Problem with my BBB, Need some help......Please......

shoneyboy · Mar 18, 2012

I’m pretty sure that I know what this is, but I want assurances so I do not make this mistake again… If you look at the picture you will notice that there is a lighter spot in the center of the BBB I smoked last weekend….I feel that it is from not being cured long enough , right ??…. Is it a health risk??? Or as long as I fully cook it, can I still eat it???? When I smoked it I brought the IT to 165 deg….so it should be fully cooked…. it just has me concerned…..Thanks ShoneyBoy

chef jimmyj · Mar 18, 2012

Yep, it's under cured. Unless you injected anything there should be no safety issues...JJ

shoneyboy · Mar 18, 2012

No injections, Thanks JJ

smokin vegas · Mar 18, 2012

I always inject cure/brine mixature into the center of a thick cut of meat. If you don't you take the chance that the cure does not make it to the center.

alblancher · Mar 18, 2012

How long was it in the cure?

shoneyboy · Mar 18, 2012

alblancher said:
How long was it in the cure?

Al, those soaked for 8 days, I have been soaking for 10 days, but the timing didn't workout....

alblancher · Mar 18, 2012

That's one reason I have held off doing Buckboard. I understand now how to do a 10% by weight injection cure and since it only requires a 5 day cure period I think I'll eventually give it a try. I have always been a bit leery of brining such a large cut of meat without an injection. Your post is an excellent example of what happens when the cure doesn't make it all the way to the center of the meat and is great Qview of what to look for.

Thanks for posting

ronrude · Mar 18, 2012

I butterfly mine using the side with the bone for sausage. Thickness is not an issue then.

pops6927 · Mar 18, 2012

Butterfly it and it will not do that, or buy a good injector:

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_45_231&products_id=25

This sprays 360° outward to permeate all the muscle.

Ok if I snag this Qview to show others?

shoneyboy · Mar 18, 2012

Al, Ronrude and Pops, what I have been doing to prepare the BB was to trim the bone out. Then I cut the meat into 2” thick slabs…. I felt that by doing that I didn’t need to inject them, but this was a batch that I had added more meat to the bucket than normal and I didn’t feel that it has enough seasonings in it….I had a post about it, http://www.smokingmeatforums.coml/t/119080/question-about-my-bbb ..... so what I’m doing is going back to the way I had done the previous BBB and cutting back on the meat weight…..to see if it makes a difference and I'm going to wait a full 10 days to make sure that I have a good cure…..too…I want to Thank everyone that posted and I hopefully will be posting an up-date in 2 week ...Thanks ShoneyBoy

shoneyboy · Mar 18, 2012

Pops6927 said:
Butterfly it and it will not do that, or buy a good injector:

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_45_231&products_id=25

This sprays 360° outward to permeate all the muscle.

Ok if I snag this Qview to show others?

I have one just like this one Pops...I really never injected anything more than a turkey or a chicken with it ......I would like to know more about how to inject my BBB, from what I have read, it will ensure that I will not have any problems with uncured spots in the future and will shorten my cure time.....

diggingdogfarm · Mar 18, 2012

Ditch the brine and switch to a dry cure, a 2 inch slab should cure out nicely in about 5 days.
Anything more than 2.5 inches.... not cut cross grain....I combination cure. A calculated amount of salt and cure...inject half the mix then rub on the rest....couldn't be easier.

kadoka · Mar 19, 2012

DiggingDogFarm said:
Ditch the brine and switch to a dry cure, a 2 inch slab should cure out nicely in about 5 days.
Anything more than 2.5 inches.... not cut cross grain....I combination cure. A calculated amount of salt and cure...inject half the mix then rub on the rest....couldn't be easier.

