Does this Pork Loin look fully cured?

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SmokinAtTheLake

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 27, 2024
19
0
Just completed my wet brine/curing process on 7 lbs (trimmed) of Pork Loin to make up some Canadian Bacon, and would appreciate your guys take on whether this looks fully cured or not as it's my first time doing all this..

Loin went in to a 2% Salt, 2% Sugar, 0.25% Insta Cure #1 brine 14 days ago (Thurs, 10/3 around 11 AM ET). Took it out around 10 AM today, 10/16.

One of the loin halves (the one of the left) looks quite a bit pinker than the other, especially at the end. That one looks a little raw and not as pink to me..

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Note that I just left them fully submerged in the brine the entire time and did not rotate or turn them. But they were always fully covered by the brine/cure.

What do you guys think? Are these fully cured?

I rinsed them 3X each and dried with paper towels. Have them in the fridge (at around 34 degrees) until tomorrow at which point I'll smoke them on my Cookshack SM025 until 145 internal temp.

Thanks..
 

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Question
was your brine made by using both meat and water weights combined? Or just one or the other?
 
Meat & water weights combined.
Then you should be good at 14 days, it might be just a little shy time wise but I think you should be fine. To check, cut off a couple slices and fry, to really tell you about need to cut one in half and take the slices from the middle. It should show pink color after fried. If not just smoke them to an IT of 145F as minimum and try not to go over 150F.
 
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