Can you cure too long before making?

[HushyQ]

Going for my second batch of Jalapeño/Cheddar. I was hoping to make during the week but life got in the way. I have had my beef and pork cubed with insta cure #1 in freezer bags in the fridge for 4 days. Is that okay? How long can I realistically delay?

 

[SmokinEdge]

You are good to go. Depending on your salt percentage but you could go a couple weeks pretty easy.

 

[HushyQ]

Thank You!!!! Was getting a bit nervous.

 

[zwiller]

+1 You're OK. Most agree you have about 30 days but I never go that far.

GO BROWNS!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Do you have pics of the inside

+1 You're OK. Most agree you have about 30 days but I never go that far.

GO BROWNS!

I’ve had hams grow mold at 30 days with 1.5% salt and about 40*F, I think if you are 2% plus on salt and in the 30’s F, 30 days is fine, but these days a lot of folks are playing 1- 1.5% salt and about 3 weeks is my limit there.

 

[HushyQ]

I only have 2 tsp of Insta Cure #1 on the 1 inch cubes as I season after I grind. Is that an issue?

 

[SmokinEdge]

I only have 2 tsp of Insta Cure #1 on the 1 inch cubes as I season after I grind. Is that an issue?

How many pounds meat? At 4 days really shouldn’t be an issue, but I wouldn’t go past a week without the added extra salt.

 

[HushyQ]

10 lbs, 5 in each bag. Thanks so much. what I get for relying on the usps to meet the delivery date, lol. lesson learned to have all my ingredients on hand before starting. I'm learning, slowly but surely, thanks to you all!!!!!!

 

[SmokinEdge]

I only have 2 tsp of Insta Cure #1 on the 1 inch cubes as I season after I grind. Is that an issue?

That’s pretty close to where you need to be for 10# meat, but I would suggest you get a good gram scale that reads in 10ths of a gram and weigh out your cure salt and spices, this is much more repeatable than spoons and cups. You want to apply cure #1 at 1.1g per pound of meat for 156ppm nitrite.

 

[nlife]

That’s pretty close to where you need to be for 10# meat, but I would suggest you get a good gram scale that reads in 10ths of a gram and weigh out your cure salt and spices, this is much more repeatable than spoons and cups. You want to apply cure #1 at 1.1g per pound of meat for 156ppm nitrite.

I'll second this. A good scale goes a LONG ways not only for accuracy and safety, but also for repeatability in your seasonings.

 

[HushyQ]

Thanks all!!! Yeah, I should have mentioned grams of insta cure. the package from sausage shop says a level tsp per 5 lbs. I did measure my tsp on a scale and it was 5 g. The recipe I copied per nlife's recommendation was from chuds video and his called for 11 g so that's what I did. getting near my 5 hours of cold smoke(really cold as it's 15 degrees) so I'll look forward to your feedback on this 2nd attempt in a new post.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks all!!! Yeah, I should have mentioned grams of insta cure. the package from sausage shop says a level tsp per 5 lbs. I did measure my tsp on a scale and it was 5 g. The recipe I copied per nlife's recommendation was from chuds video and his called for 11 g so that's what I did. getting near my 5 hours of cold smoke(really cold as it's 15 degrees) so I'll look forward to your feedback on this 2nd attempt in a new post.

It is generally applicable to use 1tsp per 5# meat, but, your spoon weighs 5g my spoon weighs 7g. See the problem with volume measurement? You want 1.1g per pound or 2.5g per Kg. That’s always the same me to you or the world, but spoons, cups, shoveles and buckets are all different and really have no place in curing, that’s my opinion. I can give you the hard math on any part of curing based on weight, but volume measurement is much to variable.