A 5.5# leg roast should have used, 5.5 X 454 = ~2500 grams at 10% = 250 cc's of injection fluid... which is about 1 cup of liquid you needed to inject... Considering the amount of bone in that leg, perhaps mixing all of the needed ingredients into a 5% injection brine would have been a better choice... "How would you have known that ????" You wouldn't have.. My mistake not addressing the "bone volume" when doing an injection and also the bone weight when weighing out the needed ingredients...... estimating the weight of the bone, at say 20% the weight of the leg you could have used 20% less injection liquid and 20% less of the ingredients....
NO WORRIES.... even 25% variation of the ingredients keeps you in the "acceptable and safe" range for curing that "gonna be delicious" leg...
The liquid in the bag, probably will NOT absorb all of the liquid due to the bone...
After eating that glorious beasts leg, weigh the bones and let us all know what's what...
If that's a pork shank, the bone could be upwards of 50% the weight... If you like the results, the bone weight will give you some direction for the next one... and us also... Shanks are great eating.... great flavor... they do a lot of work... that makes for great flavor.... Don't I know it !!!!!!!
The bone weight did cross my mind because I make Buckboarded pork chops (3/4" thick) using Tender Quick in a 48 hour dry cure, and I do adjust for the bone. However, with so many positive reviews and thumbs-up on this recipe, I figured hundreds have tried this without the bone weight deduction, and I always try a recipe "as-is" the first time.
The reason the weight is light is that my Walmart has 2 options for shoulder picnics and they don't sell an 8 pound roast. Some roasts favor the shank end, and others favor the butt end (but of course have the shank removed). But this will work for a test run.
Not only did I do the manual calculation, I also downloaded the spreadsheet from a satisfied poster in one of the posts. We are on the same page with 252 grams of stock + the salt, both sugars, and Cure #1. I mix mine up in a shaker which works well.
Yes, I followed the 1.5" maximum injection pattern. My injector is adjustable and it meters the amount per pull on the handle. Nice for something like this as I can draw the needle back out and pump a measured amount at various depths.
I will save and weigh those bones, although cooked weight might be a tick less than green weight.
OH ????? Time.... 5 days should be fine if you injected every 1.5"... in all directions..
The 5 days won't quite work on my time table as I want to hot finish a pastrami at the same time after a couple of cold smoke cycles on the ham.... but at least I have more latitude with my timetable.
Any insights on using netting? I have bags for elk quarters, 80" long and 18" in diameter, but they stretch. I can still hook and tie as needed and skip that step.
