waywardswede
Meat Mopper
Thanks for picking that up, Chuck, I fixed it. Drives me nuts when folks are careless like that, and here I'm doing it myself!
First I want to join in thanking Pops for posting his recipe. But I am hoping someone can help clarify something for me.
I normally dry-cure my meats (bacon and small hams), and for this type of curing you assume that all the nitrite applied will permeate into the meat. This makes it easy to calculate how much nitrite to have in the rub.
For brine curing, I'm less clear. I am looking at the USDA food inspector's handbook. When discussing brine curing it talks about two methods of calculation. The first method talks about "percent pickup", which is the ratio of the amount (weight) of brine which will be absorbed into the meat to the weight of the meat. My question is how does one determine or even guess at what this rate is?
If my quick calculation of Pops' brine with maximum nitrite was correct (3.84 ounces per 1 gallon of brine), the nitrite in ppm is around 1800 (less if you account for the salt and sugar in the mix), so if a 10% pickup is assumed, that would be about 180 ppm. So is 10% pickup a good guess or fairly standard?
Why would you not want to just make it fresh when you are ready to use it?
Hello. Up to this point, I haver never used a brine. I have used a dry rub for bacon and Canadian bacon. I was thinking of making up some of Pops Brine and using it later this fall for turkey, bacon, Canadian bacon, and possibly my first attempt at a ham. The question I have is, can I mix up a couple of gallons and keep it refrigerated? How long will it it last? Thanks.
Not a problem making it as I go, but was wondering how long it would last in the fridge...Might want to have some on hand for a spur of the moment use. So, how long will it last refrigerated? Thanks.
I just finished some Bellie Bacon and Back Bacon this month.I went with the 1/2 cup of salt and 14 days in Pops brine on the Bellie Bacon and 15 days on the Back Bacon.I was very happy it all turned out great.
I PMed Pops but thought I'd post here too.
I put two bellies in the brine last Saturday with plans to smoke it 10 days later. However, I now have to travel. Will it hurt them to sit in the brine 14-15 days? I used 1/2 cup of kosher salt per gallon so the salt is low. I also used 1 ounce of pink salt per gallon. The other option is to smoke them Sunday which would be 7 full days.
I PMed Pops but thought I'd post here too.
I put two bellies in the brine last Saturday with plans to smoke it 10 days later. However, I now have to travel. Will it hurt them to sit in the brine 14-15 days? I used 1/2 cup of kosher salt per gallon so the salt is low. I also used 1 ounce of pink salt per gallon. The other option is to smoke them Sunday which would be 7 full days.
Yes, just so the ratio stays the same---Make sure you have enough to keep the meat submerged.
If I'm going to cut down the amount of water my a proportion, say from 1 gallon to a 1/2 gallon, then does that mean I'll cut all of the other ingredients by the same proportion? I'm going to be using this brine for some tasso, and I'll need nowhere near 1 gallons worth.