DDF...do you calculate the amount injected by weight ot meat or thickness.Thanks!

alblancher · Mar 19, 2012

i'm not familiar with an injection and dry cure combination? Could you tell me how you determine how much cure to use? Do you use the higher amounts required for dry cure or the lower limits for the injection?

diggingdogfarm · Mar 19, 2012

Calculated by the weight of the meat.
156ppm of cure.
There are 2 ways I do it.
I use our homemade cure mix, which has the appropriate amount of cure, salt and sugar.
Or, if for some reason I want to adjust the amount of salt, I do a custom calculation.
I weigh out the piece of meat to determine the appropriate amount of cure mix, I then split the cure mix in half.
I take half of the curing mix and combine that with only enough water to make it injectable...I inject the ice cold solution with an impeccably clean syringe and needle. I them coat the piece of meat with the remaining dry cure mix. Cure in a fridge for up to 2.5 days per inch (or until the meat is nice a firm throughout), turning a couple times a day.
Super easy! Always the correct amount of salt.

alblancher · Mar 19, 2012

That's certainly a technique I am not familiar with. To any members not familiar with curing large cuts of meat the common procedure is to make a brine and cure mix, inject the meat until there is a 10% weight gain and then return the meat to the remaining brine for 5 days. Large manufacturers will adjust the concentration of the cure in their brine so they can do as much as a 30% by weight injection.

On smaller cuts with a higher surface area ratio a dry cure is often used with the amount of cure determined by the weight of the meat. The concentrations of cure are much higher to allow for the slower uptake of the cure into the meat.

Diggy is doing a combination of these two techniques. He is above minimum recommended safe amounts and below maximum safe amounts of cure for both brine and dry cure procedures.

solaryellow · Mar 19, 2012

Shoneyboy said:
Al, Ronrude and Pops, what I have been doing to prepare the BB was to trim the bone out. Then I cut the meat into 2” thick slabs…. I felt that by doing that I didn’t need to inject them, but this was a batch that I had added more meat to the bucket than normal and I didn’t feel that it has enough seasonings in it….I had a post about it, http://www.smokingmeatforums.coml/t/119080/question-about-my-bbb ..... so what I’m doing is going back to the way I had done the previous BBB and cutting back on the meat weight…..to see if it makes a difference and I'm going to wait a full 10 days to make sure that I have a good cure…..too…I want to Thank everyone that posted and I hopefully will be posting an up-date in 2 week ...Thanks ShoneyBoy

This is why Dan is so keen on talking about PPM. If you don't calculate your PPM using the weight of the meat and the liquid you do run the risk of undercuring. Also stacking the meat so tightly the brine can't reach it can cause an issue as well.

Just out of curiosity, do you have the ingredients to the brine, how much brine you made and how much the meat weighed?

daveomak · Mar 19, 2012

Shoneyboy, morning..... If I remember correctly, mix up the brine cure mix, if the meat weighs 10#'s inject 10% of the weight of the meat, into the meat.... 10#=160 oz.... Inject 16 oz. into the meat... 16 oz. = 1 pint.... You can weigh the meat before injection and after to make sure the 10% by weight was achieved... this would be a double check to make sure the meat took up the correct amount of brine.... Seems overkill.... could be... just trying to explain all the alternatives to insuring a safe product....

Maybe JJ or Pops or Al will clarify this concept if I muddled it into nonsense... Dave

diggingdogfarm · Mar 19, 2012

alblancher said:
Diggy is doing a combination of these two techniques. He is above minimum recommended safe amounts and below maximum safe amounts of cure for both brine and dry cure procedures.

Please don't confuse the issue, what I do is defined as "pumping", where the maximum recommended safe level a nitrite is 200ppm. I'm well within safe limits.
See the Processing Inspector's Manual for more details.

daveomak · Mar 19, 2012

DiggingDogFarm said:
alblancher said:

Diggy is doing a combination of these two techniques. He is above minimum recommended safe amounts and below maximum safe amounts of cure for both brine and dry cure procedures.

Click to expand...

Please don't confuse the issue, what I do is defined as "pumping", where the maximum recommended safe level a nitrite is 200ppm. I'm well within safe limits.
See the Processing Inspector's Manual for more details.

Diggy, morning..... I think you misread Al's post...... He said your method was between the min and max.... That means your amounts are in the accepted range of curing meats...

He took your post and did some additional explaining, he thought might be usefull to others..... He even took the time to calculate concentrations for his explanation....

Thank you alblancher for taking the time to clarify something that could have been misinterpreted by others...... Dave

Problem with my BBB, Need some help......Please......

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