Does the type of liquid used in a brine affect how much cure should be used?

[doongie]

I have a real nice Teriyaki type marinade recipe that I like to use, and am thinking it would be a nice flavor in dried beef (or venison). I’m thinking of two ways to do it. I could marinade the meat for overnight, then wipe it off and dry cure as I normally do, or I could use the marinade as a brine.

Pop’s brine uses water, and it appears the amount of cure in the brine is 0.88-1oz/gallon, and the directions on the pkg call for 3.8oz/gal. That’s quite a range, and both will deliver a safe product.

What if vegetable or olive oil is used instead of water? Does the cure still penetrate the same way, or does the amount of cure need to be adjusted for the viscosity of the liquid?

 

[thirdeye]

A marinade really does not penetrate very far at all. Most ingredients are too large (molecules are to large) to enter meat. Water, salt and nitrates can penetrate. You could inject your marinade.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Soy sauce and even wine will act as an accelerant to the Cure #1 making the nitrite convert to nitric oxide much faster. Not sure if the cure could penetrate the meat very far at that point.

 

[pops6927]

I would try half and half of water and oil for penetration viscosity. Shake it up vigorously first before injecting, then eventually the oil will settle on top but the injected material will go into the meat cells, providing flavorful marinade! Inject in 1" spaces between injections for thorough coverage. Maintain current curing salt levels, just proved I could cure Canadian bacon with just 1 tbsp. of curing salt to a gallon of water! See: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/clear-pickle-ultra-lo-salt-canadian-bacon.295780/

 

[doongie]

I guess the answer is to cure the meat first, then marinade and smoke.
This way there won’t be any impact on the speed of the conversion or penetration of the cure, and the marinade will be a predominantly surface flavor just as it is normally.