cure

[DannyBoy]

Hi all,got this recipe from Downsizer.net
:
1 Kg cooking salt
250g soft brown sugar
250g Demerara sugar
1 teaspoon saltpetre

what do you think? the lady who gave the recipe says use 150 gm of cure for 1kg of belly pork, cure it for 3 days. I tried it but it didn't come out right, do you think the there's enough saltpetre in it? regards DannyBoy

[Oddley]

Hi Dannyboy welcome to the forum.

I've had a look at the recipe and downsizer.net. The problem is not with the saltpetre which in my opinion at 500 ppm is ok. The problem is the curing time. 3 days is very little time for the meat to absorb the curing agents by osmosis and reverse osmosis. Also very little time for the saltpetre to be converted to potassium nitrite.

For vacuum packed bacon the recommended time is 2 days per inch of height plus 2 days. But this is with mainly sodium Nitrite mix.

Maynard Davis recommends for true dry cured bacon 7 days per 1 lb.

I would use 10 days per kg plus 2 days resting after the bacon is washed.

There are more problems with the recipe with the increase in time. The salt and sugar content would be considerable more seeing as the ingoing amount of these ingredients are about 10% and 5% Respectively.

For a more suitable quick cure see link below:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=837

But if you are bound and determined to use a similar cure I would suggest you use:

Meat 1 kg
Saltpetre 0.5 Grams (500 ppm)
Salt Weight 20 grams (2%)
Sugar Weight 10 grams (1%)
Sodium Ascorbate 0.55 grams (550 ppm)

Or if you want to make up a mix then:

Saltpetre 5 Grams
Salt Weight 200 grams
Sugar Weight 100 grams
Sodium Ascorbate 5.5 grams

Usage 31 grams per 1 kg meat

method:

Rub the required amount of cure into the meat 90% into the meat side 10% into the rind. Put into a ziplock bag then into the bottom of the fridge, at a temp of 1 - 4 C for 10 days per 1 kg meat. when done take meat out of the bag thoroughly wash under cold water and return to the fridge uncovered for 2 days for drying and equalisation of salts.

For anybody interested in the method I used to find this out click the thumbnail image below.

[royt]

I have also tried this 3 day cure in the early days and it was a complete failure so I turned to the cure Franco sells on this site and have never looked back since.