Canadian Decoder-Ring (ReadyCure)

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The aromatics and flavorings are all to your choice.
I'd personally take a minimalist approach when it comes to the spices/flavorings. You can always step up future attempts if you feel like it needs a little more of this or that. To me, it's easier to work up from not enough than to try to work down from too much.
 
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As to the cure,,,,
add up the meat weight and liquid weight together. Let’s say you have 1000 grams of meat and 250 grams of liquid. This equals 1250 grams of total weight.

We know that your Canadian cure contains 1% nitrite and 99% salt as previously discussed. We also have discussed the fact that when your cure is applied at the rate of 1.5% that you will impart 150ppm nitrite and 1.5% salt. So this is simple.

1250g of weight X .015 = 18.75 grams of cure to impart 1.5% salt and 150ppm nitrite. If 2% salt is desired, then add .5% salt.

1250 X .005 = 6.25g of added salt to obtain 2% total salt.

1.5% salt is what I personally use, but 2% works fine. Generally you would use half the total salt % to get sugar, so if you use 2% salt then calculate 1% sugar. Looks like this,

1250 X .01 = 12.5g sugar. This is a nice balance of salt and sweet. You can play with the sugar all you want up or down, matters not to the cure only the final taste.
 
A Thousand "thank you's".

Now, I'm going to take a few minutes, to write out what you'd just posted, to fit the parameters of my 'meat size' and 2 litres of water. Just for you to verify that I've got the concept, and completed the mathing correctly. Please.
 
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3200 grams of meat + 2000 grams of Water = 5200 grams of weight

5200 x 0.015 = 78 grams of ReadyCure. I'll leave it at that so that I can start from there, and we'll see if we like the Salt content of this batch.

For Sugar, I'm thinking of using 1/2 the Sugar of the 1.5% Salt, so that would then be

5200 x 0.0075 = 39 Grams of Sugar.

Did I did that right?
 
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3200 grams of meat + 2000 grams of Water = 5200 grams of weight

5200 x 0.015 = 78 grams of ReadyCure. I'll leave it at that so that I can start from there, and we'll see if we like the Salt content of this batch.

For Sugar, I'm thinking of using 1/2 the Sugar of the 1.5% Salt, so that would then be

5200 x 0.0075 = 39 Grams of Sugar.

Did I did that right?
Yes, correct. Run with this. Add flavor spices as you please.
 
Thanks Eric for staying with this thread. I had planned to help but got sidetracked with a rack of pig shots that didn't want to cook. Smoker at home up north so stuck with gas grill and a smoke tube I put in the wrong place.

Sean, my recommendation is to take the beef to 2% salt as commercial corned beef is in the 2-3% range. Maybe 1/2 the seasoning package you put together. BTW good job on the seasoning package. after the cure a test taste may want the other half of the seasoning and maybe the second round seasoning for the boil out.
I am out all day Saturday (going to a tractor pull)
 
Fueling Around, thank you for the additional info. I got this (info) now, after we'd done everything and it's in the fridge. Here's the photo's:

1 Brisket Flat 3.2 kgs.jpg

2 78 gms ReadyCure and 39 gms Sugar.jpg


3 28.5 gms Pickling Spice x 2.jpg


4 2000 gms Wate, boiling.jpg


6 Cooled, ReadyCure added, then bagged with the meat.jpg

SmokinEdge, Thank You again for your patience, in getting me to this point. VERY appreciated. And to the other member inputs, and the site itself.

As I'd previously stated, I wish I'd known about this forum years ago. I could have been 'so much further along.....'

This step has been taken, and I'll flip/mix-around all the juices each day for 5 days unless someone chimes in with other directions.

This is gonna be SO good.
 
Hello all,
I am confusing myself into a corner. I have been trying to search, read, and glean the many threads here pertaining to "Corned Beef/Pastrami" using locally obtained ingredients.

I have trimmed my Brisket, removed the point, and almost all of the external fat from the "Flat" which weighs 3.2 kg's or 7.4 lbs.

The ONLY thing I'm able to obtain for this is the Canadian "ReadyCure" which is:
Salt
1% Sodium Nitrite
Sodium Bicarbonate
Glycerin

With the directions of:
Maximum Usage: 20g per 1 kg meat product
For Side Bacon 12g per 1 kg meat product (add additional cooking salt if required)

--------------------------------- that is what is printed on the bag-----------

Follow that up with the recipe I'd intended on using:
4 litres Water
450 gms Kosher Salt
100 gms Sugar
25 gms Pink Salt
3 tsps Garlic
20 gms Pickling Spice
2.25 kg Beef Brisket, marbled
20 gms Pickling Spice

(2 separate measures of Pickling Spice. 1 for the Brine, and another for the Boil)

Now, I've searched the innerwebz and found all kinds of info for Prague Powder #1, #2, InstaQuick, Redi-Mix, and who-knows-what-else.

(Can you imagine how much I'm hating the Canuckistanian gov't at the moment?) Please, can someone tell me for that amount of meat, how much Water I should add how much ReadyCure to, so that I can get the meat into a bag and in the fridge again before it goes bad. (yes, I've been searching for 3 days now, trying to find an answer)

Or have I missed a memo?
Hello all,
I am confusing myself into a corner. I have been trying to search, read, and glean the many threads here pertaining to "Corned Beef/Pastrami" using locally obtained ingredients.

I have trimmed my Brisket, removed the point, and almost all of the external fat from the "Flat" which weighs 3.2 kg's or 7.4 lbs.

The ONLY thing I'm able to obtain for this is the Canadian "ReadyCure" which is:
Salt
1% Sodium Nitrite
Sodium Bicarbonate
Glycerin

With the directions of:
Maximum Usage: 20g per 1 kg meat product
For Side Bacon 12g per 1 kg meat product (add additional cooking salt if required)

--------------------------------- that is what is printed on the bag-----------

Follow that up with the recipe I'd intended on using:
4 litres Water
450 gms Kosher Salt
100 gms Sugar
25 gms Pink Salt
3 tsps Garlic
20 gms Pickling Spice
2.25 kg Beef Brisket, marbled
20 gms Pickling Spice

(2 separate measures of Pickling Spice. 1 for the Brine, and another for the Boil)

Now, I've searched the innerwebz and found all kinds of info for Prague Powder #1, #2, InstaQuick, Redi-Mix, and who-knows-what-else.

(Can you imagine how much I'm hating the Canuckistanian gov't at the moment?) Please, can someone tell me for that amount of meat, how much Water I should add how much ReadyCure to, so that I can get the meat into a bag and in the fridge again before it goes bad. (yes, I've been searching for 3 days now, trying to find an answer)

Or have I missed a memo?
hey fellow Canuckstanian, This looks like the same recipe i have from the "charcuterie" book. I have made this probably 10 times over the years. I just order prague powder #1 off amazon for this. I always make 2 gal of brine. (salt is cheap) sometimes, if i didnt have the pink salt, I just relied on the salt. I don't refrigerate while I brine, I just put it in a cool place of the basement. What I found was, what ever they say to leave it in the brine for , leave it in longer. I have taken it out based on weight and time, and it did not penetrate all the way to the centre. btw, if it is the same recipe, the homemade pickling spice is worth the effort to make.
 
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now that the pictures are up, I can see mine probabaly didnt penetrate, because it wasnt as pretty as yours. lol. i just trim a "smidge" off fat off an entire brisket, throw it in a food safe bucket of brine with a food safe rock on top of it.
 
...
SmokinEdge, Thank You again for your patience, in getting me to this point. VERY appreciated. And to the other member inputs, and the site itself.
...
This step has been taken, and I'll flip/mix-around all the juices each day for 5 days unless someone chimes in with other directions.
...
Go 7-10 days in the cure. Longer is always better in an equilibrium cure. OK hate to throw a new term at you, but equilibrium is where you either dry cure or wet cure meat in a fixed recipe of salt, nitrite, and spices so you get the same into the meat.
Yours is equilibrium cure. It will never get saltier or more nitrites than your cure mix.
Adding time is always good especially if your fridge gets a bit cooler than the ideal curing temperature and whatever the meat decides to do.

Tractor pull was pretty good. I get tired of the never-ending garden tractor classes.
Pig shots were a big hit reheated on my small portable gas grill.
 
Go 7-10 days in the cure. Longer is always better in an equilibrium cure. OK hate to throw a new term at you, but equilibrium is where you either dry cure or wet cure meat in a fixed recipe of salt, nitrite, and spices so you get the same into the meat.
Yours is equilibrium cure. It will never get saltier or more nitrites than your cure mix.
Adding time is always good especially if your fridge gets a bit cooler than the ideal curing temperature and whatever the meat decides to do.

Tractor pull was pretty good. I get tired of the never-ending garden tractor classes.
Pig shots were a big hit reheated on my small portable gas grill.
Start to finish most all my cured and smoked meats take 14 days. That’s curing, smoking, and resting then packaging. This is a good time frame for total production.

Love the tractor pulls, the good ones Anyway. When I was a kid our local tractor pulled were actual farm tractors from local farms, those were great, not as exciting as the modern version, but maybe had more meaning locally.

As to the pig/pork shots, I’m working on a beef version, with marinated flank steak cut into strips and wrapped around maybe a zucchini slice for a base then filled with anything from cheese to loaded baked potato. Just playing.
 
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It's still in the fridge, and I'm still flipping it all over and 'smooshing' the juices around every day. Will continue to do so until this coming Monday.

Appreciate ya'll.
 
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Too many things have happened here at home today, so I'll be opening the bag and splitting it, then boiling/smoking each half tomorrow.

Pictures will accompany.
 
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Here is the Brisket today, as it looks. I'm going to open the bag, drain out the liquid, rinse off the Brisket, and then put it in a roasting pan to soak overnight, in water. In the fridge.
FWIW, the grain 'ends' look grey, but the side tissues don't. Am I wrong in expecting the whole thing to look 'grey'?
7 Day 10, ready to be removed, rinsed, then soaked overnight in water in the fridge.jpg
 
They grey is actually oxidation from air pockets. No worries as it will all turn cured color once heated. The best color comes around 160F it’s all good.
 
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