil