Once again it is time to get the turkeys curing for our annual Christmas Party! I bought two 20 lb. turkeys on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, un-thawed them in the curing fridge, and today (Sunday after Thanksgiving) they are sufficiently defrosted to get the 'innards' out of the cavities and prep them for curing.
I laid them breasts down in the bucket. I purchased another bucket to rest the curing bucket on, allowing me more room to put the curing brine in without having it tip over.
I made up 4 gallons of curing brine to begin with, but It wasn't enough to cover it:
which I expected. Went back and made up 2 more gallons, poured that in, and that did the trick! They were covered completely, then floated to the top. Got a solution for that...
Weigh
them down with two old heavy ceramic plates; down they go into the brine nicely!
Making the curing brine: I measure out (for 2 gallons):
2 heaping tablespoons of curing salt ( always put that in first, on the bottom)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup plain, non-iodized table salt
Then I pour two gallons of water into the bucket:
and stir until dissolved. (This photo is of the other bucket before I completely stirred it):
This is after stirring it, completely dissolved:
You don't need to heat it, you don't need to boil it, only stir until dissolved. The cure is totally dissolvable; once dissolved, it cannot be un-dissolved. Once dissolved, the ingredients do not need to be re-stirred; they have been dissolved initially and completely. I have done this thousands upon thousands of times, from one gallon to 55 gallon batches, a dozen times over. Don't make it more difficult than it has to be. Add ingredients, add water, stir a couple dozen times, pour in and just plain let it sit and do it's magic! So Simple!
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/ams/pops6927s-curing-brines-regular-and-lo-salt.9838/
I laid them breasts down in the bucket. I purchased another bucket to rest the curing bucket on, allowing me more room to put the curing brine in without having it tip over.
I made up 4 gallons of curing brine to begin with, but It wasn't enough to cover it:
which I expected. Went back and made up 2 more gallons, poured that in, and that did the trick! They were covered completely, then floated to the top. Got a solution for that...
Weigh
Making the curing brine: I measure out (for 2 gallons):
2 heaping tablespoons of curing salt ( always put that in first, on the bottom)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup plain, non-iodized table salt
Then I pour two gallons of water into the bucket:
and stir until dissolved. (This photo is of the other bucket before I completely stirred it):
This is after stirring it, completely dissolved:
You don't need to heat it, you don't need to boil it, only stir until dissolved. The cure is totally dissolvable; once dissolved, it cannot be un-dissolved. Once dissolved, the ingredients do not need to be re-stirred; they have been dissolved initially and completely. I have done this thousands upon thousands of times, from one gallon to 55 gallon batches, a dozen times over. Don't make it more difficult than it has to be. Add ingredients, add water, stir a couple dozen times, pour in and just plain let it sit and do it's magic! So Simple!
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/ams/pops6927s-curing-brines-regular-and-lo-salt.9838/
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